9 animation finalists for Student Oscars announced
Oscar Statuette, Academy Awards
For the first time ever, a film from Utah Valley University is a finalist in the Animation category of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Student Academy Awards competition.
Aaron Bristow, who made Lizard and the Ladder, is one of nine students from seven United States colleges and universities who have been selected as finalists in the 39th Annual Student Oscars.
Finalists from the University of California, Los Angeles are Chocolate Milk, by Eliza Kinkz, and The Jockstrap Raiders, by Mark Nelson.
From Florida’s Ringling College of Art and Design, the finalists are My Little Friend, by Eric Prah, and Reviving Redwood, by Matt Sullivan.
Rounding out the list are Cowboy, Clone, Dust, by Matthew Christensen of New York University; Eyrie, by David Wolter of California Institute of the Arts; La Lune et le Coq, by Raymond McCarthy Bergeron of Rochester Institute of Technology; and Shinobi Blues, by Yue Liu of the School of Visual Arts.
Academy members will view the finalists’ films at special screenings and vote to select the winners. Gold, Silver and Bronze Medal awards, along with accompanying cash grants of $5,000, $3,000 and $2,000 respectively, may be presented in the Animation category.
Winners will be brought to Los Angeles, along with the international student winners in the Foreign Student Film category, for a week of industry activities and social events that will culminate in the awards ceremony at 6 p.m. Saturday, June 9 at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, California.
To reach this stage, U.S. students competed in one of three regional competitions. Each region is permitted to send to the Academy up to three finalists in each of the four categories. Academy members have selected students from Australia, Germany and the United Kingdom as finalists in the Foreign Film category.
The Academy established the Student Academy Awards in 1972 to support and encourage excellence in filmmaking at the collegiate level. Past Student Academy Award winners have gone on to receive 46 Oscar nominations and have won or shared eight awards.
The 39th Annual Student Academy Awards ceremony June 9 is free and open to the public, but advance tickets are required. Tickets are available now, online at www.oscars.org, in person at the Academy box office, or by mail.
The Samuel Goldwyn Theater is located at 8949 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. For more information, call (310) 247-3600.
