May 4, 2000

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Leslie Unger - (310) 247-3000

                        lunger@oscars.org

Beverly Hills, CA - Thirty-one students from 22 colleges and universities around the country have been selected as finalists in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' 27th Annual Student Academy Awards competition. Their films will now be voted upon by Academy members and those students ultimately selected as winners will be flown to Los Angeles to participate in a week of industry-related activities and social events that will culminate June 11 with the awards presentation ceremony at the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

The finalists are (alphabetical by film title within category):

Alternative Category

• "A Sky When It Is a Sunny Day," Shuk-Shan Lee, The School of the Art Institute of Chicago.
• "Body of Work," Tyler Osborn, Northwest Film Center, Portland, Oregon.
• "Dear Sir: Letters to a Union Soldier," Michael Mullan, University of the Arts, Philadelphia.
• "Destierro" ("Exile"), Rodrigo Bellot, Ithaca College, New York.
• "Eulogy," Sarah Nagy, Northwest Film Center
• "Helicopter," Ari Gold, New York University.
• "September 5:10 pm," Mitch McCabe, New York University.
• "Seven Hours to Burn," Shanti Thakur, Temple University, Philadelphia
• "Single Moments," Garin Armenian, Arts Center College of Design, Pasadena, California.

Animation Category

• "Al Tudi Tuhak" ("Long, Long Ago"), Tod Polson, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, California.
• "Dream," Masayo Nishimura, School of Visual Arts, New York.
• "Figure 1: Scar (Detail)," Randall Wakerlin, Hampshire College, Amherst, Massachusetts.
• "Hollow," Jason Shulman, Ringling School of Art and Design, Sarasota, Florida.
• "Luz," Jose Martinez, University of California, Los Angeles.
• "Mister Smile," Fran Krause, Rhode Island School of Design.
• "The Bad Plant," Amy Winfrey, UCLA.

Documentary Category

• "Between Two Fires," Douglas Smith, Regent University, Virginia Beach, Virginia.
• "Grand Theater: A Tale of Beirut," Omar Naim, Emerson College, Boston.
• "Iron Ladies," Kennedy Wheatley, University of Southern California.
• "My American Grandmother," Aysha Ghazoul, Northwest Film Center.
• "Slender Existence," Laura Murray, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California.
  
• "Sperm Bank: An Exchange to Remember," Christopher Dillon, New York University.

Narrative Category

• "6 Miles of 8 Feet," Ben Tomlin, New York University.
• "Child Bride," Mabel Gan, Florida State University Film School.
• "Homeland," Doug Scott, New York University.
• "Impala," David Marion, American Film Institute, Los Angeles.
• "Light Readings," Teri Randall, University of Texas, Austin.
• "One Day Crossing," Joan Stein, Columbia University, New York.
• "The Prescription," Ham Tran, UCLA.
• "The State's Conception," Stephen Fromkin, Boston University.
• "Waking Mele," Anne Misawa, USC.

To reach this stage, students competed in one of three regional competitions. Each of those regions was permitted to send to the Academy up to three finalist films in each of the four categories. Academy members may now choose to present awards to as many as three films in each of the categories. Along with their trophies, Gold Medal winners in each of the four categories receive $2,000; Silver Medal winners take home $1,500, and Bronze Medal recipients are awarded $1,000. The Directors Guild of America's Student Film Award also will be presented at the June ceremony, as will an Honorary Foreign Film Award. Finalists for that award this year are individual students from the Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany and Slovakia.

The Student Academy Awards were established by the Academy in 1972 to support and encourage excellence in filmmaking at the collegiate level.