May 7, 2002
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Dawn Newell - (310) 247-3000

Finalists Selected for Student Academy Awards^®

Beverly Hills, CA - Thirty-two students from 18 colleges and universities around the country have been selected as finalists in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' 29th Annual Student Academy Awards competition. Their films will 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 9 with the awards presentation ceremony at the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater.

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

Animation Category

• "Ash Sunday," Corrie Francis, Dartmouth College, Hanover,New Hampshire
• "Blind Date," Chris Choy, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia
• "Floating," Chansoo Kim, University of Southern California, Los Angeles
• "Gladden," Ian Butterfield, Ohio State University, Columbus
• "Passing Moments," Don Phillips, Jr., Ringling School of Art and Design, Sarasota, Florida
• "Shadowplay," Dan Blank, New York University
• "Trilemma," Ye Won Cho, School of Visual Arts, New York
• "The Velvet Tigress," Jen Sachs, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia

Documentary Category

• "Back to Back," Heather Lenz, University of Southern California, Los Angeles
• "Become the Sky," Laura Dunn, University of Texas at Austin
• "Family Values," Eva Saks, New York University
• "Moving House," Pin Pin Tan, Northwestern University, Evanston, Illinois
• "Precipice," Elizabeth Witham and Biz James, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California
• "Revolutions Per Minute," Thomas Burns, Stanford University, Palo Alto, California

Narrative Category

• "Barrier Device," Grace Lee, University of California, Los Angeles
• "Get Outta Here," Tony Shaff, North Carolina School of the Arts, Winston-Salem
• "Mboutoukou," Victor Viyuoh, University of Southern California, Los Angeles
• "Remote Control," Ivan Zivkovic and Peter Veverka, American Film Institute, Los Angeles
• "Slo-Mo," John Krokidas, New York University
• "Sophie," Helen Haeyoung Lee, University of Texas at Austin
• "Train Wreck," Michael Sedlacek, Columbia University, New York
• "The Wormhole," Jessica Sharzer, New York University

To reach this stage, students competed in one of three regional competitions. Each of those regions was permitted to send 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 $5,000; Silver Medal winners take home $3,000 and Bronze Medal recipients are awarded $2,000. An Honorary Foreign Film Award, which includes a $1,000 cash grant, also will be presented. Finalists for that award this year are individual students from Denmark, the United Kingdom, Germany and Sweden.

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