May 10, 2005
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT:  Leslie Unger - (310) 247-3000
                         lunger@oscars.org

Academy Announces Finalists for 2005 Student Academy Awards

Beverly Hills, CA — Twenty-nine students from 18 colleges and universities have been selected as finalists in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' 32nd annual Student Academy Awards competition. Their films will now be screened for and judged by Academy members in order to select the winners. Gold, silver and bronze medals, along with accompanying cash prizes of $5000, $3000 and $2000, may be awarded in each of the four categories. Winning filmmakers will participate in a week of industry-related and social activities, culminating in the presentation ceremony on June 12.

The finalists are (listed alphabetically by film title within category):

Alternative
“Knock Knock,” Jaron Henrie-McCrea, Ball State University, Indiana
“Landslag,” Kyja Kristjansson-Nelson, University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee
“This Is Not a Picture,” Joel T. Levin and Jacqueline Castel , New York University
“Your Dark Hair Ishan,” Tala Hadid, Columbia University, New York

Animation
“9,” Shane Acker, University of California, Los Angeles
“Cold War,” Gong Myung Lee and Brian Garrigan, School of Visual Arts, New York
“Frog,” Christopher Conforti, School of Visual Arts
“Le Vieil Homme et Les Poissons,” David Bokser, Savannah College of Art and Design, Georgia
“Things That Go Bump in the Night,” Joshua G. Beveridge, Ringling School of Art and Design, Sarasota, Florida
“To a Man with a Big Nose,” Cecilia Aranovich, Santa Monica College, California
“Up,” Larry McMahan, Columbia College, Chicago, Illinois
“Welcome to My Life,” Elizabeth Ito, California Institute of the Arts, Valencia

Documentary
“The Fizz,” Grant Greenberg, New York University
“The Life of Kevin Carter,” Dan Krauss, University of California, Berkeley
“Listen,” Kimby Caplan, Southern Methodist University
“Music Palace,” Eric Lin, New York University
“This Morning,” Lucy Mulloy, New York University
“Unhitched,” Erin Hudson and Ben Wu, Stanford University

Narrative
“Be Quiet,” Sameh Zoabi, Columbia University
“Brother,” Nathan Butera, New York University
“Charm,” Melissa Rossi, Florida State University Film School
“Indio, USA,” Travis Peterson, American Film Institute
“Living in Technicolor,” Brian David Lazarte, University of Cincinnati
“Piss Hat,” Mo Perkins, University of California, Los Angeles
“Slip,” Andrew Kristin Grauman Kramp, Savannah College of Art and Design
“Stephen King’s ‘The Road Virus Heads North,’” Dave Brock, Ohio University School of Film
“Victoria Para Chino,” Cary Fukunaga, New York University
“Wednesday Afternoon,” Alonso Mayo, American Film Institute

To reach this stage, students competed in one of three regional competitions. Each of those regions is normally permitted to send to the Academy up to three finalist films in each of the four categories. However, one region found itself with an unbreakable tie, which accounts for an additional finalist in the narrative category. An honorary foreign film student also will be honored by the Academy. Five students from Germany, Israel, Italy, The Netherlands and the United Kingdom have been named as finalists.

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

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