USC students won a pair of gold medals at the 2020 Student Academy Awards to lead all schools in the 47th annual event, the Academy announced on Wednesday.
At a virtual ceremony hosted by Eugenio Derbez, USC won gold medals in the Alternative category for Curry Sicong Tian’s “Simalacra,” and in the Documentary category for Yucong Chen’s “Unfinished Lives.” The other gold medalists among U.S. schools were Rhode Island School of Design with Pilar Garcia-Gernandezesma’s “Ciervo” in the Animation category, and NYU with Talia Smith’s “Umama” in the Narrative category.
International Student Oscars were won by Pascal Schelbli from Germany’s Filmakademie Baden-Wurttemberg for “The Beauty” in the Animation category; Maren Klakegg from Norway’s Westerdals Institute of Film and Media, Kristiania University College for “Dear Father … ” in the Documentary category; and German Golub from Estonia’s Tallinn University for “My Dear Corpses” in the Narrative category.
Eight other student films won silver and bronze medals at the ceremony, whose presenters included filmmaker Shunsaku Hayashi, animator Glen Keane, directors Dawn Porter and Lulu Wang and 1983 Student Academy Award filmmaker Spike Lee.
All winning films are now eligible for Academy Awards in the three short-film categories at next April’s awards.
The ceremony can be viewed at StudentAcademyAwards.org.
The full list of Student Academy Awards winners:
Alternative/Experimental (Domestic and International Film Schools)
Gold: “Simulacra,” Curry Sicong Tian, University of Southern California
Animation (Domestic Film Schools)
Gold: “Ciervo,” Pilar Garcia-Fernandezsesma, Rhode Island School of Design
Silver: “Mime Your Manners,” Kate Namowicz and Skyler Porras, Ringling College of Art & Design
Bronze: “Hamsa,” Daniela Dwek, Maya Mendonca and Chrisy Baek, School of Visual Arts
Animation (International Film Schools)
Gold: “The Beauty,” Pascal Schelbli, Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg (Germany)
Documentary (Domestic Film Schools)
Gold: “Unfinished Lives,” Yucong Chen, University of Southern California
Silver: “The Dope Years: The Story of Latasha Harlins,” Allison A. Waite, University of Southern California
Bronze: “Making Waves,” Laura Zéphirin, New York University
Documentary (International Film Schools)
Gold: “Dear Father…,” Maren Klakegg, Westerdals Institute of Film and Media, Kristiania University College (Norway)
Narrative (Domestic Film Schools)
Gold: “Umama,” Talia Smith, New York University
Silver: “Bittu,” Karishma Dube, New York University
Bronze: “Sweet Potatoes,” Rommel Villa Barriga, University of Southern California
Narrative (International Film Schools)
Gold: “My Dear Corpses,” German Golub, Baltic Film & Media School, Tallinn University (Estonia)
Silver: “Crescendo,” Percival Argüero Mendoza, Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica (Mexico)
Bronze: “I Was Still There When You Left Me,” Marie Mc Court, Institut des Arts de Diffusion (Belgium)