Lachlan Pendragon’s hilarious and innovative stop-motion short An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It won the Gold Medal Student Academy Award last night. The short, which was his student project at Australia’s Griffith Film School. Produced by Donna Hamilton, the short centers on a mysterious talking ostrich that helps an office worker in need uncover the flaws in his stop-motion universe.
The Silver Medal winner was Laika & Nemo by Jan Gadermann and Sebastian Gadow, students at Konrad Wolf Film University of Babelsberg, Germany. The stop-motion project tells the story of an astronaut and a deep-sea diver who break through language barriers to become friends.
The Bronze Medalist was The Seine’s Tears, directed by Yanis Belaid, Eliott Benard and Nicolas Mayeur from Pôle 3D Digital & Creative School in France. The short, which won the top prize at SIGGRAPH this year, looks back at the events of Oct. 17, 1961 in France when Algerian workers take to the streets to protest against the mandatory curfew imposed by the police prefecture.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences saluted its group of talented student winners from colleges and universities across the globe last night during the 49th Student Academy Awards ceremony hosted by actor–producer Terrence Jenkins.
In a bountiful year that saw an extraordinary number of entries, the Student Academy Awards competition received 1,796 entries from 614 colleges and universities around the world. These 2022 winners join the esteemed ranks of past Student Academy Award winners such as Patricia Cardoso, Pete Docter, Spike Lee, Patricia Riggen and Robert Zemeckis. Established in 1972, the Student Academy Awards were formed to build a platform for young talent by providing opportunities inside the industry to share their creative projects and dreams.
Watch the trailers for the three winning shorts below:
Student Academy Award-winning films are all eligible to compete for 2022 Oscars in the Animated Short Film, Live Action Short Film or Documentary Short Film category. Previous winners have ventured forth to receive 65 Oscar nominations and have won or shared 14 awards.
