CONTACT: CONTACT:  Leslie Unger -  (310) 247-3000 May 14, 1997
     lunger@oscars.org
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Ten Student Filmmakers to Receive Awards from Academy

Beverly Hills, CA - Ten student filmmakers from eight different colleges and universities have been named winners in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' 24th Annual Student Academy Awards competition. Trophies and prize money will be presented to the winners on June 8, at 6 p.m., in the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater, at the culmination of a week's worth of film industry-related activities.

The winners are (listed in alphabetical order by category and film title):

Alternative Category

• Erosion, Robert Gelber, New York University
• My Divorce, Andrea Clark, New York University

Animation Category

• Unborn Baby Blues, Mark Dale Levine; University of California, Los Angeles

Documentary Category

• Miriam Is Not Amused, Kim Roberts; Stanford University
• The Mirror Lied, Jennifer Haskin-O'Reggio; University of Southern California
• Walk This Way, Chris Sheridan, Scottsdale (Arizona) Community College

Dramatic Category

• Christmas in New York, Mark Millhone, Columbia University
• Mr. October, Chris Angel, University of Southern California
• Waiting in the Wings, Charles R. Uy; School of Visual Arts, New York

Honorary Foreign Award

• An Ordinary Mission, Raimond Boy; Academy of Media Arts; Cologne, Germany

While the ten students know they will each receive an award, the level of that award - gold, silver or bronze - will not be revealed until the June 8 ceremony. Only Levine, the sole recipient in the animation category and therefore an automatic gold medal winner, and Boy, will attend the ceremony knowing exactly what they've won. Besides trophies, gold medalists receive $2,000, silver medalists are awarded $1,500 and bronze medal recipients are presented with $1,000. One of the dramatic category winners will also be named recipient of the Directors Guild of America Student Award.

Student Academy Award entrants first participate in one of three regional competitions. Each of those regions may then send as many as three finalists in each of the four categories to the Academy for final judging by Academy members. This year, a total of 276 student films were entered from schools across the United States.

The Honorary Foreign Award recipient was selected from a field of 28 entries from 19 foreign countries. These films do not compete against the U. S. productions.

The Student Academy Awards ceremony is free and open to the public, but tickets are required. To request as many as four tickets, call (310) 247-3000, ext. 129 or 130. The Academy is located at 8949 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. ###