Los Angeles, April 28, 2015: The British Academy of Film and Television Arts Los Angeles (BAFTA Los Angeles) has announced today that this year’s BAFTA US Student Film Awards will be held on June 25, 2015 at the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts in Beverly Hills.
Now in its 12th year, the event has been expanded into a national competition, showcasing the very best films from top international film students studying in US graduate film programs. Originally founded as a Los Angeles-area initiative, this will be the first year that BAFTA has accepted entries from across the entire US, in partnership with BAFTA New York.
The BAFTA US Student Film Awards identifies and celebrates the best creative works produced by international students studying in the US. The event is presented as part of BAFTA’s ongoing commitment to supporting and developing emerging talents, with the finalists also invited to attend BAFTA’s year-round educational events in the US. The BAFTA US Student Film Awards also serves to connect rising US and international student filmmakers with experts from the UK entertainment industry, with the aim of continuing the strong legacy of successful collaboration between the US and UK filmmaking communities.
“BAFTA’s commitment to nurturing the next generation of our industry has never been stronger,” says BAFTA Los Angeles Chairman, Kieran Breen. “US Film Schools attract the very best of filmmaking students from around the globe, so with BAFTA’s expansion of the Student Film Awards into a national event we are connecting BAFTA and the British industry with an immense talent pool that’s arguably unmatched in the world.”
89 film schools have been invited to select their three best films for consideration. From the submissions, BAFTA members based in the US will select a two-hour program of short films to be screened on the 25th. BAFTA Members in the audience will then vote on the 2015 BAFTA US Student Film Award winner, while a jury of special guests will award one of the filmmakers the Special Jury Prize presented by AKA Hotels. AKA Hotels will also host a special reception in New York to celebrate the Students and Faculty of participating East Coast schools.
For more information about the 2015 BAFTA US Student Film Awards and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts Los Angeles, visit www.baftala.org.
