On Thursday, May 29 BAFTA announced the 15 finalists for the 2025 BAFTA Student Awards. These student projects were voted on by BAFTA members from over a record breaking 1034 film, games and immersive submissions from 154 schools across 39 countries.
The BAFTA Student Awards are an integral part of BAFTA North America’s year-round Learning, Inclusion and Talent programs and serve as an international celebration of the next generation of creative talent in film, games, and immersive storytelling
Winners will be announced on Friday June 13th, 2025, during a live ceremony at The Maybourne Beverly Hills. The ceremony will be hosted by Elle Osili-Wood, acclaimed journalist and broadcaster known for her work with BBC, ITV, and BAFTA, where she regularly covers the intersection of arts, gaming, and culture.
Awards will be presented by an exciting lineup of creative industry voices: Tracy Ifeachor, actor in The Pitt, will present the Live Action Award, Dani Bowman, star of Netflix’s Love on the Spectrum U.S. and CEO of DaniMation Entertainment, will present the Animation Award, So Yun Um, filmmaker and director of Liquor Store Dreams (Tribeca Film Festival), will present the Documentary Award, Carmen Askerneese, producer at Lucasfilm Games, will present the Games Award, and Ethan Shaftel, director of VR film Gargoyle Doyle, will present the Immersive Award.
The Special Jury for this year’s competition includes an accomplished group of storytellers and creatives: Carlos Zaragoza, production designer of Vivo, Joaquim Dos Santos, director of Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse, Kathryn Bostic, award-winning composer for Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am.
We thank our great friends, our partners at Delta, and Virgin Atlantic for their ongoing support.
The finalist projects are (listed alphabetically in each category by film title with director names and school):
Animation
A Sparrow’s Song
Tobias Eckerlin
Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg, Germany
The Shyness of Trees
Sofiia Chuikovska, Loïck Du Plessis D’Argentré, Lina Han, Simin He, Jiaxin Huang, Maud Le Bras, Bingqing Shu
GOBELINS, l’école de l’image, France
TRASH
Gregory Bouzid, Maxime Crançon, Robin Delaporte, Mattéo Durand, Romain Fleischer, Alexis Le Ral, Margaux Lutz, Fanny Vecchie
École Supérieure des Métiers Artistiques, France
Live Action
Ever After
Helen Hideko
Film Academy Vienna, Austria
EXTREMIST
Alexander Molochnikov
Columbia University, United States
Passarinho
Natalia García Agraz
Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfica, A.C., Mexico
Documentary
One Last Farm
Nikki Dodd
University of the West of England, United Kingdom
Orchids: Darwin’s Conundrum
Thomas Cassar
National Film and Television School, United Kingdom
Where We Once Roamed
Ruthie Weeks, Madee Sabatier
Chapman University, United States
Games
Atan
Tom Baas, Jakub Petr, Stefan Pijnacker, Ketlin Riks, Lisette Van Den Dolder
Breda University of Applied Sciences, Netherlands
Free Will
Celine Tang
University of Southern California, United States
VALFREYJA
Julien Gautruche, Morian Mouhtaj, Typhaine Brunet, Coralie Gourjon, Léa Hinard, Alexandre Katif, Floriane Madery, Clémence Perlin, Axel Achour, Arthur Magnan, Henri Viellard, Robin Jung-Hermeline, Clément Martin, Loan Campan, Axel Gerbeaud, Abel Diarra, Antoine Froidevaux
ISART Digital, France
Immersive
A Perfect Day
Cleo Yu Zhang, Lisa Jiaming Xiao
University College London, United Kingdom
Pieces
Noam Karutchi
The Steve Tisch School of Film & TV Tel Aviv University, Israel
The Cuban Freedom Flights: A Mixed Reality Experience
Noel Nuñez
The University of Miami, United States
