Following the recently announced international expansion of the Awards, this year’s shortlisted 45 films have been selected from over 400 submissions by students at film schools in 15 countries across the world, including Argentina, Austria, Canada, China, Germany, India, Israel, Lebanon, South Africa, and the United Kingdom. 

This expansion has generated a major increase in the volume of applications received.  While 2016 saw 57 animated film submissions, this year’s pool welcomed 105.  The number of documentary film submissions has also jumped from 63 in 2016 to 117 this year.

This year, select film schools worldwide were invited to submit up to nine films for consideration for four top prizes – the BAFTA Student Film Award for Animation, the Student Film Award for Documentary, the Student Film Award for Live Action Film, and the Special Jury Prize, selected by the event’s panel members.

BAFTA’s Student Film Awards competition was expanded this year as part of BAFTA’s growing international footprint, which seeks to foster strong talent connections across the UK, US and Asia. The expansion also furthers BAFTA Los Angeles’ work within its newly launched Access for All campaign, a commitment to ensuring that talented individuals are offered a clear pathway to careers in the entertainment industry, uninhibited by background, demographics or personal circumstance. The campaign will drive funds towards BAFTA Los Angeles’ acclaimed scholarship, education and community initiatives, allowing the organization to discover, support and nurture talented professionals.

“Welcoming these new students into the BAFTA community underlies our commitment to recognizing talent globally and helping to nurture their careers in the creative industries,” said BAFTA Chief Executive, Amanda Berry.  “Their success should know no boundaries, professionally or geographically.”

“We are absolutely overwhelmed by the success of our international expansion,” said Peter Morris, the Chair of the BAFTA Los Angeles New Talent Committee.  “We had no doubt that there was an overabundance of talented students all across the world, and we are looking forward to having the opportunity to acknowledge their work at our ceremony in June.”

The shortlisted films are (listed alphabetically by Film Title):

ANIMATION

Adam
Evelyn Ross
Rhode Island School of Design, USA

Falling In Love
Jack Chigo, Leonie Isaacs
Falmouth University, UK

The Fisherman
Bara Anna Stejskalová
Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, Czech Republic

The Ghost Next Door
Chris Bringhurst
Utah Valley University, USA

Illegal Move
Sana Srinivasan, Kyle Lopez
Ringling College of Art & Design, USA

The Moon Is Essentially Gray
Hannah Roman
School of Visual Arts, USA

Mosquito: The Bite of Passage
Brian Vincent Rhodes
University of Southern California, USA

Night Spinning
Yi Luo
Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg, Germany

Once A Hero
Xia Li
University of Southern California, USA

Once Upon A Line
Alicja Jasina
University of Southern California, USA

Poles Apart
Paloma Baeza
National Film and Television School Beaconsfield, UK

Splash!
Gavin Lankford
University of North Carolina School of the Arts, USA

Tête à Tête
Natasha Tonkin
National Film and Television School Beaconsfield, UK

The Wishgranter
Kal Athannassov, John McDonald, Echo Wu
Ringling College of Art & Design, USA

You Look Scary
Xiya Lan
California Institute of the Arts, USA

DOCUMENTARY

4.1 Miles
Daphne Mitziaraki
University of California Berkeley, USA

A Lion’s Tale
Tania Esteban
University of the West of England, UK

Alex
Brian Inocencio and Kai Nottapon Boonprakob
School of Visual Arts, USA

Amazonia Damned
Ada Bodjolle
University of the West of England, UK

Desarraigado
Moises Barba
Pepperdine University, USA

The Female Voice
Julia Dos Santos
Goldsmiths, University of London, UK

Forever Home
Raquel Korman
University of Southern California, USA

From Flint
Elise Conklin
Michigan State University, USA

Galamsey – Für Eine Handvoll Gold
Johannes Preuss
Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg, Germany

Homecoming
Noam Sobovitz
Tel Aviv University, Israel

Lido
Uri Smoly
The Jerusalem Sam Spiegel Film School, Israel

Living Behind Numbers
Joe Sullivan and Martin Read
University of South Wales, UK

Parched
Christy Estad & Elijah Guess
Chapman University, USA

The Sandman
Lauren Knapp
Stanford University, USA

Undue Burden
Gina Pollack
University of California Berkeley, USA

LIVE ACTION

Big Sister
Michal Gassner
The Jerusalem Sam Spiegel Film School, Israel

Blind Audition
Andreas Kessler
Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg, Germany

The Collision
Šimon Štefanides
Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague, Czech Republic

DeKalb Elementary
Reed Van Dyk
University of California Los Angeles, USA

Fxxking Drama
Michael Podogil
Filmakademie Wien, Austria

Lo Dulce De La Vida
Horacio Romo
El Centro de Capacitación Cinematográfia, Mexico

Nocturne in Black
Jimmy Keyrouz
Columbia University, USA

Our Heroes
Yair Agmon
The Jerusalem Sam Spiegel Film School, Israel

Plastic Fish
Wu Chenchen
Beijing Film Academy, China

Sandy Beach
Thanos Papastergiou
University of California Los Angeles, USA

Standby
Charlotte Regan
Ravensbourne, UK

Submarine
Mounia Akl
Columbia University, USA

The Suitcase
Abi Demaris Corbin
University of Southern California, USA

Vestige
Taylor Salan
California State University Northridge, USA

When Demons Die
Daniel Rübesam
Filmakademie Baden-Württemberg, Germany

The gala ceremony will take place on Thursday, June 22, 2017 at The Theatre at Ace Hotel in Downtown Los Angeles.  Finalists and Special Jury members will be announced in the coming weeks.  Tickets for the event are now available here.

In 2016, the BAFTA US Student Film Award, as it was previously named, was presented to Clara Roquet from Columbia University for “El Adiós” and the Special Jury Prize was awarded to Seth Boyden from California Institute for the Arts for “An Object At Rest”.  The panel of Hollywood luminaries included BAFTA nominee Yann Demange (’71), BAFTA and Academy Award® winner Pete Docter (Inside Out), The Hollywood Reporter Film Critic and Editor Jon Frosch, BAFTA and Academy Award® winner William Goldenberg (Argo, The Imitation Game), actress Ashley Madekwe (Salem, Revenge), and STX Entertainment President Sophie Watts.  The finalists were selected from 245 films submitted by 56 schools across the US, with each school submitting their best films for consideration.
 

For further information:

Elyse Weissman at SLATE PR
310-461-0114
Elyse@slate-pr.com