The 35th Annual Student Academy Awards (2008)


I recently met a guy named Rajeev Dassani at a party. A fresh USC grad by day, digital artist by night, he was showing off some recent work on a laptop in the corner (the nerd's 21st century equivalent of the punch bowl at a party). We got to chatting, hit it off, and he later showed me an absolutely stunning student film he had done titled A DAY'S WORK. It's a well-written, beautifully shot, 20 minute film about race relations in Los Angeles.

In May, A DAY'S WORK won a Student Academy Award; we just didn't know which. Student Academy Awards differ from the regular Oscars in that three awards (Gold, Silver, Bronze) are given out in four categories (Alternative, Animation, Documentary, and Narrative). On the night of the event, the Academy announces which prize each of the winning films has won. A DAY'S WORK was in the Narrative category.

This year the ceremony was in Beverly Hills at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater. Tickets were free, so I grabbed two, my suit, and a buddy (Mitch), then headed out Saturday night to cheer Rajeev on.

In many ways, the Student Academy Awards felt like Oscars Lite. Same organization, but no red carpet, no big stars, no yelling paparazzi. The audience skewed much younger. Suits without ties and Banana Republic evening dresses were the norm. The theater was large, with red velvet curtains and seats. A pair of large, golden Oscar statuettes guarded the borders of the stage.

Sid Ganis, head of the Academy, gave a friendly and brief welcome speech, congratulating the winners. Clips of all the films in a category were shown, then an industry figure would give out the awards.

Well-known cinematographer Caleb Deschanel handed out the Documentary awards. Gold went to a polished film about Rwandan genocide survivors attempting to forgive the men who murdered their families. Despite the powerful topic, the film itself left me unaffected. The plodding cuts of angry face to apologetic face to confessional shot felt uncomfortably close to Real World: Rwanda. Though we only saw a clip, the silver winner, UNATTACHED, looked more interesting. It's about the crisis of single adults in the New York Orthodox Jewish community. Highlight: An exasperated Jewish 20-something man describing how his longest relationship (six-months) ended because the woman could not remember his phone number. "I'm a numbers man," he explained.

Todd Holland, a television director, handed out the awards for Alternative and Animation. VIOLA, a bizarre, unsettling film that featured a little girl climbing floating chairs and hugging a headless man won the Alternative category. I enjoyed it. With the right music and a few more creepy visuals, it could sit nicely among the Tool music video oeuvre.

Animation Gold winner was the hand-drawn ZOOLOGIC, which beat out two computer animated shorts. The look was rough pencil sketches against near empty backgrounds, but charming characters and perfect timing ironically made polished computer generated films feel less considered in comparison. All three were fantastic, though. It'll be a crime if all three filmmakers are not snatched up by Pixar or Disney right away.

Winner were announced in the order of Bronze, then Silver, then Gold. So, as Todd Holland quipped, "you don't want to be called first." In the Narrative category, the Bronze went to a film titled PITSTOP. As soon as presenter Jason Reitman (THANK YOU FOR SMOKING, JUNO) announced the Silver winner was from Florida State University, there was an audible murmur in the room.



What I remember most about Rajeev's acceptance speech for the Gold award was Jason Reitman, a charismatic and engaging presenter, standing behind him, laughing and appearing to genuinely enjoy Rajeev's all-inclusive acknowledgments (he even personally thanked Jason). You can see Jason's face juuuust peeking over Rajeev's shoulder in the above photo.

They then screened all the Gold winners, and brought up the lights. It was a mad house in the entry hall, with the winners being swarmed by well-wishers, Rajeev no exception. We spoke briefly, then Mitch and I retired to Islands Restaurant on Beverly for a pair of gut-bomb burgers.