October 25, 2001
Directors Guild of America President Jack Shea today announced the winners of the DGA 2001 Student Film Awards for African-American, Asian-American, Latino and women filmmakers. The awards, which bring the winners prizes of $2,500 from the DGA along with product grants of 2,000 feet of 16mm film provided by Kodak’s Worldwide Student Film Program to the winner in each group, and 1,200 feet of 16mm film to each honorable mention, are designed to honor, encourage and bring attention to outstanding minority and women film students in California film schools and other select universities. This is the seventh year the DGA Student Film Awards have been handed out.
“The Awards honor, encourage and bring attention to outstanding minority and women film students in West Coast film schools,” said Shea. “We are proud of this opportunity to honor these extremely talented filmmakers who are representative of the Guild’s ongoing commitment to diversity in the entertainment industry.”
The 2001 DGA Student Film Awards will be presented on Tuesday, November 13, 2001, at 7:30 p.m., in Theatre 1 at DGA Headquarters, 7920 Sunset Boulevard, following the screenings of the winning films. The screenings and awards presentation are open to the public. To RSVP, please call 310-289-2034.
The winners in each category are:
AFRICAN-AMERICAN:
- Co-Winner: Mobolaji Olambiwonnu - The Visit - American Film Institute
- Co-Winner: Lorin B Coleman - Faith - Loyola Marymount University
- Honorable Mention: Malissa Strong - VWB (Voting While Black) - Los Angeles City College
ASIAN-AMERICAN:
- Co-Winner: Nick Sivakumaran - Diwali - University Of Southern California
- Co-Winner: Chad S Park - Up - University Of Southern California
LATINO:
- Co-Winner: Jorge Gaggero - A Piece of Earth - American Film Institute
- Co-Winner: Carolina Vila-Ramirez – Roam - University of Southern California
- Honorable Mention: Jose Ochoa - The Golden Rose - University of Southern California
WOMEN:
- Winner: Lori Lovoy-Goran - In Between Days - University of Southern California
- Honorable Mention: Mary Louise Stoughton - Katherine - Art Center College of Design
The awards rules and procedures mandate that competing films must have been made in the 2000/2001 school year (September 2000 through August 2001), and must have been produced for course credit or under the supervision of a faculty member. Dramas, documentaries and experimental films are all eligible -- animated films are not. Applicants must be enrolled in or be a recent (one year) graduate from an accredited post-secondary four-year institution in California or other selected university offering a degree in film or television. Eligible films are those in which a student held every major crew position. Productions in which a non-student, professional or a faculty member served as cinematographer, camera operator, sound recordist, editor, lighting director or screenwriter are not eligible. Panels consisting of DGA members from the respective groups (African-America, Asian-America, Latino and women) reviewed the entries and selected the winners.