Congratulations to Karishma Dube '19 (MFA, Kanbar Institute, Film & TV) and Talia Smith '19 (BFA, Kanbar Institute, Film & TV) on each winning a 47th Student Academy Award! At a virtual ceremony on October 21st, the Academy will announce the level of the three winners (Gold, Silver, Bronze). The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has voted 18 students as winners of the 47th Student Academy Awards® competition. This year, the Student Academy Awards competition received a total of 1,474 entries from 207 domestic and 121 international colleges and universities.
Karishma's NYU Thesis film, Bittu, was a Telluride Film Festival pick and will be screening at BFI next month. The film follows a young girl named Bittu in a Himalayan village, chronicling her friendship with another little girl and the perils of class divide. The film was produced by fellow Grad Film alum Mary Evangelista '17 (MFA, Kanbar Institute, Film & TV).
Talia's NYU Thesis film, Umama, was produced in Professor Rick Litvin's Advanced Production class and received Second Prize in the Undergraduate category at the 2020 First Run Film Festival. The story chronicles the accute heartache of a domestic worker in South Africa who juggles her own family with the family she works for.