Motion Picture Academy Reveals Student Academy Awards Winners; Ceremony Moves To Toronto Film Festival

The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Wednesday revealed winners of this year’s Student Academy Awards. It also said that for the first time, the honors will be presented in correlation with next month’s Toronto Film Festival. A total of 16 students have been selected as winners of the 53rd annual competition out of 2,972 entries from 894 colleges and universities worldwide. The 2026 winners join the ranks of such past winners as Patricia Cardoso, Pete Docter, Spike Lee, Patricia Riggen and Robert Zemeckis. The presentation ceremony will be held at the Toronto Film Festival, inside TIFF Lightbox at Reitman Square, on September 14. Gold, silver and bronze placements in four award categories will be announced at the ceremony. All winning films will be eligible to compete for the 99th Oscars in the Animated Short Film, Live Action Short Film or Documentary Short Film category. Past Student Academy Award winners have gone on to receive 70 Oscar nominations and have won or shared 15 awards. Watch on Deadline The Student Academy Awards, now over a half century old and an ongoing Academy tradition, were established in 1972 to provide a platform for emerging global talent by creating opportunities within the film industry to showcase their work. In addition the awards themselves, winners will participate in a weekend of education programing, networking opportunities and exclusive access to Academy members to support their career advancement. Below are this year’s winners (listed alphabetically by film title):Alternative/Experimental Lei He, “Drifting,” Duke University, United StatesViktorie Štěpánová, “Volklore,” Filmová a Televizní Fakulta Akademie Múzických Umění v Praze (FAMU), Czech RepublicNina Broers, “Where Is My Sex Drive?” St. Joost School of Art & Design, NetherlandsAnimation Jonathan Lally, Elio Molinaro & Nicolás Acevedo Ferraté, “COWS,” École Supérieure de Métiers Artistiques (ESMA), FranceNoran Fikri Alezabi, Xinyue Ma & Yulin Yue, “Gauze,” Gobelins, FranceMatthias Strasser, “The Panic Inside,” Film Academy Baden-Württemberg, GermanyDocumentary Arjun Fischer, “Artificial Love,” University of Southern California, United States Jason Elliott, “I Want to Live,” National Film and Television School, United KingdomLara Dihmis, “The Last People of Petra,” New York University, United States Narrative Stanzin Jigmet, “The Dragon Letter,” Escola Superior de Cinema i Audiovisuals de Catalunya (ESCAC), SpainLeon Korzyński, “Kamathipura Express,” Warsaw Film School, PolandAntoine Boulanger, “The Pichenotte,” Concordia University, Canada