All These Voices, a short film directed by David Henry Gerson, has been nominated for a Student Academy Award. It was co-written by the Slovenian screenwriter Martin Horvat, who last year graduated from the American Film Institute (AFI).

The Student Academy Awards were established in 1972 to promote “excellence in filmmaking at the collegiate level”. Only university and college filmmakers are eligible for the award, and the winners are awarded cash grants and stipends. Awards are presented in four categories: animation, documentary, narrative, and alternative. No fewer than eight winners of the Student Academy Awards later went on to win a ‘real’ Oscar, including Spike Lee, Trey Parker, Pete Docter, Robert Zemeckis, and John Lasseter.

All These Voices has been nominated in the alternative category. The other nominees for this award are: Cloud Kumo (dir. Yvonne Ng, City College of New York), Made of Sugar (dir. Kevin Rios, NYU), Nova Initia (dir. Scott Thompson, Art Institute of Colorado), and The Swan Girl (dir. Johnny Coffeen, Maharishi University of Management). The winners of the award will be announced on 22 September.

The script for All These Voices was written by David Henry Gerson, Martin Horvat, and Brennan Elizabeth Peters. The film tells a story about a “young Nazi soldier who finds a theatre troupe of survivors celebrating the end of World War II; the soldier is then forced to come to terms with his role in their suffering.” Starring in the film are Beata Pozniak Daniels, Kristof Konrad, Kasia Kowalczyk, Anthony Nikolchev, Kinga Philipps, and Harrison Thomas.

A.J.; translated by D.V.