‘9′ director Acker among student Oscar winner notables
First, some exposition: The Student Academy Awards are a national competition conducted each year by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to celebrate the best animation, documentary, narrative and alternative film efforts from U.S. and international students. Over 500 projects are reviewed each year, with the winners not only receiving medals in a ceremony at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater, but also cash and award grants. In addition to Acker, some of the industry’s biggest names have a Student Academy Award on their mantles, including:В
Pete Docter, whose animated short “Next Door,” about two highly dysfunctional neighbors, won the Animation Gold Medal. Docter later received Oscar noms for “Toy Story,” “Monsters, Inc.” and served as executive producer on “Wall-E.”
Ken Kwapis, who earned the Dramatic Achievement Award for 1982’s “For Heaven’s Sake,” an adaptation of Mozart’s one-act opera “The Impresario.” Kwapis went on to work extensively in film and television, including episodes of “The Office,” “Freaks and Geeks,” “The Larry Sanders Show,” and the theatrical releases “He’s Just Not That Into You” and “Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants.”
John Lasseter, who won back-to-back Animation Achievement Awards for “Lady and the Lamp” and “Nitemare” in 1979 and 1980, respectively. Lasseter is, of course, the chief creative officer at Pixar and Walt Disney Animation Studios and Principal Creative Advisor for Walt Disney Imagineering, as well as director of “Toy Story,” “A Bug’s Life,” and “Toy Story 2.”
Spike Lee, whose “Joe’s Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads,” won the Dramatic Merit Award for its story of life and redemption in a New York City barbershop, went on to direct such notable features as “Do the Right Thing,” “Mo’ Better Blues,” “Malcolm X,” “The Inside Man,” and “Miracle at St. Anna.”
“South Park” co-creator Trey Parker landed a 1993 Animation Silver Award (with Chris Graves) for “American History,” a typically skewed comic look at the country’s past through the eyes of a deeply uninformed student.
Robert Zemeckis’ 1975 comedy “A Field of Honor” not only won him the Dramatic Special Jury Prize, but helped to introduce him to Steven Spielberg, who was critical in helping to shape his future career, which included such blockbusters as the “Back to the Future” trilogy, “Who Framed Roger Rabbit,” “Forrest Gump,” “Cast Away,” and “The Polar Express.”
– Paul Gaita
Photo: Focus Features