Above from left to right: Yu Yu, Yining Li, Hua Tong, Kelley Kali

The Student Academy Awards recognizes standout projects made by students enrolled in
colleges and universities around the world, with Gold, Silver and Bronze medals going to
awardees whose films emerge as the best of their categories. Of the more than 1500 entries
from 400 schools represented in this year’s competition, USC School of Cinematic Arts student
films claimed prizes in narrative, documentary and animation categories for U.S.-based
programs:

Narrative:
Gold, Spring Flower, Directed by Hua Tong (MFA, Film & Television Production),
A college-age woman in rural China struggles to escape forced marriage.

Other SCA Contributors:

Mengxue Hou - Editor
Jingjue Zhou - Sound

Silver, Lalo’s House, Directed by Kelley Kali (MFA, Film & Television Production)

Haitian sisters are abducted and sold into a child trafficking ring posing as a Catholic orphanage.

Other SCA Contributors include:
Yasemin Yilmaz - Co–Writer
Victor Pourcel – Producer
Xing-Mai Deng – Cinematographer
Jeremy Deneau – Editor

Masks, Directed by Mahaliyah Ayla O (MFA, Film & Television Production) was a finalist in the Narrative category.  A closeted Persian woman is outed in the aftermath of a tragedy.

Documentary:
Silver, Love & Loss, Directed by Yiying Li (MFA, Film & Television Production)
Two young women with disabilities explore the search for love and acceptance.

Other SCA Contributors:

Stephanie Hernandez and Xiangyi Cai - Producers 
Huazhang Dai – Cinematographer
Adam Kunsberg,  Jinghe Cai- Editors 
Jiaqing Gu and Davy McCall – Sound 
Andrew Allen and Adam Kunsberg – Music 

Animation:
Silver, Daisy, Written, Produced, Directed by Yu Yu (MFA, Animation)
A girl and her robot show that acquiring a desired object doesn’t always lead to the
expected outcome.