Student Oscars: two award-winning French animated short films

Two French animated short films will be awarded student Oscars, the Academy announced on Wednesday, which awards these prizes to young hopefuls in cinema. This 53rd edition, organized in partnership with Rolex, this year brought together nearly 3,000 applications from nearly 900 higher education establishments around the world, among which sixteen students were ultimately distinguished.

The two films are among three nominees who will compete for medals ranging from gold to bronze, in the animation category, during a ceremony to be held on September 14 during the Toronto International Film Festival, Canada.

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Among them, the short film Cows follows a cow, tired of her daily life, who leaves her farm for another operation because she thinks the grass is greener elsewhere. It was produced by Jonathan Lally, Elio Molinaro and Nicolás Acevedo Ferraté, from the École Supérieure de Métiers Artistiques (ESMA). Under its fable-like appearance, the short film explores the notions of freedom, desire for something else and disillusionment.

The other French competitor, Gauze, focuses on a Palestinian teenager, swimming champion, confronted with war and famine. It is signed Noran Fikri Alezabi, Xinyue Ma and Yulin Yue, students from the Gobelins school located in Paris.

A springboard to Hollywood

The Student Oscars are very popular in Hollywood. Past winners include Spike Lee, Pete Docter (creator of Monsters & Co. and Up there), Robert Zemeckis (director of Back to the future ), and Cary Joji Fukunaga (director of Dying can wait).

Beyond the symbolic recognition, the winners of the gold, silver and bronze medals will benefit from an intensive training weekend, privileged access to the Academy network, and above all direct eligibility for the 99^th edition of the Oscars in the animated short film, fiction or documentary categories. Created in 1972, the Students Academy Awards allow young talents from around the world to make a name for themselves in the film industry.