October 19, 2004
Directors Guild of America President Michael Apted today announced the winners of the DGA 2004 Student Film Awards for African-American, Asian-American, Latino and women filmmakers. The awards, which bring the winners prizes of $2,500 from the DGA along with a product grant valued at $1,000 provided by Kodak's Worldwide Student Film Program to the winner in each group, and a product grant valued at $500 to each honorable mention, are designed to honor, encourage and bring attention to outstanding minority and women film students in California film schools and other select universities. This is the ninth year the DGA Student Film Awards have been handed out.
The winners in each category are:
Best African-American Student Filmmaker:
- Winner: Kenneth R. Williams of the American Film Institute for A Beautiful Life
- Honorable Mention: Garrett Thompson of the University of Southern California for Hope's Choice
Best Asian-American Student Filmmaker:
- Winner: Dong Hyeuk Hwang of University of Southern California for Miracle Mile
Best Latino Student Filmmaker:
- Winner: Anthony M. Puente of the University of California at Los Angeles for Diego
- Honorable Mention: Alonso Filmeno Mayo of the American Film Institute for Wednesday Afternoon
Best Woman Student Filmmaker:
- Winner: Stacey Kattman of Chapman University for Love Thy Neighbor
- Honorable Mention: Georgiana Gomez of Chapman University for Tyrone Jones
The awards rules and procedures mandate that competing films must have been made in the 2003/2004 school year (September 2003 through August 2004), and must have been produced for course credit or under the supervision of a faculty member. Dramas, documentaries and experimental films are all eligible -- animated films are not. Applicants must be enrolled in or be a recent (one year) graduate from an accredited post-secondary four-year institution in California or other selected university offering a degree in film or television. Eligible films are those in which a student held every major crew position. Productions in which a non-student, professional or a faculty member served as cinematographer, camera operator, sound recordist, editor, lighting director or screenwriter may be disqualified. Panels consisting of DGA members from the respective groups (African-American, Asian-American, Latino and women) reviewed the entries and selected the winners.
The award-winning films will be screened and the awards presented at the 2004 DGA Student Film Awards on Wednesday, November 10, 2004 at 7:30 p.m., in Theatre 1 at DGA Headquarters, 7920 Sunset Boulevard. The screenings and awards presentation are open to the public. To RSVP, please call (310) 289-5373.