October 28, 1999
The Directors Guild of America has announced the winners of its 1999 Student Film Awards for African-American, Asian/Pacific, Latino and women filmmakers. The awards, which bring prizes of $2500 from the DGA along with product grants of 2000 feet of 16mm film provided by Kodak’s Worldwide Student Film Program to the winner in each group and 1200 feet of 16mm film 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.
The 1999 DGA Student Film Awards will be presented on Tuesday, November 9, 1999, at 7:30 PM, in Theatre 1 at DGA Headquarters, 7920 Sunset Boulevard, following the screenings of the winning films. The screenings and awards presentation are open to the public. To RSVP, please call 310-289-5300.
The winners in each category, selected from approximately 100 entries, are:
AFRICAN-AMERICAN:
Winner: Jennifer Haskin-O'Reggio (USC) Blues for Red
Honorable Mention: Jay Smith (UCLA) Upright
ASIAN/PACIFIC:
Winner: Nathan Adolfson (UCLA) Passing Through
Honorable Mention: Augustine Ma (UCLA) Yolk
LATINO:
Winner: Lisset Barcellos (San Francisco State Univ.) A La Medida "Custom-made"
WOMEN:
Winner: Kennedy Wheatley (USC) Iron Ladies
Honorable Mention: Heather Ragsdale (USC) A Cinnamon Roll Story
The awards rules and procedures mandate that competing films must have been made in the 1998/99 school year (September 1998 - August 1999), 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 which offers a degree in film or television. Eligible films are those in which every major crew position was held by a student. Productions in which a non-student, professional or a faculty member served as cinematographer, camera operator, sound recordist, editor, lighting director or screenwriter are not eligible. Panels consisting of Director members of the DGA from the respective groups (African-American, Asian/Pacific, Latino and women) reviewed the entries and selected the winners.