VOA教育报道2024--Student Academy Awards Provide ‘Momentum’ for Young Filmmakers

Student Academy Awards Provide ‘Momentum¹’ for Young Filmmakers

　　While most people know about the Academy Awards in Hollywood — the awards known as the Oscars — few know about the Student Academy Awards.

　　But to those who know about the industry, they are a big deal.

　　A top-three finish at the Student Academy Awards can lift a young filmmaker's career.

　　Freddy Macdonald knows this.

　　His short movie, Shedding Angels, placed third in the narrative² film category in 2022. It was his thesis film after two years of study at the American Film Institute (AFI) in Los Angeles. A thesis is a big project that is needed to complete a study program.

　　Just being selected as a finalist was a dream come true, Macdonald said.

　　"Having that stamp from the Academy helped give me so much momentum to create my first feature film."

　　Macdonald is 23. He said the recognition from the Academy helped launch his career. After the award, he said, investors³ paid more attention to him, and he was able to create excitement for a full-length movie.

　　That movie is a longer version of another one of his short films called Sew Torn. He directed it when he was 19.

　　Sew Torn, he said, tells the story of a seamstress who gets involved in a violent drug deal.

　　The full-length movie will be shown at film festivals this year and Macdonald hopes it will be shown in theaters sometime in the near future.

　　History of success

　　Macdonald could be one of the more recent filmmakers to go on to a successful career in Hollywood after receiving a student award from the Academy.

　　The awards program celebrated⁴ its 50th year in 2023. Some of the past winners include Spike⁵ Lee, known for his movies, Do the Right Thing, Malcolm X, He Got Game and others. Lee won an Oscar in 2019 for BlacKkKlansman.

　　Lee won his student award in 1983 when he was studying at New York University (NYU). His film was Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads.

　　Other student winners include Robert Zemeckis, who won an Oscar for directing Forrest Gump in 1994. Pete Docter won a student award, too. He later earned Oscars for his animated⁶ films Up, Inside Out and Soul.

　　Kendra Carter is a Vice⁷ President at the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, which runs both awards programs. She said the Academy hopes to open the film industry to people from many different backgrounds and "create a pool of highly skilled, diverse talent."

　　Serious exposure

　　In 2023, 640 members of the Academy voted on the awards, which means the student work was seen by hundreds of people in Hollywood. In addition to the award, many students come away from the event with a business agent who can help them get more work.

　　But that's not all. The gold-medal winners can choose to have their work submitted for the Academy Awards. Last year, an animated short film by a student from Australia, An Ostrich⁸ Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It, was considered for an Oscar.

　　"Once your name is tied to a Student Academy Award, it just opens all of these doors," the Academy's Carter said. "It's so transformative for emerging filmmakers."

　　The program is now open to young filmmakers from around the world. Giorgio Ghiotto of Italy is a student at NYU. He won the gold medal in October for his documentary short film Wings of Dust.

　　"Everyone thinks it's impossible to be a documentary filmmaker unless you're rich, or super lucky," Ghiotto said. He called his success "an impossible dream."

　　Macdonald said the opportunity to compete with student filmmakers from around the world was both "extremely daunting⁹ and exciting." He said it was a great experience to go to the awards ceremony and meet so many creative people from around the world.

　　School experience

　　He would not have gotten that experience without going to film school. Macdonald said he thought about going to an undergraduate film program first.

　　"And then towards the end of high school, kind of, I knew I wanted to be a filmmaker, but the big question came what college am I gonna go to? Where should I be applying? And so, I started looking at all the different paths in terms of film school and the American Film Institute always jumped off the page to me...But I didn't think that would be a possibility because it is a graduate program, and I was applying as a high school senior."

　　Macdonald applied¹⁰ and was the youngest person ever accepted into the directing program. He was qualified¹¹ because by then, he had already made a short film and done other directing jobs. But because he did not have a college degree, AFI gave him a "certificate of completion" at the end.

　　While in school, he learned more about the business side of filmmaking than he expected. He learned how to write a proposal that aimed to make investors excited to finance a film.

　　"And that was really helpful for me to kind of wrap my head around the different ways you can make movies."

　　‘An honor'

　　Before being nominated for a Student Academy Award, Macdonald had everything he needed to enter the film industry. He had strong experience before attending AFI. He learned even more in school. He even got attention from some film studios. But the Student Academy Award experience gave him something more. It gave him the sense that other people believed in what he was doing.

　　"The Academy recognizing it (my film) really gave me belief in myself that the stories that I want to tell are worth telling and that I should keep pursuing them."

　　The lesson, Macdonald added, was that the Academy liked his work and he, in his words, "should keep fighting to make movies."

　　Words in This Story

　　career –n. a job or profession that a person has for a long time

　　narrative –adj. telling a story

　　stamp –n. a mark of approval

　　momentum –n. a push that continues movement into the future

　　seamstress –n. a woman who sews or repairs clothing

　　animated –adj. involving moving pictures or cartoons rather than live-action film

　　diverse –adj. involving many different examples of something

　　transformative –adj. causing complete change

　　emerging –adj. just beginning to develop into something fully¹²

　　pursue –v. to chase, follow or simply continue doing something

1 momentum   

n.动力，冲力，势头；动量

参考例句：

• We exploit the energy and momentum conservation laws in this way.我们就是这样利用能量和动量守恒定律的。
• The law of momentum conservation could supplant Newton's third law.动量守恒定律可以取代牛顿第三定律。

2 narrative   

n.叙述，故事；adj.叙事的，故事体的

参考例句：

• He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
• Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。

3 investors   

n.投资者，出资者( investor的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• a con man who bilked investors out of millions of dollars 诈取投资者几百万元的骗子
• a cash bonanza for investors 投资者的赚钱机会

4 celebrated   

adj.有名的，声誉卓著的

参考例句：

• He was soon one of the most celebrated young painters in England.不久他就成了英格兰最负盛名的年轻画家之一。
• The celebrated violinist was mobbed by the audience.观众团团围住了这位著名的小提琴演奏家。

5 spike   

n.长钉，钉鞋；v.以大钉钉牢，使...失效

参考例句：

• The spike pierced the receipts and held them in order.那个钉子穿过那些收据并使之按顺序排列。
• They'll do anything to spike the guns of the opposition.他们会使出各种手段来挫败对手。

6 animated   

adj.生气勃勃的，活跃的，愉快的

参考例句：

• His observations gave rise to an animated and lively discussion.他的言论引起了一场气氛热烈而活跃的讨论。
• We had an animated discussion over current events last evening.昨天晚上我们热烈地讨论时事。

7 vice   

n.坏事；恶习；[pl.]台钳，老虎钳；adj.副的

参考例句：

• He guarded himself against vice.他避免染上坏习惯。
• They are sunk in the depth of vice.他们堕入了罪恶的深渊。

8 ostrich   

n.鸵鸟

参考例句：

• Ostrich is the fastest animal on two legs.驼鸟是双腿跑得最快的动物。
• The ostrich indeed inhabits continents.鸵鸟确实是生活在大陆上的。

9 daunting   

adj.使人畏缩的

参考例句：

• They were faced with the daunting task of restoring the house.他们面临着修复房子的艰巨任务。
• Starting a new job can be a daunting prospect.开始一项新工作有时会让人望而却步。

10 applied   

adj.应用的；v.应用，适用

参考例句：

• She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
• This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。

11 qualified   

adj.合格的，有资格的，胜任的，有限制的

参考例句：

• He is qualified as a complete man of letters.他有资格当真正的文学家。
• We must note that we still lack qualified specialists.我们必须看到我们还缺乏有资质的专家。

12 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。