USC Tops DGA Student Film Awards For Second Straight Year

Student filmmakers from USC led the way with four wins at this year’s DGA Student Film Awards honoring African-American, Latino, Asian-American and female directors. It’s the second year in a row that USC has garnered the most honors, tying Chapman University last year with four awards each.

This year, students from Chapman in Orange County and NYC’s Columbia University each won two awards, which are designed to encourage and bring attention to exceptional diverse directors in film schools and select universities from across the country.

“We’re honored to bring attention to this exceptional group of filmmakers through the 24th Annual DGA Student Film Awards,” said DGA president Thomas Schlamme. “Highlighting emerging talent is a vital part of the DGA’s ongoing commitment to inclusion, and we’re proud that a number of our past winners found success in film and television. We look forward to following the careers of these promising directors.”

The 2018 winners, selected by blue ribbon DGA member panels, are:

BEST AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDENT FILMMAKERS:

West Region
Award Winner: Rachel Bass of Chapman University – “Thicker than Water”
Jury Award: Andrew Reid of USC – “ASIA A”

East Region
Award Winner: Rashad Frett of New York University – “K.I.N.G.”

BEST ASIAN AMERICAN STUDENT FILMMAKERS:

West Region
Award Winner: Sohil Vaidya of USC – “Difficult People”
Jury Award: Lin Sun of Art Center College of Design – “AI-Pocalypse”

East Region
Award Winner: Chieh Yang of Columbia University – “Tail End of the Year”

BEST LATINO STUDENT FILMMAKERS

West Region
Award Winner: Brian Robau of Chapman University – “Esta es tu Cuba”
Jury Award: Victor Alonso-Berbel of USC – “Perfectly Natural”

East Region
Award Winner: Victoria Rivera of Columbia University – “Verde”

BEST WOMEN STUDENT FILMMAKERS

West Region
Award Winner: Kelley Kali of USC – “Lalo’s House”
Jury Award: Dilek Ince of CSUN – “Amal”

East Region
Award Winner: Paola Ossa of Montclair University – “Catalina”
Jury Award: Samantha Geis of Savannah College of Art and Design – “Rock and a Hard Place”

The West Region award-winning films are being screened as part of today’s awards presentation ceremony at the DGA Theater in Los Angeles. The East Region screenings and ceremony will take place at the DGA Theater in New York on Friday.

Past winners who have gone on to successful directing careers Jon M. Chu, Ryan Coogler, Nicole Kassell, Patricia Riggen and Sylvain White.

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