Thirty-two students from 20 colleges and universities have been selected as finalists in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' 35th Annual Student Academy Awards competition. Their films will now be screened for and judged by Academy members, who will vote to select the winners. Gold, Silver and Bronze Medal awards, along with accompanying cash prizes of $5,000, $3,000 and $2,000, respectively, may be presented in each of four categories. Winning filmmakers will participate in a week of industry-related and social activities, culminating in the awards ceremony on June 7. The finalists are (listed alphabetically by film title within category): Alternative CIRCLES OF CONFUSION, Phoebe Tooke, San Francisco State University COME WANDER WITH ME, Phillip Van, New York University COMFORT ZONE, Mandi Lin, California College of the Arts A CONVOLUTION OF IMAGINED HISTORIES, Thomas Micah Stansell, Georgia State University DOXOLOGY, Michael Langan, Rhode Island School of Design FISH, Hyun Jeen Lee, The School of Visual Arts, New York VIOLA: THE TRAVELING ROOMS OF A LITTLE GIANT, Shih-Ting Hung, University of Southern California Animation THE GLOAMING, Andrew Huang, University of Southern California MR. POPCORN, Alexander Krivicich, Cornell University, New York PAPER SHEPHERD, David Houry, The Cleveland Institute of Art, Ohio SIMULACRA, Tatchapon Lertwirojkul, The School of Visual Arts SNOW DAY, Kim Hazel, Ringling College of Art and Design, Florida TOUMAI, Carlos Stevens, The Art Institute of Portland, Oregon THE VISIONARY, Evan Mayfield, Ringling College of Art and Design ZOOLOGIC, Nicole Mitchell, California Institute of the Arts Documentary AS WE FORGIVE, Laura Waters Hinson, American University, Washington, D.C. IF A BODY MEET A BODY, Brian Davis, University of Southern California THE LEGEND OF ROSALIE, Nicholas Berger, Stanford University RECRUITER, Adam Salky, Columbia University, New York SONG OF A SPERM DONOR, Emmanuel Dayan, Stanford University TIJUANA, Nada Mas, Yolanda Pividal, City College of New York UNATTACHED, J.J. Adler, Columbia University Narrative CASSANDRA, Mauricio Chernovetzky, San Diego State University A DAY'S WORK, Rajeev Dassani, University of Southern California A DEATH IN PROGRESS, Donald Bitters III, Columbia College Chicago MR. A., Joe Murphy, Columbia University PAL/SECAM, Dmitry Povolotsky, Columbia University PICTURE DAY, Nick Paley, New York University PITSTOP, Melanie McGraw, University of Southern California RED WEDNESDAY, Nazanin Shirazi, University of Texas at Austin THE STATE OF SUNSHINE, Z. Eric Yang, Florida State University WIANBU -- COMFORT WOMAN, James Bang, Columbia University Phillip Van (in the Alternative category) won the Silver Medal in the Narrative category in 2007 with his film HIGH MAINTENANCE. To reach this stage, students competed in one of three regional competitions. Each region is permitted to send to the Academy up to three finalist films in each of the four categories. A foreign student also will be honored by the Academy in the Honorary Foreign Film category. Academy voters have selected students from the Czech Republic, Spain, Germany, Israel and Slovenia as finalists. The Academy established the Student Academy Awards in 1972 to support and encourage excellence in filmmaking at the collegiate level. Past Student Academy Award winners have gone on to receive 35 Oscar nominations and have won or shared six Academy Awards. Two former Student Academy Award winners were nominees at the 80th Academy Awards held earlier this year -- James Longley and Amanda Micheli were nominated in the Documentary Short Subject category (for different films). Tickets for the 35th Annual Student Academy Awards presentation ceremony, at which the Gold Medal-winning films and the winning foreign student film will be screened in their entirety, are free and now available. A maximum of four tickets may be requested online at www.oscars.org, in person at the Academy box office, by mail, or by calling the Student Academy Awards department at 310-247-3000, ext. 130. The ceremony will be held on Saturday, June 7, at 6 p.m. at the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theater, located at 8949 Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly Hills. Doors open at 5 p.m. All seating is unreserved.

The 35th Annual WorldFest is one of the oldest film & video festivals in America and the world. WorldFest gave first honors to Spielberg, Lucas, David Lynch, Randall Kleiser, Oliver Stone, Ridley Scott, The Coen Brothers, Ang Lee, Michael Cimino and hundreds of others. WorldFest offers more than $25,000 in cash and equipment awards, including the $2500 Kodak Raw Stock Award. There are 6 production seminars presented by top industry talents, such as cinematographers Vilmos Szigmund and Laszlo Kovacs,special effects director Richard Edlund, and director Robert Wise.

The Phoenix AZ film writer Craig Outhier stated "FORGET SUNDANCE! ... WorldFest is one of the best conceived film festival productions on the planet." We screen in 35mm and digi-beta & Beta-SP only on the Christie 6000 DLP Roadie. We select 60 new features for premiere and we unspool 100 new shorts, docs, student and experimental films. On big screens in new theaters, not hotel rooms! A visit to our web site and a review of the filmmaker "Comments" will say all that needs to be said about WorldFest.

Please consider this your personal invitation to be part of the festival of discovery, WorldFest-Houston!

Founded in August 1961, WorldFest is the 3rd oldest competitive International film festival in North America. We gave first honors and awards to Spielberg, George Lucas, Randall Kleiser, Ridley Scott, Ang Lee, The Coen Brothers, Robert Rodriguez and many more. We screen just 55 new features and around 100 new shorts, in 35mm and digital video DLP projection in a large commercial theatre complex. There is great networking as more than 450 intl filmmakers attend, and the general audience exceeds 25,000 in the 10 day event. There is an awards gala, Parties, Texas BBQ, Regatta on the bay, VIP Tour of NASA, Festival Club (no stinkin' badges required) and six professional production seminars... a fun, friendly and exciting festival. Complimentary VIP Gold Pass to all invited filmmakers, and VIP Passes star as low as $100 each. There is complete entry and attend info on the website.

An international film and video festival in its third year accepts film and video entries in all genres from any part of the world. The event is held from the end of September to the first week of October in the beautiful capital city of Abuja, Nigeria. There are no entry fees as the festival accepts 35MM, Super 16MM, 16MM, DVCAM, HDCAM, etc.

Deadline for entry is 30th June 2OO6.

Anifest 2004 is a celebration of animation in all forms. The festival accepts feature-length films, shorts, TV films, TV serials, video clips, advertisements, introductory spots and student films. Festival prizes will be awarded by two international professional juries. For more information, contact the festival at Corona s.r.o. - AniFest 2004, Jindricha Plachty 28, 150 00 Praha 5, Czech Republic; tel: + 420 257 324 507; fax: + 420 257 324 508; e-mail: info@anifest.cz; or Web: www.anifest.cz.

Metreon-A Sony Entertainment Center presents the 3rd annual Metreon Festival of Anime from 10:00 am-11:00 pm. Metreon's Festival of Anime will offer hundreds of fans a chance to experience the latest anime in an energetic, social atmosphere. Festival-goers will preview the newest products in Bandai's newly-expanded Metreon shop, compete in costume and model building contest, and meet and interact with other anime fans, while viewing an line-up of the latest films inside Metreon's Action Theatre. This year's Metreon Festival of Anime will feature titles from internationally-renowned anime authority, Bandai Entertainment and will culminate with the premiere of WITCH HUNTER ROBIN, which fans will experience in Action Theatre's 4D rumble seats. In addition, attendees will get a sneak peek at the new ASTRO BOY series coming to the Kids' WB! in early 2004. For more information visit www.acteva.com/go/metreon.

The 3rd Annual Urban Mediamakers Film Festival 2004 highlights the best in independent cinema. On Oct. 21, Urban Mediamakers Film Festival 2004 Ultimate Networking Event will include dinner, drinks, "Indie Filmmaking" panel discussion, short film competition screenings, vendors and entertainment. On Oct. 22, the Urban Mediamakers Film Festival 2004 Celebration of Music will feature dinner, drinks, "Independent Music and Videos" panel discussion, music video competition screenings, vendors and entertainment. On Oct. 23, the Urban Mediamakers Film Festival 2004 will host all day film screenings, vendors, "Indie Media Awards Celebration 2004" closing event and the UMFF After Party. For more information visit www.urbanmediamakers.com, call (770) 345-8048 or e-mail at umff@urbanmediamakers.com.

Beverly Hills Film Festival began in 2001 to showcase and promote the most auspicious non-studio films to the entertainment elite. Beverly Hills Film Festival

The third Liverpool Biennial is the U.K.'s international festival of contemporary art. The Biennial is delivered in association with the city's major visual arts organizations Tate Liverpool, The Walker, Bluecoat Art Centre and the Foundation for Art & Creative Technology (FACT), as well as smaller galleries and some surprising alternative spaces. The program includes films, talks, parades, performances, live art workshops, launches, conferences and parties. The Biennial's four key strands of International 04, John Moores 23, Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2004 and The Independent. International 04 is the critical focus of the Biennial with artworks commissioned for the city giving visitors a unique experience of Liverpool. The Independent is a series of exhibitions generated by artists, architects, filmmakers and other practitioners. John Moores 23 is the U.K.'s most prestigious and longest-running national open painting competition. Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2004 is the annual exhibition by students and recent graduates selected from Fine Art colleges throughout the U.K. For more information, visit www.biennial.com.

The 3rd Orinda Film Festival highlights films from around world that inspire, educate, challenge and provoke audiences to explore other viewpoints and forms of expression. Features, shorts, docs, animation, experimental films and music videos are all accepted. Programs this year include a spotlight program for emerging high school filmmakers. Additionally, the online community triggerstreet.com will present a unique program of short films from around the world. This group of 10 shorts was selected from more than 1,400 entries voted on by a truly international audience of online film enthusiasts. In addition, we also showcase the work of accomplished artists and larger productions featuring celebrity casts and crews. For more information, visit www.orindafilmfestival.org.