Two Swiss directors honoured with Student Oscar

Two short fiction films from Switzerland are among the grand winners of the 40^th Student Academy Awards. “Parvaneh,” Talkhon Hamzavi’s graduation film at the Zurich University of the Arts, is one of the three winners in the Best Foreign Film category. “Un mundo para Raúl,” Mauro Mueller’s graduation film at the Columbia University in New York coproduced by Contrast Film (Zurich), is one of the three winners in the Narrative category.

Gold, silver or bronze?
The two filmmakers and their producers will know whether their films won a gold, silver or bronze medal on June 8. The Student Oscars are awarded in five categories: Alternative, Animation, Documentary, Foreign and Narrative. The two films gain a great deal of attention by winning the award. The 24-minute film “Parvaneh” has already won two awards and been screened at about ten festivals; the 15-minute film “Un mundo para Raúl” has already been invited to approximately 15 festivals and garnered eight awards.

Historic success for Swiss short films
This marks the first time that two short films from Switzerland have won a Student Oscar in the same year. The two directors Talkon Hamzavi and Mauro Mueller will travel to Los Angeles at the beginning of June to participate in the Student Academy Awards Week, which culminates in the awards ceremony at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills on June 8, 2013.
Until now two Swiss directors have been honoured with the coveted award trophy: Reto Caffi for “Auf der Strecke” in the Foreign category in 2008; and Michael Schaerer for “Warmth” in the Alternative category in 2001.

Geneva, May 14, 2013