Two of this year’s Student Oscars® in the Narrative category go to HFF Munich / The graduation film ALMOST HOME and the exercise film EIGENHEIM (ROOMS) each wins a Student Academy Award / ALMOST HOME and EIGENHEIM from HFF’s Feature Film department (co-headed by Prof. Julia von Heinz & Prof. Marcus H. Rosenmüller) are the team effort of numerous HFF students and alumni / This year’s finalists included seven student short films from around the world / Honors in the Narrative category were garnered by a total of three winners / Which of them receives the Student Oscar® in Gold, Silber or Bronze, respectively, remains confidential until the awards ceremony on 20 October in Los Angeles
Munich, 23 September 2022 – This year two Student Academy Awards are going to films by students of the University for Television and Film (HFF Munich): the graduation film ALMOST HOME and the exercise film EIGENHEIM (ROOMS). This was announced by the Academy Gold in Los Angeles yesterday afternoon (local time). The two films, together with five others from around the world, made up the finalists in the category Narrative. For the first time since 2019, the awards presentation will be held live again: on 20 October, at the David Geffen Theatre in Los Angeles. During the ceremony it will be announced who has been awarded the Student Academy Awards in Gold, Silver and Bronze.
HFF President Prof. Bettina Reitz: “This is a fantastic double success for HFF Munich and our Feature Film Department headed by Prof. Julia von Heinz and Prof. Marcus H. Rosenmüller. I warmly congratulate the crews of ALMOST HOME and EIGENHEIM for their two Student Academy Awards, this major international distinction! It gives me special pleasure that two films so different were selected by the Academy this year: ALMOST HOME, a mother-son conflict in space with parallels to the pandemic; and EIGENHEIM, an exercise film dealing with forced eviction. These two captivating, exceptionally intense films are, each in its own way, deeply moving – while also demonstrating the diversity of our students’ work at HFF Munich. This award not only emphasizes, from an international perspective, the high quality of education at HFF Munich, but also offers tremendous encouragement to all young creative talent in Germany.”
Prof. Julia von Heinz & Prof. Marcus H. Rosenmüller, co-heads of the Department for Feature Film at HFF Munich: “Two Oscars in one year is a first. We are endlessly proud of Welf and Nils. In both their films, they have addressed major social issues, treating them with emotional intensity on a human level. Their masterly directing craft becomes practically invisible, one is so immersed in their stories. We are delighted and convey our sincere thanks to the Academy for honoring these two films."
Student Academy Award for:
ALMOST HOME | HFF graduation film
HFF crew: Nils Keller (director), Georg Nikolaus (cinematographer), Philip Hofmann, Jonas Lembeck, Robert Richarz, Carolina Oswald (producers/lehof Media), Lukas Väth (VFX)
Partners: Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR Broadcasting), FilmFernsehFonds Bayern (Film Commission Bayern), ARRI Production Award
Content: Just before their arrival on Earth and suddenly faced with a worldwide outbreak of a highly infectious virus, space scientist Nico and her adolescent son Jakob grapple with a decision: to land or return to outer space for an indefinite period. The mother-and-son’s isolation on the spaceship, against the backdrop of a pandemic raging on Earth, sets the scene for Jakob’s coming-of-age conflict. It turns out Jakob only accompanied his mother on her two-year Mars voyage in order to cure, with the help of strong medication, the rheumatism that has kept him confined to a wheelchair, in great pain. But Jakob has meanwhile made astonishing progress and can hardly wait to be reunited on Earth with his friends and father – he wants to escape his isolation and live. On Earth, however, the life he dreamed of returning to is no longer possible.
Student Academy Award for:
EIGENHEIM (ROOMS) | HFF exercise film (degree-credited)
HFF crew: Welf Reinhart (director), Tünde Sautier (screenplay), Matthias Kofahl (cinematographer), Louis Merki (producer/Merki and Reinhart Film GbR), Giorgia Germeno (production manager)
In collaboration with Bayerischer Rundfunk (BR Broadcasting/Commissioning Editor: HFF alumna Natalie Lambsdorff)
Content: The elderly couple Monika and Werner Baland live in a small three-room flat on the edge of town. One day their new landlady hands them a notice to quit. The young mother wants to move in with her family. The elderly couple’s search for another flat proves to be extraordinarily difficult. Then when the bailiff appears at their door, the couple has only a couple of weeks to find a new flat and avoid eviction. While Monika struggles by all means to find a flat, Werner experiences an increasing threat to his dignity as a human being. Finally, not only is the couple’s home at stake, but also their relationship.
Student Academy Awards
2022 marks the 49th Academy of Motion Picture Arts & Sciences presentation of the Student Academy Awards for young cinematic talent.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has honored 14 students as winners of the 49th Student Academy Awards® competition. This year the Student Academy Awards competition received a total of 1.796 submissions from 614 academies and universities from around the world.
All Student Academy Award-winning films are eligible to compete for the 2022 Oscars®, in the categories Animated Short Film, Live-Action Short Film, or Documentary Short Film. Previous winners have won or shared 65 Oscar® nominations and fourteen awards.
Previous Student Oscars® for films from HFF Munich:
2021 Student Oscar® in Silver for the graduation film ADISA, by Simon Denda
2016 Student Oscar® in Gold for the short film INVENTION OF TRUST, by Alex Schaad
2014 Student Oscar® in Gold for the graduation film NOCEBO, by Lennart Ruff
2000 Student Oscar® for QUIERO SER, by Florian Gallenberger (followed by the Short Film Oscar®)
1994 Student Oscar® for ABGESCHMINKT, by Katja von Garnier