The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has awarded Student Academy Award medals in the “Documentary” category to New York University’s Giorgio Ghiotto, who received the gold, and Lyuwei Chen, who received the silver.
Ghiotto and Chen are both 2022 graduates of the Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute’s News and Documentary program, whose students and alumni have now won 10 Student Academy award medals.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced in September that Chen, Ghiotto, and 12 others had been voted winners of the competition. Last evening, during a ceremony at the Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, the medal placements—gold, silver, and bronze—for each of these winners were revealed in the following categories: “Alternative/Experimental,” “Animation,” “Documentary,” and “Narrative.”
“This is an extraordinary achievement by my students based on hard work, dedication, creativity and the example of the students who came before them,” says Professor Marcia Rock, director of the News and Documentary program.
All Student Academy Award-winning films are eligible to compete for 2023 Oscars® in the Animated Short Film, Live Action Short Film, or Documentary Short Film category.
Ghiotto’s documentary Wings of Dust follows a Quechua indigenous journalist, Vidal Merma, who is fighting the damage inflicted on K’ana Nation land by mineral mining supported by the Peruvian government.
Chen’s documentary, Duet, chronicles the struggles of the musician Bright Sheng during China’s Cultural Revolution and the uncertainty Sheng, now an accomplished composer, faces today in guiding his talented 11-year-old pianist daughter.
These productions were Ghiotto’s and Chen’s thesis documentaries.
Past Student Academy Award winners have gone on to receive 67 Oscar® nominations and have won or shared 12 awards. The Student Academy Awards were established in 1972.
