Twenty-nine film students representing schools in 18 countries are competing for this year's Honorary Foreign Film Award in the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences' 23rd Annual Student Academy Awards' competition.
This is the 16th year the Foreign Film Award has been included in the programme. Entries have been received from Australia, Austria, Belgium (four entries), Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Egypt, Greece (two entries), Germany (three entries), Hungary, Israel (three entries), Mexico, The Netherlands, Poland, Slovak Republic, Switzerland, Ukraine and the United Kingdom (four entries).
Foreign students compete among themselves for the Honorary Award, but not with students from the US, who have their own contest. All the winners will be flown to Los Angeles for a week of industry-related activities and social events, culminating in the gala Awards Presentation ceremony on 9 June at the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theatre in Beverly Hills.
Winning the Foreign Student Oscar with Maedli la brèche in 1981 was Jaco van Dormael, whose second feature, Le huitième jour, runs in competition at Cannes this year screening on the eighth day, 16 May. Van Dormael was also the winner of the Caméra d'Or in 1991 for his first film Toto le héros, which screened in that year's Directors' Fortnight.
Christopher Pickard
