BAFTA announces winners of 2021 GSA BAFTA Student Awards

The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) has announced the winners of the 2021 GSA BAFTA Student Awards in a digital ceremony hosted by actor Elliot Knight. The presentation is available to watch on BAFTA’s YouTube channel.

The BAFTA Student Film Award for Animation was awarded to Hugo Caby, Antoine Dupriez, Aubin Kubiak, Lucas Lermytte and Zoé Devise from Pôle 3D, France for Migrants. The BAFTA Student Film Award for Documentary was awarded to Yucong Rae Chen from the University of Southern California, USA for Unfinished Lives. The BAFTA Student Film Award for Live Action was awarded to Olivia Hang Zhou from the American Film Institute, USA for Apart, Together.

For the first time ever, winners of the BAFTA Student Award for Games and BAFTA Student Award for Immersive were announced at the virtual ceremony. The BAFTA Student Award for Games was awarded to Guillaume Roux from Isart Digital, France for ‘Symphonia’, while the BAFTA Student Award for Immersive was awarded to Yuxin Gao, Lillyan Ling, Gus Boehling and John Bruneau from New York University, USA for ‘Out for Delivery’.

The Special Jury Prize was presented to Yucong Rae Chen from the University of Southern California, USA for Unfinished Lives. The Special Jury of industry luminaries who selected the winning film included actor Kingsley Ben-Adir (One Night in Miami…), actor and director Colman Domingo (Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom), actor Aasif Mandvi (This Way Up), and costume designer Trish Summerville (Mank).

Three of the five winning projects focused on Chinese subjects, made by Chinese female directors: Apart, Together tells an inter-generational story of pain and resilience in the wake of China’s one-child policy; Out for Delivery follows Chinese migrant-workers in Beijing in January 2020, on the day that Wuhan first went into lockdown due to the outbreak of COVID-19; while Unfinished Lives tells the story of the investigation into and the aftermath of the tragic killing of Chinese USC student, Xinran Ji, in Los Angeles in 2014.

“It is heartwarming to see the breadth of talent and ingenuity among the world’s student population, and the high standard of work being produced despite the many adversities placed in front of them. These remarkable finalists have delivered poignant, important and timely pieces of work and it is our honor to be shining a spotlight on their creativity and achievements. We are proud to be supporting their professional journeys and welcome them all to the BAFTA community,” said BAFTA Los Angeles chair of the board, Kathryn Busby.

Student finalists accepted their awards virtually from their homes, having taken part in a series of online events held by BAFTA. This year’s finalists were from China, South Africa, Norway, Denmark, France, the U.S. and U.K.

Additionally, the BAFTA-GSA Short Film Commissioning Grant was split between three students this year, including Clarisse Chua from California Institute of the Arts, USA who was awarded USD 3,000 for her film Reset/Goosie Project, William Martin from New York University, USA who was awarded USD 3,000 for his film No Home, and Razan Mohamed from American University of Dubai who was awarded USD 6,000 for his film Touba Lahounna Documentary.

The USD 12,000 commissioning grant provides filmmakers with a platform to raise awareness and encourage change in how wellbeing is understood amongst 15 to 25-year-olds. This year’s winning films were selected by the BAFTA-GSA Grant Jury, comprised of Abby Bentley, Brand and Marketing Director at GSA; Lola Blanche, Writer/Director and 2019 BAFTA-GSA Grant recipient; James Costa, Producer and Vice President of the Board of Directors for the International Documentary Association (IDA); Drama Del Rosario, Documentary Filmmaker and 2019 BAFTA-GSA Grant recipient; Sabrina Doyle, Writer/Director, former BAFTA scholar; and Rocio Melara, Director of Development at Hillman Grad Productions.

The GSA BAFTA Student Awards celebrates and rewards the next generation of talented and innovative filmmakers and creatives from around the globe. As one of BAFTA’s most global initiatives, this year’s 15 finalists were selected from over 680 submissions by students from film schools in 34 countries including China, South Africa, Norway, Denmark, France, the USA and the UK.