Lachlan Pendragon’s stop-motion short An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It has won a Gold medal at the Student Academy Awards.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) honoured its student winners during an in-person ceremony at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures’ David Geffen Theater in Los Angeles on Thursday evening (LA time).
An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It was made by Pendragon while studying at Griffith Film School.
It follows a young telemarketer who receives a disconcerting revelation about the world from a flightless bird. He must put aside his dwindling toaster sales and focus on convincing his colleagues of his terrifying discovery.
Accepting his prize, Pendragon thanked his mentors, supervisors, university teachers, and a high school teacher for encouraging him to pursue filmmaking as a potential career.
“To my supervisors on this film – Peter Moyes and Louise Harvey – thank you so much… Thank you to Griffith Film School where I produced this film,” he said.
“It’s been an amazing week and it’s been amazing to spend time with some incredible filmmakers who enjoy doing this just as much as I do.”
An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It screen at Annecy International Animated Film Festival in June, where it was nominated for Best Graduation Short, followed by the Melbourne International Film Festival, where it won the $11,000 prize for Best Australian Short Film.
Winners of the Student Academy Awards were first announced September, but the filmmaking teams only found out what medal they had won – gold, silver or bronze – during the ceremony.
This year, the Student Academy Awards competition received a total of 1,796 entries from 614 colleges and universities around the world.
All Student Academy Award-winning films are eligible to compete for Oscars in the Animated Short Film, Live Action Short Film or Documentary Short Film category.
Past winners include Patricia Cardoso, Pete Docter, Spike Lee, Patricia Riggen and Robert Zemeckis. Student Academy Award winning films have gone on to receive 65 Oscar nominations and have won or shared 14 awards.
Full list of winners:
Alternative/Experimental
Gold: “Against Reality,” Olivia Peace, University of Southern California
Animation
Gold: “An Ostrich Told Me the World Is Fake and I Think I Believe It,” Lachlan Pendragon, Griffith Film School, Australia
Silver: “Laika & Nemo,” Jan Gadermann and Sebastian Gadow, Konrad Wolf Film University of Babelsberg, Germany
Bronze: “The Seine’s Tears,” Yanis Belaid, Eliott Benard and Nicolas Mayeur, Pôle 3D Digital & Creative School, France
Documentary
Gold: “Found,” Shuhao Tse, New York University
Silver: “Here to Stay,” Jared Peraglia, New York University
Bronze: “Seasons,” Gabriella Canal and Michael Fearon, Columbia University
Narrative
Gold: “Almost Home,” Nils Keller, University of Television and Film Munich, Germany
Silver: “Rooms,” Welf Reinhart, University of Television and Film Munich, Germany
Bronze: “Shedding Angels,” Freddy Macdonald, American Film Institute
Watch the ceremony on YouTube here.