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Mathews Student Oscar finalist

Press Release from AFTRS

Emily is AFTRS first success in this prestigious and landmark film competition.

The short was voted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Student Academy Awards Executive Committee as one of the finalists in this year’s Foreign Film Award category. The Academy received 51 films from 29 different countries this year. Final voting for the winning film is held in May with an announcement around mid-May.

The first Honorary Foreign Film Award was in 1981and AFTRS has been invited to enter a student film each year since. This is the very first year that an AFTRS short has been chosen as a finalist for the Student Oscar accolade. The winner of this gains automatic eligibility to enter for the ‘real’ Oscars later in the year. FYI AFTRS have had 3 shorts nominated for the actual Academy Awards in the past.

The 19 and a half minute short film EMILY has been written and directed by Ben Mathews and is a psychological thriller. Ben is an AFTRS Directing graduate (2010) who is currently also doing a Screenwriting Graduate Diploma at AFTRS. Ben was part of the team that recently cleaned up at the OPTUS One80 project awards for their work on Deadbeat Dads.

Ben is excited about creating compelling, powerful, innovative, unique and entertaining work as a writer and director. He is also passionate about acting. He received the all-important letter from the Academy informing him of his nomination earlier this month.