The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has revealed the 16 student filmmakers selected as winners of the 53rd Student Academy Awards, with all winning films now eligible for consideration at the 99th Academy Awards.
The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences has named 16 student filmmakers from around the world as the winners of the 2026 Student Academy Awards, selected from a record 2,972 entries submitted by 894 colleges and universities globally. The winning films span four categories — Alternative/Experimental, Animation, Documentary, and Narrative — and represent institutions across the United States, Europe, Asia, and the Americas. This year's ceremony marks a historic first: for the first time ever, the awards presentation will be held outside of Los Angeles, taking place at the Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) Lightbox in Toronto, Canada, on September 14, 2026, in partnership with Rolex.
The 2026 winners are as follows. In the Alternative/Experimental category: Lei He from Duke University for Drifting; Viktorie Štěpánová from the Film and TV School of the Academy of Performing Arts in Prague (FAMU) in the Czech Republic for Volklore; and Nina Broers from the St. Joost School of Art & Design in the Netherlands for Where Is My Sex Drive?. In Animation: Jonathan Lally, Elio Molinaro, and Nicolás Acevedo Ferraté from France's ESMA for COWS; Noran Fikri Alezabi, Xinyue Ma, and Yulin Yue from Gobelins, also in France, for Gauze; and Matthias Strasser from the Film Academy Baden-Württemberg in Germany for The Panic Inside. Documentary winners include Arjun Fischer from the University of Southern California for Artificial Love; Jason Elliott from the UK's National Film and Television School for I Want to Live; and Lara Dihmis from New York University for The Last People of Petra. Narrative category winners are Stanzin Jigmet from Spain's ESCAC film school for The Dragon Letter; Leon Korzyński from Warsaw Film School in Poland for Kamathipura Express; and Antoine Boulanger from Concordia University in Canada for The Pichenotte. Several institutions — including Concordia University, Warsaw Film School, and St. Joost School of Art & Design — produced Student Academy Award winners for the very first time this year.
All winning films are now eligible for consideration in the Animated Short Film, Live Action Short Film, and Documentary Short Film categories at the upcoming 99th Academy Awards. Since the Student Academy Awards were established in 1972, past winners have received an extraordinary 70 Oscar nominations and taken home 15 Academy Awards, with alumni including Spike Lee, Pete Docter, Robert Zemeckis, and Patricia Cardoso. Gold, silver, and bronze placements within each category will be announced during the September ceremony, which will also include a weekend of educational programming, industry networking events, and exclusive opportunities to meet Academy members.
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