Wasserman Awards featuring a special underwrting grant by the Charles & Lucille King Family Foundation 2021
First Run Winners 2021
Undergraduate King & Wasserman Recipients
1st Prize King Award $10,000
BEAUTIFUL by Mulan Fu
2nd Prize King Award $7500
DRUM DON’T DWELL by Kyle Goings
3rd Prize King Award $5000
AZIZ by Ramiel Petros
Graduate King & Wasserman Recipients
1st Prize King Award $10,000
THE TREES by Ramzi Bashour
2nd Prize King Award $7500
CRACKED by Lin Que Ayoung
3rd Prize King Award $5000
THREADS OF DESIRE by Bianca DiMarco
Audience Choice Awards!
Undergraduate Finalists:
ALL RIDERS by Victor Dias Rodrigues
Graduate Finalists:
BEITY (In the House) by Isabelle Macattaf
Undergraduate LGBT Dramas & Romances:
LIMITATION OF LIFE by Renkai Tan
Graduate Dramas:
LITTLE SKY by Jess X. Snow
Undergraduate Experimental, Animation & Science Fiction:
THE ANSWER by Devan Prabhakar
Graduate Comedy, Experimental & Drama:
CRAZY BITCH by Irene Mercadal Abornoz
Undergraduate Coming of Age Dramas & Documentaries:
HIJAS MIJAS by Carmen Antón García
Graduate Thesis:
TWICE AS GOOD by Kristian King
Undergraduate Dramas, Comedy & Slice of Life:
ANA WA ENTI by Alexandra Muhawi-Ho
UG Awards
Finalists
DaeQuan Collier BEFORE I LET GO
Hannah Crane DORI THE DONOR
Mulan Fu BEAUTIFUL
Ewurakua Dawson-Amoah TO THE GIRL THAT LOOKS LIKE ME
Kyle Goings DRUM DON’T DWELL
Daniel Novarro HASTA DOMINGO
Ramiel Petros AZIZ
Victor Dias Rodrigues ALL RIDERS
Annalee Walton THISTLE CREEK
King Award for Screenwriting $2500
BEFORE I LET GO by DaeQuan Collier
Wasserman Award for Directing $2000
TO THE GIRL THAT LOOKS LIKE ME by Ewurakua Dawson-Amoah
Nestor Almendros Award Female Cinematog.
Sunnie Kim for THISTLE CREEK
Carl Lerner Award for Social Significance
Victor Dias Rodrigues for ALL RIDERS
Achievement in Documentary
Kyle Goings for DRUM, DON’T DWELL
Achievement in Experimental
Ewurakua Dawson-Amoah for TO THE GIRL THAT LOOKED LIKE ME
Achievement in Animation
Kea Lia Pedersen for SHE COULD BE THE LIGHT
Screenwriting
Ramiel Petros for AZIZ
Linh Dan Nguyen Phan for CHILDREN OF THE DUST
Daniel Novarro for HASTA DOMINGO SOY GRINGO
Editing
Ramiel Petros for AZIZ
Elliot Farinaro for TO THE GIRL THAT LOOKS LIKE ME
Greyson Horst for J-1
Producing
Trey Rittersbach, Heather Vaxer, Angie Urrea, and Ward Kamel for AZIZ
Elliot Levy for DRUM DON’T DWELL
Sam Stulin for CHILDREN OF THE DUST
Cinematography
Sunnie Kim for THISTLE CREEK
Stefan Nachmann for AZIZ
Gabriel Connelly for TO THE GIRL THAT LOOKS LIKE ME
Sound Design
Jairo Garcia for AZIZ and TECHNO SCRAP
Jordan Lee Allen for NEEDLEMARKS
Production Design
Jack Dobens for AZIZ
Jordan Lee Allen for NEEDLEMARKS
Abigail Austin for THISTLE CREEK
Original Score
Mulan Fu for BEAUTIFUL
Rob Rusli for CHILDREN OF THE DUST
Nathan Prillaman & Marla Nauni for THISTLE CREEK
Lead Actress
Hannah Crane for DORI THE DONOR
Arwen Monzon-Sanders for HASTA DOMINGO SOY GRINGO
Carolina Do for CHILDREN OF THE DUST
Lead Actor
Sterling Boyns for BEFORE I LET GO
Vincent Nguyen for CHILDREN OF THE DUST
Kevin Ramirez for HASTA DOMINGO SOY GRINGO
Supporting Actress
Catherine Curtin for DORI THE DONOR
Isabella Hofmann for DORI THE DONOR
Daniella Charlton for TECHNO SCRAP
Supporting Actor
Pascal Vargas for BEFORE I LET GO
Tony Wang for LIMITATION OF LIFE
Faculty Commendations for Editing
Hailey Choi for THISTLE CREEK and CHILDREN OF THE DUST
Kailey Radcliffe for DORI THE DONOR, ANA WA ENTI, WINNER, and BEFORE I LET GO
Faculty Commendation for Ensemble Acting
Noor Hamdi, Samer Kanaan and George Shakkour for AZIZ
Faculty Commendations for Honorable Mention in Filmmaking
Natalie Harris for PURE
Benjamin Freemantle for OUR PROBLEM
Faculty Commendation for Production Design
Clara Poteau for THE EXTRAORDINARY NEGRO
Sophia Uehara for LIMITATION OF LIFE
GR AWARDS
Finalists
Lin Que Ayoung CRACKED
Gregory Barnes THE TOUCH OF THE MASTER’S HAND
Ramzi Bashour THE TREES
Bianca DiMarco THREADS OF DESIRE
Maureen Gillis PLAISIR
Elegance Britton & Jovan James BUCK
Scarlett Li DOUBLE HAPPINESS
Isabelle Mcattaf BEITY (IN THE HOUSE)
José Manuel Vélez FERVOR
Derrick Woodyard WALI & ZURI
King Award for Screenwriting $2500
THE TOUCH OF THE MASTER’S HAND by Gregory Barnes
Wasserman Award for Directing $2000
FERVOR by José Manuel Velez
Nestor Almendros Award Female Cinematog.
Louise Zhang for RUBBER GUN CLUB
Carl Lerner Award for Social Significance
Jess X. Snow for LITTLE SKY
Achievement in Experimental
Fran Zayas for LET’S RAID AREA 51
Screenwriting
Ramzi Bashour THE TREES
Molly Gillis for PLAISIR
Editing
Alexander Bendo for RUBBER GUN CLUB
Molly Gillis for PLAISIR
Kristan William Sprague for BUCK
Producing
Andrew Long for LENTINI
Tara Sheffer for PLAISIR and THREADS OF DESIRE
Cinematography
Mélanie Akoka for BEITY (IN THE HOUSE), LET’S RAID AREA 51, MASSACRE and PLAISIR
Gianna Badiali for UPROOTED
Lorena Duran for CRACKED
Sound Design
Hippolyte Leblanc for MASSACRE
Production Design
Chen-Wei Liao for USER ZERO
Natascha Schimowitz for MASSACRE
Original Score
Ignacio Redard for FERVOR
Acting Awards Lead
Tatum Marilyn Hall for CRACKED
Ally Payne for LONELY ROAD
Eleanor Pienta for PLAISIR
Nadim Shartouny for THE TREES
Malik Shakur for BUCK
Supporting
Sophie Amieva for Plaisir
Ensemble
Julia Kassar, Mohammad Akil and Nawal Kamel for BEITY (IN THE HOUSE)
Michelle Mella, Rodrigo Calderón and Mabel Urrutia for CRAZY BITCH
Faculty Commendation in Comedy
Blanche Akonchong for MERCURY AFROGRADE
Faculty Commendations: Thesis Film
Kristian King for TWICE AS GOOD
Amrita Singh for WINNING IN AMERICA
Chery Wong for STIGMA, STYLE