The German director Jens Kevin Georg (30) is one of the winners at this year’s Student Oscars. The graduate of the Babelsberg Konrad Wolf Film University in Potsdam, who lives near Gummersbach (North Rhine-Westphalia), won the coveted award with his short film “Kruste”.
The Oscar Academy in Los Angeles announced the winners of the 51st edition of the student competition on Tuesday. Twelve films by young directors were honored. This year, 2,683 entries were received from over 700 educational institutions from all over the world. The trophies for the winning short films in a total of four categories will be awarded on October 14 in London.
“This is absolutely crazy,” Georg said in an interview with dpa about the award. He wanted to travel to the ceremony with his “super-great” production team, the actors and also his parents.
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Filmed with children
In the almost half-hour short film, the director and screenwriter tells a story about growing up, identity and belonging. A twelve-year-old boy named Fabi faces the challenge of being accepted as a full member of the family. To do this, he must present his first, large wound, which crusts over into a scar.
A personal experience when he injured his shin at the age of 13 while ice skating with friends and was left with a scar – “without crying” – was an impetus to confront social norms, Georg said. He put this into practice in a macabre and humorous way in “Kruste”, when the sensitive, dreamy Fabi (Philip Kapell) and the brave, younger sister Bea (Luise Landau) are encouraged to get injured by their scarred father (Sven Hönig) on their grandfather’s (Heinz Wanitschek) farm – “because scars make you strong”.
Inspired by Franz Kafka
The film was shot within 13 days, including on an old roller coaster in Poland that the team had found as a location. “Crust”, inspired by Franz Kafka’s famous story “The Metamorphosis”, is an “outsider story” for Georg. As a child with a migrant background (his parents of German descent immigrated from Romania), he had a special connection to it.
“Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban” awakened his love of film, says Georg with a wink. As a teenager, he was in love with the lead actress Emma Watson and learned a lot from the making of the film on DVD.
Prizes in gold, silver and bronze
In mid-August, “Kruste” made it into the seven finalists in the short film category “Narrative” – now, in addition to the German winner, there are two other winning films in this category: “The Compatriot” by two directors from the Czech Republic and “Neither Donkey nor Horse” by a film graduate from the US University of Southern California.
It remains exciting for the three winning films in each of the categories “Narrative”, “Animation”, “Documentary” and “Alternative/Experimental”, as the order of the awards – gold, silver or bronze – will only be announced at the awards ceremony in October. All award winners can also enter their films in the short film categories at the 2025 Oscar competition.
“I want to be colorblind,” says Georg, looking at the trophy ranking. Of course they would like to take the gold medal, but winning a Student Oscar is the best recognition of their teamwork.
Last autumn, German director Tamara Denić won the Bronze Student Oscar in the “Narrative” category for her graduation film “Istina” (Truth) at the Hamburg Media School (HMS).
Springboard to Hollywood
Since 1972, the Academy has been honoring foreign directors and young talents from film schools in the USA with these trophies. The Student Oscar has proven to be a potential springboard for a Hollywood career. Previous winners include future star directors such as John Lasseter (“Toy Story”), Spike Lee (“Malcolm X”), Robert Zemeckis (“Back to the Future”) and Cary Fukunaga (“No Time to Die”).
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