PBS SoCal Announces Fine Cut Student Filmmaker Winners From USC, CSUN, California College of the Arts

It's become an annual tradition for my Variety colleague Angelique Jackson and myself, to host the annual "Fine Cut" student filmmaker awards. This year, the event was once again held at Vidiots in Eagle Rock, and we had a great time spotlighting some new, young talent.

Student filmmakers from USC, California College of the Arts and Cal State Northridge were the top winners at PBS SoCal‘s 27th annual Fine Cut Festival of Films. The winners, revealed during a screening and awards ceremony on Tuesday at Eagle Rock’s Vidiots (inside its Eagle Theater), shared prize packages valued at more than $55,000.

This year’s winners included Daniel Simon Zhang (USC), in narrative, for “Stop When Your Ancestors Say So”; Mia Hagerty (USC), in documentary, for “A Good Death”; and John Angelo Serrano (California College of the Arts), in animation, for “Bigger Picture.” The evening’s top prize, the Jack Larson Southern California Student Filmmaker Award, went to Sam Markson (CSUN), for “Jewish Moms Scare the Crap Out of Me.”

“Fine Cut” is PBS SoCal’s longest-running series — launching in 1996 with just four local schools. This year, the competition garnered more than 430 film submissions from 53 schools.

Read more here.