Zurich animator wins Student Academy Award for short film

Zurich director and animator Matthias Strasser has won a Student Academy Award for his animated short film The Panic Inside, SRF reported. The 26-year-old graduate of the Animation Institute at the Film Academy Baden-Württemberg was recognised with one of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ leading awards for emerging filmmakers.

The Student Academy Awards, also known as the student Oscars, have been presented to film-school talent since 1972. This year, 2,972 films from nearly 900 educational institutions worldwide were submitted, with 12 productions ultimately receiving awards.

Strasser told SRF that being selected as a winner initially felt “surreal”. He hopes the award will open doors in the film industry and make it easier to realise future projects.

The Panic Inside follows Jacob, a chronic people pleaser who collapses under the pressure of constant expectations and ends up in a surreal parallel world.

Strasser worked on the film for two years. The 2D and 3D production alone took around 18 months, and the finished film runs for nearly nine minutes.

The filmmaker said he has a personal connection to people pleasing because he comes from a family of people pleasers, some of whom have experienced health difficulties related to it. He also said the issue is widespread in the film and animation industry, where newcomers often depend on the support of others and may feel they have to say yes to everything to advance.

Two other animated shorts, both produced by French universities, also received awards. All the winning filmmakers are eligible to enter their films in the short-film categories of the 2027 Oscars.

Previous Student Academy Award winners include John Lasseter, Spike Lee, Robert Zemeckis and Cary Fukunaga.