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The first annual Student Doc Festival ran this past June during the Storytellers' Festosium weekend. The submissions were managed by Tom Yoshikami's "Festival Programming" course, a new addition to the documentary studies course lineup. Documentary works were submitted from around the world, and a small number of the films were selected to screen during the Storytellers' Festosium weekend events. Below is the list of Festival Winners selected by a jury.

2017 STUDENT DOC FESTIVAL WINNERS

Best Film: The Living of the Pigeons

Director: Baha Abu Shanab, Dar al-Kalima University College of Arts and Culture, Bethlehem, West Bank, 2015, 16 min.
Director’s Statement: "It’s 1:30 after midnight, the cold is sneaking. The streets leading to the checkpoint named ‘300’ which allocated to cross from Bethlehem to Jerusalem are empty and silent. The apartheid wall touches the checkpoint; the coffee man is preparing his stuff, while close to him, his father who passed over his 50s already started displaying their wares on wooden planks to be seen. All awaits the arrival of hundreds of workers shortly after, and what will happen next is something that eyes don't often see."
[alas, the film is not available anywhere online]
Director’s Facebook page: 

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Best Experimental Film: Masha

Director: Grace Ackles, University of California-Santa Cruz, U.S., 2016, 6 min.
Director’s statement: "Masha is small, shy and very pure of heart. These things are immediately apparent by her honest eyes and soft voice muttering from behind a thick of long brown, unkempt hair. Her childlike wonder is dashed with bouts of profound depression and disillusionment. All information and dreamy accounts were taken from Masha's binder paper lists, the publication of which she has given her most humble consent."
View the film here:
Director’s Vimeo page: 

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Best Cinematography: Harvest in New Life

Director: Antonis Kitsikis, UCA Farnham, Canada, 2016, 11 min.
Director’s statement: "This film is about the gypsy community in Athens, and how they risk their lives to collect recyclable materials to make illicit money."
View an excerpt of the film here: 
Director’s personal page: