"The Road Home", a short film shot at Woodstock, selected as foreign finalist in Student Academy Awards

"The Road Home", a short film shot at Woodstock, has been selected as one of five finalists to compete for the 2010 Honorary Foreign Film Award in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences' 37th Annual Student Academy Awards competition. The film was shot by Rahul Gandotra (London Film School, UK), a former student of Woodstock who attended the school from 1986-92.

The winning student filmmaker will be brought to Los Angeles to join U.S.-based Student Academy Award winners for a week of industry-related activities and social events that will culminate in the awards ceremony on Saturday, June 12, at the Academy's Samuel Goldwyn Theatre.

The five finalists, chosen from a record 61 entries from 36 countries, are:

• The Confession," Tanel Toom
• "Janna & Liv," Therese Ahlbeck
• "The Night Father Christmas Died," Martin Schreier
• "The Road Home," Rahul Gandotra
• "Trieste Is Ours," Ziga Virc

The Road Home, which is twenty-one minutes long, was shot in Woodstock from October 23-November 2, 2008. Several Woodstock students and staff had rols in the film, which is about Pico, a nine-year old boy, who runs away from Woodstock to get back to his home in England. In the film, Gandotra, who himself is British but of Indian heritage, explores the pressures and obstacles of being viewed as an Indian when one has the features of an Indian but the background and upbringing of a foreigner.

Gandotra held an early screening of the film for Woodstock students at the Parker Hall during the Fall Semester, 2009. An article about Gandotra and the film was also featured in the September 2009 edition of the Brown and Gold.