On Saturday evening, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) will host it's 33rd Student Academy Awards, which is free and open to the public ˆ in order to honor this year's top student filmmakers from around the nation.

The ceremony will feature screenings of the gold medal-winning films and that of the Honorary Foreign Student Film Award recipient, South Africa's Tristan Holmes, who directed the film Elalini.

Prior to the Awards, 13 students from nine different colleges and universities around the country — who were already named winners after a lengthy selection process — will take part in a week's worth of industry related activities and events, culminating in the June 10 ceremony.

Student honorees this year are: Carmen Vidal Balanzat from City College of New York (the alternative film 6 a.m.); Travis Hatfield and Samuel Day from Ball State University in Indiana (the alternative film Perspective); Meng Vue from Ringling School of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida (the animated film The Dancing Thief); Chris Choy from California Institute of the Arts (the animated film The Possum); Thomas Leavitt from Brigham Young University (the animated film Turtles); Carrie Lozano from UC Berkeley (the documentary Reporter Zero); Mak Hossain from Purdue University (the documentary Three Beauties); Xiaoli Zhou from UC Berkeley (the documentary The Women‚s Kingdom); Sean Overbeeke from University of North Carolina (the narrative film Christmas Wish List) Cady Abarca-Benavides from Columbia University (the narrative film El Viaje); and Moon Molson and Jennifer Handorf from Columbia University (the narrative film Pop Foul).

While all students know they have been selected as winners, they will not find out until the night of the Awards whether they win a gold, silver or bronze medal in their category. Gold medal winners will receive $5,000, silver winners $3,000 and bronze winners $2,000. Holmes will receive $1,000 in addition to a trophy.

The Student Academy Awards were established by the Academy in 1972 to foster support and encourage excellence in filmmaking at the collegiate level. Past winners include Spike Lee, Robert Zemeckis, John Lasseter and Trey Parker.

The Academy‚s Samuel Goldwyn Theater is located at 8949 Wilshire Blvd., in Beverly Hills. For tickets, call (310) 247-3000, ext. 130. For more information, visit www.oscars.org.