Ten students from nine U.S. colleges and universities have been selected as winners in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ 39th Annual Student Academy Awards competition.

And one of those 10 shorts is one that we've featured here on S&A – Narcocorrido, directed by  Ryan Prows, starring Nicki Micheaux (The Shield, Lincoln Hieghts, Six Feet Under), and produced by L. Onye Anyanwu (who produced the film as her Amercian Film Institute thesis project, and who was also recently selected as the winner of the first Walt Disney/Jerry Bruckheimer AFI award), as Sergio's post noted backed in January.

The film's synop reads:

Naija Dillion is a Yuma county Sheriff’s deputy, an outsider and minority in her community. Gravely ill, Naija robs a notorious cartel shipment in a last-ditch scramble for survival. When the robbery spirals out of control, Naija finds herself caught up in a Narcocorrido made real.

The title refers to a Mexican folk-music tradition – in this case, a drug ballad; one that "mythicizes seedy border tales of the modern west: drug lords, human trafficking, arrests, betrayals, shootouts and murder."

The film screened at the AFI HBO Pavilion in January, but none of us was there to see it unfortunately. 

But you can watch its trailer below for a glimpse of what to expect.

And congrats to all the winners who will be brought to Los Angeles to join the international student winners in the Foreign Film category for a week of industry activities, culminating in the awards ceremony on Saturday, June 9, at 6 pm, at the Academy’s Samuel Goldwyn Theater in Beverly Hills, where the placements in each category will be announced.

Here's the full list of winners:

Alternative
“The Reality Clock,” Amanda Tasse, University of Southern California*
*Only one winner was selected in this category.

Animation
“Eyrie,” David Wolter, California Institute of the Arts
“The Jockstrap Raiders,” Mark Nelson, University of California, Los Angeles
“My Little Friend,” Eric Prah, Ringling College of Art and Design

Documentary
“Dying Green,” Ellen Tripler, American University
“Hiro: A Story of Japanese Internment,” Keiko Wright, New York University
“Lost Country,” Heather Burky, Art Institute of Jacksonville

Narrative
“Nani,” Justin Tipping, American Film Institute
“Narcocorrido,” Ryan Prows, American Film Institute
“Under,” Mark Raso, Columbia University

And here's the trailer for Narcocorrido: