Intersex documentary wins student Oscar

XXXY, a portrait of two individuals born with ambiguous genitalia, has taken the gold for Stanford students Porter Gale and Laleh Soomekh at the 28th annual Student Academy Awards, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences announced award recipients in advance but did not announce the level of the award (gold, silver, or bronze) until the award show, which was held Sunday, June 10. Other gold winners were Boobie Girl, an animated film by Brooke Keesling (California Institute of the Arts); Warmth, an entry in the alternative category by Michael Schaerer of New York’s School of Visual Arts; and the narrative film Zen and the Art of Landscaping, by David Kartch of Columbia. The honorary foreign film award went to Rodrigo Pla’s movie The Eye of the Nape, a story about a young man’s search for justice. Pla attends the Centro de Capacitacion Cinematografica in Mexico City.