Update: Actor Jason Schwartzman presented UT RTF graduate Brian Schwarz with the gold Student Academy Award medal Saturday night.
He's only the second UT student to win 'gold' at the Student Academy Awards.
In his acceptance speech, Schwarz did take time to thank the RTF department. He called it a department with "great faculty" and "an enthusiastic student body." He also went on to talk about Austin's supportive film scene.
Comedian Bob Saget hosted the awards.
Original Story (June 7, 5:30 a.m.):
The University of Texas at Austin is well-known for its Radio-Television-Film Department. But fewer than ten UT students have won a Student Academy Award in the 40 years since the award's creation.
2012 Masters graduate Brian Schwarz knows he’s won one for his film Ol' Daddy – but he won’t find out until Saturday whether his medal is gold, silver or bronze.
He talked with KUT before heading out to California for the ceremony.
The film is about a young man struggling to be his father's caretaker. Schwarz talks about why he wanted to tell the story:
"For some reason, I am drawn to the parent-child relationship and just the dynamics, the complexity in that relationship. So something about an older gentleman whose physical and mental health is in decline. While the son, who is in his early to mid 20s, is sort of on the upswing physically and mentally. To be honest, the whole story sort of started around this image of the son having to bathe his father and sort of come to terms that his dad is not the sort of strong hero that he once was."
