Webster Grad Nominated for an Academy Award

Michael Thomas Sandknop, who graduated in May with a master’s in New Media from the School of Communications, is a semi-finalist for a student Academy Award, the same organization that also awards Oscars. His documentary “Momma Bear Down: An Exposé about Women Veteran Suicides” was nominated as part of the annual Student Academy Awards Ceremony, scheduled for October. Sandknop made the film while he was a student at Webster.

He is just one of 19 student film makers from around the world nominated in the documentary category, and is named alongside students from England, France, Canada, Australia, Czechoslovakia and film schools throughout the United States. He will learn in late August if he is a finalist. Overall, more than 2,400 films were considered for this year’s awards.

“I only found out about it a week ago, and I had to read the letter two or three times to make sure I was reading it correctly, because I was so excited,” said Sandknop, who also earned a bachelor’s in television and film production from Webster in 1990. “The anticipation while waiting to see if I will win is nerve wracking. I know the competition is stiff and that some of the documentaries I am up against had budgets of tens of thousands of dollars and hired professionals to help them out. My documentary was paid for out of my own pocket, and everything was completed by me, from the interviews to the editing and post-production.”

The film is an expose of the rising number of suicides among women veterans. It was a topic of personal interest to Sandknop, as he served in the U.S. Army as a combat journalist in Iraq from 2003 to 2004 and in Kuwait from 2007 to 2008, earning a bronze star for his service. 

“When I came across the stats about women veteran suicides, I was astounded, and mentioned this to (Webster University) Professor (Juraj) Bohus, who immediately lit up and said that would be a great topic for a film,” Sandknop said. “I started researching the topic and worked on preproduction in the summer of 2022 and filmed all of my interviews in the spring of this year.”

The film was made in lieu of a master’s thesis to complete his degree. 

In the film, Sandknop interviews a veteran who attempted suicide, the sister of a veteran who committed suicide, and a psychologist with Veteran’s Affairs who specializes in suicides. Sandknop said finding people who were both knowledgeable and willing to be filmed for his movie was one of the most challenging aspects about the project. He then edited the film and found appropriate b-roll and background music. 

“Webster has a great media center and fantastic tools,” Sandknop said. “Because my interviews were all over the country, the interviews were conducted online, but Webster’s equipment made it all look and sound professional.”

He also asked Professor’s Bohus and Christopher Aaron for feedback and advice.

“Michael’s work on this film was exceptional, and as proof, you just need to know that only a small fraction of the thousands of films submitted to this highly selective film festival are selected as semi-finalists,” Aaron said. “Some previous people who were nominated for this award in the past include ‘Monsters Inc.’ director Pete Docter, ‘Forest Gump’ director Robert Zemeckis, ‘Under the Same Moon’ director Patricia Riggen, and ‘Do the Right Thing’ director Spike Lee. In other word’s Michael is not only in great company, but we expect to see more great films from him soon.”

The film recently was shown part of the St. Louis Filmmakers at the historic Highpoint Theater in early July. The movie, which runs about 16 minutes in length, is now on Youtube.

“I really hope that the attention this film is receiving helps raise awareness about suicides and other mental health issues among veterans,” Sandkop said. “I’m also hoping that it brings more attention to Webster’s film programs in the School of Communications, because the professors are amazing and the equipment and resources available to students are invaluable. And I hope that this encourages more Webster students to work toward being nominated for future student Oscars.”