Brandeis Language Oscars
The Brandeis Language Oscars is a World Languages & Cultures initiative which was launched in spring 2013 to showcase language-learning at Brandeis. First-year students from the language programs at Brandeis present videos that they have created in the language that they are studying to demonstrate the knowledge they have gained and skills they have acquired in just one year of language study at Brandeis. The students in the level-20 courses of each participating language select one video to represent their language group at the festival. A jury panel consisting of faculty members from all participating languages votes to select the first-, second- and third-place winners.
Participating languages include Arabic, Chinese, French, German, Hebrew, Italian, Japanese, Korean, Russian, and Spanish.
For a full list of past winners, links to other videos, and more information, visit the WLC's International Video Competition webpage.
2024
First Place: Russian
Сватовство по-русски / Russian Matchmaking
Creators: Alexandra Jenkin '25, Annaliese Merritt '26, Nachum Sullivan '27
Instructor: Irina Dubinina; TA: Jenia Zaretskaia
Second Place: Korean
에반의 언어와 문화쇼 / Evan's Culture Show
Creators: Evan Keleti '26, Janet Hu '26, Jacob Cha '26, Rosemary Sun '27
Instructor: Eun-Jo Lee
Third Place: Italian
Omicidio Nel Giorno della Fest della Donna / Murder of Women’s Day
Creators: J Minichiello '27, Lillie Singleton '26, Lance Zima '27, Andy Horrigan '27
Instructor: Paola Servino
Special Mentions:
Most Original Idea: German
Es gibt keine Monster mehr/ There are no more monsters now
Creators: Athena Bai ’26, Megan Lin ‘27
Instructor: Heidi Singh
Best Acting: Italian
Omicidio Nel Giorno della Fest della Donna / Murder of Women’s Day
Creators: J Minichiello '27, Lillie Singleton '26, Lance Zima '27, Andy Horrigan '27
Instructor: Paola Servino
You can view the videos from the ROMS finalists below:
Expand All
First Place: German
Gemeinschaft Der Bins / Fellowship of the Bins
Creators: Joe Viola '26, Casey Shea Dinkin '26, Hana Miller '25
Instructor: Kathrin Breuer
Second Place: French
Le poisson mort / The Dead Fish
Creators: Jacqueline Floro '25, Caroline Hall '23, Aaron Rosendorf '26, Maya Thomas '26
Instructor: Sophia Niehaus
Third Place: Russian
Зелёная армия / The Green Army
Creators: Thomas Musser '26, Sofia Conte '26, Anna Sewald '26
Instructor and TA: Valeriya Kozlovskaya, Irina Dubinina, Mariia Makarova
Special Mentions
Funniest Story: Arabic
وحش الغابة العربي / Arab Monster of the Woods
Creators: Yunus Kocaman ‘26, Javi Ramirez ‘25, Sam Newman ‘24, Jason Rich ‘26
Instructor: Hanan Khashaba
Best Acting: Japanese
ごみのあくま /The Trash Devil
Creators: Dong Quentin ‘26, Maxx Kipnes ‘23, Wang Cameron ‘26, Yan Steve ‘26
Instructor: Hisae Fujiwara
You can view the videos from the ROMS finalists below:
First Place: Russian
Секретная история Брендайзского Оскара по языку / The Secret Story of the Brandeis Language Oscars
Creators: Noa Brudny ’25, Felicity Hyams ’24, Eran Zelixon ’23
Instructors: Irina Dubinina, Mariia Makarova
Second Place: Chinese
你是我爱的人? / Are you the one I love?
Creators: Spencer Lee ’25, Lin Lin Hutchinson ’25, Smiley Huynh ’25, Kirsten Man ’25
Instructor: Jian Wei
You can view the videos from the ROMS finalists below:
The 2020 & 2021 Brandeis Language Oscars were canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
First Place: Italian
La Felicità Sopra I Soldi / Happiness Over Money
Creators: Olivia Spelman ’21, Max Le Blanc ’22, Gavi Klein ’22
Instructor: Paola Servino
Second Place: Chinese
我们的电影 / Our Movie
Creators: Noah Rovner-Frydman ’21, William Robitaille ’21, Henry Wasserman ’21, Matt Robin ’22
Instructor: Jian Wei
Third Place: French
Princesse Blanche Neige En France / Princess Snow White in France
Creators: Catherine Chen '22, Coco Zhang ’22
Instructor: Martine Voiret
You can view the videos from the ROMS finalists below:
First Place: Chinese
It’s complicated
Creators: Kenny Sim’19, Vincent Lee’18, Youbin Ahn’20, Rachel Kim’19
Instructor: Jian Wei
Second Place: Spanish
La caperucita roja
Creators: Yixuan Li’20, Amy Ollove’21, Brianna Lackwood’21
Instructor: Azlin Perdomo
Third Place: Japanese
Beautiful 10 days/ きれいな十日
Creators: Minkyu Kim ‘19, Carmen Huang ‘20, Hongyu Li ‘21, Zifan Wang ‘20
Instructor: Hisae Fujiwara
You can view the videos from the ROMS finalists below:
First Place: German
Bobrat
Creators: Cam Braunstein '19, Julia Haynes '20, Arianna Unger '18, Libby Williams '20
Instructor: Kathrin Seidl
Second Place: Japanese
The Turtle Inside My Dream
Creators: Jingyuan Huang '17, Allison Tien '20, Nancy Tran '20, Charlie Weld '20
Instructor: Hisae Fujiwara
Third Place: Italian
Euro-Italia
Creators: Samuel Chakmakjian '17, Tiffany English '19, Jade Lara '17
Instructor: Paola Servino
You can view the videos from the ROMS finalists below:
First Place: French
Le Fabuleux destin de Brandeis
Creators: Yuntian Lu '19, Morgan Mayback '19, Naomi Soman '16
Instructor: Martine Voiret
Second Place: Japanese
School Break
Creators: AAlana Hodson '19, Maia Reyes '19, Amy Zou '19, Qianyi Gong '18
Instructor: Hisae Fujiwara
Third Place: Spanish
Brandeis Hombre
Creators: Karekin Johnson '19, Nick Krebs '19, Andrew Lee '17
Instructor: Mary Burstin
You can view the videos from ROMS finalists below:
First Place: French
“I love you, my weird mother.”
Creators: Amy Li ‘17, An Yan ‘16, Jing Zhao ‘16
Instructor: Martine Voiret
Second Place: Japanese
The Letter
Creators: Joyce Hsiao ‘18, Julie Kim ‘18, Sae Yong Lee ‘17, Amy Trankiem ‘17
Instructor: Hisae Fujiwara
Third Place: German
Inglourious Custards
Instructor: Kathrin Seidl-Gómez
First Place: German
Wilkommen zu Brandeis
Creators: Nate Britten ‘16, Yanique Seac ‘17, Fei Xu ‘16
Instructor: Kathrin Seidl-Gómez
Second Place: Japanese
Oliver's Story
Creators: Christina Capshaw ‘16, Jessica Lu ‘17, Austin Luor ‘17, Jianshuo Qiu ‘18
Instructor: Hisae Fujiwara
You can view the videos from the ROMS finalists below:
First Place: Chinese
Dream Girl
Creators: Aya Abdelaziz ’16 and Ben Lovenheim ‘15
Second Place: Russian
Secret Love
Creators: Tiffany Johnson, Suzanne Rothman, Ellyn Sherman
Instructor: Irina Dubinina