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Today's episode is the final episode of my series of double episodes featuring conversations with 2025 Student Academy Award nominees.

My first interview today is with 2025 Student Academy Award finalists Loïck du Plessis D’Argentré, Maud Le Bras, and Jiaxin Huang, collaborators on the animated short film "The Shyness of Trees." We discuss thoughts on being away from family, thoughts of losing a parent, and the ability to bring influences from multiple cultures into the film.

Following that I chat with 2025 Student Academy Award semi-finalist Atharva Raut, director of the film "Beyond the Conflict." We talk about one of the workers who has developed a strong connection with the animals in his care and what Atharva hopes people learn about the leopard population in Mumbai from his film.

Films and TV shows mentioned in this episode include:

• "The Skyness of Trees" directed by Sofiia Chuikovska, Loïck du Plessis D’Argentré, Lina Han, Simin He, Jiaxin Huang, Maud Le Bras, and Bingqing Shu
• "Beyond the Conflict" directed by Atharva Raut
• Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind directed by Michel Gondry
• The Taste of Tea directed by Katsuhito Ishii
• The Sacrifice directed by Andrei Tarkovsky
• Into the Wild directed by Sean Penn
• My Neighbor Totoro directed by Hayao Miyazaki
• The Great Gatsby directed by Baz Luhrmann
• Autumn Sonata directed by Ingmar Bergman
• The Disciple directed by Chaitanya Tamhane
• Virunga directed by Orlando von Einsiedel
• The Dark Knight directed by Christopher Nolan
• Dead Poets Society directed by Peter Weir
• All That Breathes directed by Shaunak Sen

Follow "The Shyness of Trees" film account on Instagram @shynessoftrees.gobelins and Maud is @grumpymaud, Loïck is @_ciklo_, and Jiaxin is @huanggechi. For "Beyond the Conflict," follow Atharva @atharva.raut and check out his website at www.atharvaraut.com.

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