PRESS RELEASE
ATLANTA, GA, March 7, 2019: The Coca-Cola Regal Films annual student filmmaking program announced Olivia Wilde, director, actor and activist, as its celebrity ambassador to mentor film students and serve on the Red Ribbon Panel to help choose the winning film to be shown across the U.S. at Regal theaters.
The Coca-Cola Regal Films program partnered with Wilde to announce the five college and university team finalists and their films for the program. The announcement will be officially made at SXSW, where Wilde will premiere her feature film directorial debut, Booksmart.
“It’s been so inspiring to meet with young talent to mentor as a filmmaker,” said Wilde. “This particular group of students felt like a diverse representation of today’s youth and it’s encouraging to see each of those students embraced by a growing program. It’s an honor to support them and be a part of their future success.”
“Regal is proud to partner with Coca-Cola again to help foster the next generation of filmmakers,” said Ken Thewes, chief marketing officer at Regal. “Having Olivia come on board has really added to the experience for the students. They’ve been able to get direct coaching and insights from her on all elements of filmmaking.”
Students from 30 of some of the most diverse college and university film schools across the country participated in the 2019 Coca-Cola Regal Films program and five advanced to this year’s finals. The finalists received $15,000 each to create and produce a 30-second film. In addition to funding, finalists were flown to Los Angeles for a training session and program kickoff event where they learned some tricks of the trade. They also met with Olivia Wilde to ask questions about her career and receive advice. During production, each finalist had access to a Regal location, RED camera equipment and Zeiss lenses free-of-charge, to produce his or her film. During post-production, they were given access to Deluxe’s EFILM to master their spots with some of the industry’s top colorists. The grand-prize winning film will debut at Regal theaters nationwide.
“We love how the Coca-Cola Regal Films program creates opportunities for future filmmakers to accomplish their dreams and get their stories of the moviegoing experience on the big screen.” said Krista Schulte, senior VP, Coca-Cola North America strategic partnership marketing. “And each year we strive to make the student experience more valuable, like we did this year by partnering with Olivia Wilde.”
The finalists’ films will be available to watch online beginning at 12:00 a.m. on March 9 at coke.com/RegalFilms.
The five finalist films available are the following:
University of Nevada, Las Vegas (UNLV): 3 Wishes
- Iliana Campisi (producer)
- Nicolle Peterson (director)
University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA): It Happened Like This
- Elon Zlotnik (producer)
- Nathan Nguyen-Le (director)
New York University (NYU): You Didn’t Know That
- Tyler Sanchez (producer)
- Briggs Cooper Peery (director)
The New School: The Exchange
- Jamie Rabinovitch (producer)
- Thais Vitorelli (director)
Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD): Choose Happy
- Shayain Lakhani (producer)
- Devon Solwold (director)
The promo video about the program can be viewed here: https://vimeo.com/321892070/f9305e9226.
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