The AT&T Learning Studio announced Friday that FilmFest heads Lyle Rickson and Satie Cantoja will step down from their positions, citing “creative differences.”
Though many student filmmakers were disappointed to see the two go, their sorrow quickly turned into joy when it was announced that the new leaders will be none other than “Barbenheimer” directors Greta Gerwig and Christopher Nolan.
“Barbenheimer” swept at this year’s Oscars, taking home all 24 Academy Awards due to its groundbreaking genre-bend. With this amazing win, Gerwig and Nolan were the first choice to take over the position.
“‘I’m just surprised they actually said yes,” said Callie Bones, manager at The Learning Studio. “I made the call as a joke, but they both seemed so excited. So I talked to their forty-seven assistants, and now here we are.”
With the sudden change taking place only two weeks before the annual FilmFest gala, students’ opinions are mixed on the takeover.
Greta Gerwig and Christopher Nolan talk to Kyle Dickson and Ryan Richardson about their resignation.
“It’ll be an honor to work with such an accomplished, talented director. And Christopher Nolan too,” said Zaden Valdez, a physics major and director of the short film, “Brownie Thesis.”
Jenna Waffles, multimedia major and director of “Freezes the Brain,” told the Optimist, “It’s an outrage. At our last FilmFest meeting, Gerwig bought us pizza. We thought it was nice at first, but when we opened the box, the pizza was pink. And plastic.”
Cantoja and Rickson separately announced their next steps on Twitter. Cantoja plans to move to Australia to direct a documentary on the Great Emu War of 1932. Rickson will team up with director Brent McCorkle to write the fourteenth installment of the “God’s Not Dead” franchise.
Gerwig and Nolan also took to Twitter to announce their new plans for the April 19 FilmFest gala. None of the originally planned student films will be shown at the event. Instead, Gerwig and Nolan will require participants to mix all of their films together to create “the crossover event of the century.” The dress code for the gala is “pink arms race chic.”
