Dodge College duo wins Coca-Cola Refreshing Films grand prize

Photo Courtesy of Asher Hansow

After three years of hard work and dedication, two Dodge College students have won the grand prize award in the Coca-Cola Refreshing Films Program. 

Aiko Lozar, a senior film production major, and Lexi Berganio, a senior creative producing major, finally had the chance to produce one of their 60-second ad spot scripts and beat competitors from film schools across the country.

The Coca-Cola Refreshing Films Program is an annual scripting competition where students from participating schools can submit their scripts for the chance to make a 60-second branded spot that could be featured in movie theaters nationwide. Lozar, the director of the duo’s ad spot, has wanted to participate in the program since she saw a Chapman short film called ‘Crunch Time’ in middle school.

When Lozar got to Chapman, she knew she wanted to participate in the competition. She brought Berganio on board because the duo had worked on independents before, after meeting in their freshman year intro to visual storytelling class.

“So Aiko and I started talking about doing it in maybe early September of 2024 and we were bouncing back and forth between ideas,” Berganio told The Panther. “And I think by Oct. 4, we had submitted maybe 10 different scripts. I think by mid-October we found out we were in the semi-finals with one script.” 

After receiving notes from the Coca-Cola brand and tweaking their script, Lozar and Berganio moved on to the finals, receiving a budget to realize their project. Their film “Ticket to Everywhere” began production in January. 

“We shot at Chapman Dodge in the lobby, and then we also shot overnight at an AMC,” said Lozar. “I think what was really hard was…, people's attention spans are really small, so you want to get as many shots as you can in that amount of time, but you also want every shot to look great.” 

“Ticket to Everywhere” follows Sabrina, a college student returning from summer break. When peers ask what she did over the break, she — after taking a sip of Coca-Cola — is taken back to the times she spent at the movies. She responds with, “I went everywhere.”

Yulia Belyaeva, a senior theater performance major, portrayed Sabrina and auditioned in January, filming her submission during winter break with the help of her younger sister.

“We made popcorn and got a Coke, and they were helping me film, like in our house, just over winter break. And then a week later, I was asked to do a callback,” said Belyaeva.

Belyaeva acts on both the screen and in theater performances, but “Ticket to Everywhere” was her first time working in a commercial. To her, there were a lot of differences in the rehearsal process.

“The main purpose is to sell a product, so you have to be able to see the branding and the correct angle,” Belyaeva told The Panther. “And Coca-Cola, because it's such a huge brand, has so many specific rules that they have for their commercials.” 

Since their ad spot takes place in a movie theater, Lozar and Berganio had the opportunity to showcase other Chapman films on the theater screens, which Berganio felt was one of the highlights of the process. 

“We were able to put three (Chapman-made films and a Coca-Cola spot) on screen and show other people's hard work too,” Berganio said. “And so I was really happy that we were able to do that.” 

The filming process also incorporated many extras to stand in as the crowd because Sabrina attends three different movies. To Belyaeva, being at set every day felt like a sleepaway camp, with the cast and crew running around.

“Within the night I was running around because I'd have to change every time and choose my makeup and choose my hair,” she said. “And so I'd come back in and there's this whole new crowd of people and while they're setting up lights and things, you get to meet everyone.” 

Lozar and Berganio didn’t plan on competing again in the program during their senior year, but are glad they didn’t give up.

“This is something that I've been thinking about for a really long time, so it feels surreal that I'm able to put my dreams into reality,” Lozar said.” I'm really thankful to all of the people who helped make it happen. And the whole process has been really surreal, and I'm really excited to see it distributed everywhere.” 

“Ticket to Everywhere” isn’t done competing yet. It has the chance to win the Cinemark Fan Favorite award by voting at this link.

To read more about the production process of “Ticket to Everywhere,” check out our earlier profile of the project here. To stay up-to-date with the film and the Coca-Cola Refreshing Films Program, follow their Instagram accounts at the links above.