Representing the 21st generation of young talents selected through the #TheAlternativeSchool Creative MBA’s laboratories, Julieta Calotă was chosen by the global jury to join the Roger Hatchuel Academy. As one of the winners of the local competition dedicated to talents under 25, she will represent Romania at this year’s Roger Hatchuel Academy at Cannes Lions, with the valuable support of INVIZIBILII.RO.
Until that moment arrives, let’s celebrate the stars of the 2025-2026 edition: Julieta Calotă, Maria Gaitan & Ioana Podaru - the exceptional talents shortlisted in the Roger Hatchuel Academy / ERA competition, proudly organized by #TheAlternativeSchool every year since 2005.
Heartfelt congratulations to everyone who took on the challenge and worked intensely on the brief “My life is a movie. Here’s the trailer”, with authenticity, insight, humor, and undeniable charm, refining, upgrading and managing the tricky task of talking via motion pictures, about their creative selves, their journey and their aspirations in a 2 min video-cv.
Each step forward brings them closer to becoming fearless, standout creatives, ready to make their mark on the global stage.Big kudos for the shortlist Raluca Lorenț, Alexandra Ioana Manea, Sofia Dalas, Georgiana-Mihaela Drăghia, Katia Nadasan, Loredana Morohai, Vlad Sima, Teona Burca, Dumitrița Creanga, Raluca Marin, Miki Stanel, Roxana Filip, Adelina-Mihaela Petre, Teodora Simon, Gabriela Stanel, Catalina Maimesco, Simona Munteanu, Claudia Amuzică, Dan Dăneasa.
From intention to the Croisette in less than a year
The selection process for the June 2026 cohort began in the summer of 2025, with the competition announcing the scholarship preselection for TheAlternativeSchool. It continued with live Instagram sessions on how to build a strong application around the theme “My life is a movie. Here’s the trailer”. The first applications received feedback, and the authors of the most compelling ones were awarded scholarships for the #FutureProofCreativity module. What followed was an intense semester, during which many of the RHA / ERA applicants were also competing in the Young Lions race, empowered by Ursus, won this year by Andrian Brinoveanu & Dacian Neagu, out of 36 teams. At the end of the module, a new round of final feedback was offered for the individual competitors and their two-minute video CV, accompanied by the letter of intent, after which the final ranking was established.
Curious to hear the jury’s perspective on this year’s applications?
This year, the AlternativeSchool’s RHA’s jury brought together 18 outstanding communicators - brilliant minds whose talent and dedication deserve our deepest appreciation: Adrian Pasarica (Head of Marketing @Orkla Foods), Alexandra Moisescu (#TheAlternativeSchool Alumna / Marketing & Brand Manager @5 to go), Andreea Boukhil - senior Creative PR consultant, Bogdan Santea (CEO @FCB Bucharest), Diana Neagu (#TheAlternativeSchool Alumna - RHA Winner 2025 / Art Director @McCann Bucharest), Elis Popescu (Co-Founder @Designist), Laurentiu Dumitrescu (CEO @Digital Star), Laurien Engels - clinical psychologist, Belgium, Madalin Dragnea (Founder @ALL MAD Studio), Sabina Reingold (Co-Founder @Jolbors Creative Communications Festival, Central Asia), Sead Fočo (Founder @Media Marketing Balkans), Sebastian Lüba (Global Head of Social Media @Amber), Selin Ozkan (Deputy Managing Director @MediaCat Magazine), Serena Abi Aad (Creative Director & Film Director, Cannes Lions / D&AD winner & juror), Silviu Buraga (Director Design Department @UNAGE Iași), Vesna Vlašić (Managing Director @McCann Sarajevo), Vidya Manmohan (Founder & Creative Chairwoman @V4good).
“Dreams don’t disappear with age. The agency does. I’ve just finished judging “My Life Is a Movie. Here’s the Trailer.” A competition by #TheAlternativeSchool offers selected creatives the opportunity to attend the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. What I love about this brief is that it didn't ask for polish. It asked for a point of view. How you frame your life. What you choose to reveal. What you leave unsaid. An absolute joy to watch these films. And what stood out most was the clarity, the courage, and the cinematic truth. There’s a striking sense of authorship in these young voices. A belief that a life larger than their current circumstances isn’t naïve, but possible. What changes with time isn’t ambition - it’s our willingness to stay the protagonist. Many of us didn’t stop dreaming because our dreams were wrong. We stopped because life asked us to be practical. But authorship doesn’t belong to the young. It belongs to the willing. And dreams don’t expire. They wait.”, said Serena Abi Aad, awarded director & influential international juror about the competition.
Laurentiu Dumitrescu added: “When your life is a movie, the trailer matters. A lot. Spoiler alert: we’re not looking for perfection. We’re looking for identity, courage, and a story that actually says something.”
“#TheAlternativeSchool opens the road to Cannes for young creatives. And sometimes, one week at the Cannes Lions Festival does more than years of study or experience in advertising. Because there, alongside some of the most experienced people in the industry, you find the motivation to want to become like them. I had the pleasure of judging the entries submitted as short films, where young creatives told their stories in original ways - their lives, their thoughts, their dreams. And for some of them, RHA and ERA will turn those dreams into reality.”, said Adrian Pasarica.
Sebastian Lüba commented: “Yes, I fully believe that raw creativity should be nurtured and supported. Young creatives need inspiration, trust, and platforms that actually open doors. That’s why I joined the jury committee at #TheAlternativeSchool for the Roger Hatchuel Academy & ERA Competition, whose winner will go on to represent Romania at Cannes Lions.”
“Nice storytelling, nice framing. Finding yourself through others is a strong concept, thoroughly explored, with an open ending. I was glad to read this candidate opened up to mentorship in the motivation letter. I think this openness is necessary for further growth.” said Laurien Engels about Maria’s application. “I loved the way you used positivity to showcase your path in life and your creativity”, added Diana Neagu.
“This video remained good after several times of watching. It makes me curious to get to know this creative person, who owns her diagnosis and struggles in a poetic and authentic way. The meta perspective, the search for meaning, the human aspect, and the imagery are original and captivating. The authenticity and the indirect way of showing talent makes this application feel open and trustworthy” said Laurien Engels about Julieta’s video application. “I loved the story and the creative execution. It was cinematic, entertaining, but also leaving space for reflection.”, added Diana Neagu.
Alexandra Moisescu added: “The inner child is always the creative adult. Never forget her. It’s a reminder that imagination precedes skill”.
Laurien Engels said about Ioana’s application: “The drawings in the background looked wonderful. I would love to see more of those. The music was dominant, which felt distracting. For me though there was room for more depth and acknowledgment of the context”.
A word from the winning Young Ladies
“At first, I had doubts about whether I was good enough for this competition. Discovering some old videos of myself at seven years old, saying that I wanted to make commercials, completely changed my perspective. I realized that it wasn’t just about me, but about my younger self, who was already dreaming of this path. #TheAlternativeSchool experience, along with the mentors and the insights I received, helped me not only understand the industry better, but also accept that vulnerability can be a superpower. I’m grateful for the opportunity, for the trust, and for the child within me who knew, long before I did, what she wanted”, said Julieta Calotă.
“When preparing this application, I had to press pause and look back at my life for real, unfiltered: the good, the hard, the confusion, the brave. It was uncomfortable to be that vulnerable, to relive chapters I thought I had already left behind, and to admit how many times I doubted myself. But somewhere in that honesty, I realised something simple: creativity has always been the one thing that carried me forward. Being selected for the RHA shortlist made every version of me, from every scene of my movie, feel proud, every chapter building towards this moment”, said Maria Gaitan.
“Through The Alternative School, I found doors I hadn’t noticed before, and learned that advertising can give life to ideas, allowing them to travel, touch others, and carry whispers of care and love into the world”, said Ioana Podaru.
What’s next?
The Creative MBA of #TheAlternativeSchool launched BAM - A Brief a Month, an intensive program and creative performance accelerator, supported by Ursus & Orkla foods, built on the principle of learning by doing, within a framework of international inspiration. In 2026, the pilot edition includes 4 briefs across two seasons. Qualification for a scholarship to #FutureProofCreativity (Nov 10 - Dec 10) requires completing 4 out of 4 briefs.
The briefs currently available are Tomi 30 and Ursus RGB Bottle.
The Alternative School programs continue with the first event of 2026 from the #TheFutureOf series: #TheFutureOfBeauty - an event at the intersection of business intelligence, identity relevance, cultural code, and global trends in marcom, aligned with the most interesting developments in the category at an international level.
A bit of History
Launched 21 years ago, TheAlternative School’s Creative MBA has become a catalyst for Romanian performance at the world’s most demanding global communication festivals, using consulting, education, and advocacy for Romanian talent as instruments of private diplomacy, repositioning Romania on the international stage. Since 2014, this mission has helped transform the creative industries into a strategic sector for Romanian exports. Similar initiatives dedicated to other markets and industries followed, the most recent being celebrated through the partnership with The Faculty of Brands within the “Elevate Sri Lanka” programme, launched in Colombo in March 2026.
