SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The name Greta Gerwig immediately brings excitement to Emma Halloran, a junior at St. Francis High School as she and her classmates prepare for theater class.
"She’s made her way in this incredibly competitive field; her movies are on the big screen and being nominated for Oscars, it’s crazy,” Halloran said. “It’s just really surreal. It motivates you. It makes you feel empowered, especially since she is a female in a traditionally male dominated area."
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Grewig graduated from St. Francis High School 18 years ago, and since then has accumulated dozens of acting credits. She's also written and directed several movies. Most recently, she wrote and directed Little Women, which has been nominated for six Academy Awards, including Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay and Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role.
That journey resonates with the current crop of students at St. Frances.
Aurora Giacobbe, a senior at the Sacramento high school, is beginning her last semester with plans to go to college to become a film director herself.
“I feel I shine the most off stage," Giacobbe said. "I’m very much into doing directing and assisting directing."
Giacobbe said seeing someone who was once just a girl from Sacramento now behind major films in Hollywood spoke volumes that she could have dreams beyond the city limits.
“It’s definitely helped me realize that you have to write what you know and tell the story that you know because that’s the important story that needs to be told. And that’s the story people are going to be interested in,” Giacobbe said.
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