Regional film festivals are the unsung heroes of the film circuit. They bring smaller titles to a local audience that might not otherwise get to see them, and they can also bring the larger films with their stars, directors, and producers, to help shine a light on the industry. It gives audiences a chance to engage with films large and small, fiction and non-fiction, live action and animated, as well as the people who make them.
SCAD Savannah Film Festival has been doing that for nearly 30 years, in its beautiful corner of Georgia. Being a university-run festival means that there is a focus on education and enlightenment as much as entertainment. And the festival teams have outdone themselves this year, with a range of titles from the biggest blockbusters to the student-made shorts.
Excerpts from the press release below. If you're are film fan in the Savannah area, this is not to be missed. For more details, schedule, and to book tickets, visit the festival website.
The Savannah College of Art and Design’s 27th annual SCAD Savannah Film Festivalwill take place Oct. 26 - Nov. 2. The largest university-run film festival in the U.S., this eight-day celebration of cinematic excellence honors both professional and student filmmakers and welcomes major industry luminaries, including award-winning directors, writers, and actors.
The 2024 schedule includes Gala and Signature Screenings, Special Presentations, professional and student competition films, the Docs to Watch and Pixels and Pencils series, and the Behind the Lens and Below the Line panel series. Students from an array of the university’s top ranked programs, including acting, animation, film and television, sound design, themed entertainment design, dramatic writing, and more will have the opportunity to engage and interact with these creative leaders throughout the festival providing insight that prepares them for future creative careers in the entertainment industry.
“Lose yourself in the next wave of emergent cinemagic at the 2024 SCAD Savannah Film Festival, where SCAD honors the screen’s brightest stars — from Annette Bening to Lupita Nyong'o to Richard Linklater,” said SCAD President and Founder Paula Wallace. “Come for the stars, and stay for a tour of SCAD’s recently expanded Savannah Film Studios backlot, now featuring new streets, storefronts, and dozens more settings for the perfect shoot. Glitz, glamour, and good films — see you later this month at SCAD!”
Gala Screenings
The SCAD Savannah Film Festival is renowned for spotlighting major award contenders, screening a multitude of studio and streamer films prior to their wider release. The following 15 films have been selected for distinguished screenings:
• Blitz — Apple Original Films (Director Steve McQueen)
• Better Man — Paramount (Director Michael Gracey)
• The Brutalist — A24 (Director Brady Corbet)
• Emilia Pérez — Netflix (Director Jacques Audiard)
• The Fire Inside — Amazon MGM Studios (Director Rachel Morrison)
• Juror #2 — Warner Bros. Pictures (Director Clint Eastwood)
• The Last Showgirl — Roadside Attractions (Director Gia Coppola)
• Maria — Netflix (Director Pablo Larraín)
• Nickel Boys — Orion Pictures / Amazon MGM Studios(Director RaMell Ross)
• Nightbitch — Searchlight Pictures (Director Marielle Heller)
• The Piano Lesson — Netflix (Director Malcolm Washington)
• A Real Pain — Searchlight Pictures (Director Jesse Eisenberg)
• September 5 — Paramount (Director Tim Fehlbaum)
• Sweethearts — MAX (Director Jordan Weiss)
• Unstoppable — Amazon MGM Studios (Director William Goldenberg)
Special Presentations
Get an early look at buzzworthy films from the world's leading filmmakers premiering at the festival or not yet in wide release. In previous years, these films have gone on to win Academy Awards, Independent Spirit Awards, and other prestigious accolades:
• All We Imagine as Light — Janus Films and Sideshow Pictures (Director Payal Kapadia)
• The End — Neon (Director Joshua Oppenheimer)
• Hard Truths — Bleecker Street (Director Mike Leigh)
• I’m Hip (Director John Musker)
• I’m Still Here — Sony Picture Classics (Director Walter Salles)
• Jean Cocteau (Director Lisa Immordino Vreeland)
• Love Me — Bleecker Street (Directors Sam Zuchero and Andy Zuchero)
• On Becoming a Guinea Fowl — A24 (Director Rungano Nynoi)
• The Room Next Door — Sony Picture Classics (Director Pedro Almodóvar)
• The Seed of the Sacred Fig — Neon (Director Mohammad Rasoulof)
• Small Things Like These — Lionsgate (Director Tim Mielants)
• State of Silence (Director Santiago Maza)
• Universal Language (Director Matthew Rankin)
The Signature Screenings series features premiere and special screenings, with some followed by Q&As with select directors, writers, actors, and producers. This year’s selection of films and series include:
• A Different Man — A24 (Director Aaron Schimberg)
• Anora — Neon (Director Sean Baker)
• Back to Black — Focus Features (Director Sam Taylor-Johnson)
• Beetlejuice Beetlejuice — Warner Bros. Pictures (Director Tim Burton)
• The Grifters (Director Stephen Frears)
• His Three Daughters — Netflix (Director Azazel Jacobs)
• Hit Man — Netflix (Director Richard Linklater)
• How to Train Your Dragon — Dreamworks (Directors Chris Sanders and Dean DeBlois)
• Joker: Folie à Deux — Warner Bros. Pictures (Director Todd Phillips)
• Saturday Night — Sony Pictures (Director Jason Reitman)
• SCAD Presents: One Step Away (Director Leslie Merlin)
• Sing Sing — A24 (Director Greg Kwedar)
• Young Woman and the Sea — Disney (Director Joachim Rønning)
Honorees
This year’s SCAD Savannah Film Festival will honor a distinguished group of acclaimed industry talents, with honorees expected to participate in an awards presentation, moderated conversations, and master classes with SCAD acting and film and television students. Previously announced honorees include:
• Marisa Abela will receive the Next Gen Award at a screening of Back to Black.
• Amy Adams will receive the Outstanding Achievement in Cinema Award at a screening of Nightbitch.
• Colleen Atwood will receive Variety’s Creative Impact in Costume Design Award at a screening of Beetlejuice Beetlejuice.
• Annette Bening will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at a screening of her 1990 film The Grifters.
• Felicity Jones will receive the Spotlight Award at a screening of The Brutalist.
• Jerry Bruckheimer will receive the Legend of Entertainment Award at an In Conversation event discussing his career.
• Kieran Culkin will receive the Virtuoso Award at a screening of A Real Pain.
• Colman Domingo will receive the Spotlight Award at a screening of Sing Sing.
• Karla Sofía Gascón will receive the Distinguished Performance Award at a screening of Emilia Pérez.
• Jharrel Jerome will receive the Lumiere Award at a screening of Unstoppable.
• Pablo Larraín will receive the Auteur Award at the Closing Night screening of Maria.
• Richard Linklater will receive the Lifetime Achievement in Screenwriting Award at a screening of Hit Man.
• Diego Luna will receive the Impact Award at a screening of the documentary State of Silence.
• Natasha Lyonne will receive the Maverick Award at a screening of His Three Daughters.
• Mikey Madison will receive the Breakthrough Award at a screening of Anora.
• Steve McQueen will receive the Outstanding Achievement in Directing Award at the opening night gala screening of Blitz.
• Isabela Merced will receive the Rising Star Award at a screening of Alien: Romulus.
• Demi Moore will receive the Icon Award at a screening of The Substance.
• Lupita Nyong’o will receive the Virtuoso Award at a screening of The Wild Robot.
• Margaret Qualley will receive the Luminary Award at a screening of The Substance.
• Jason Reitman will receive the Vanguard Director Award at a screening of Saturday Night.
• Daisy Ridley will receive the Lumiere Award in recognition of her current projects Magpie and Young Woman and the Sea.
• RaMell Ross will receive the Breakthrough Director Award at a screening of Nickel Boys.
• Zoe Saldaña will receive the Vanguard Award at a screening of Emilia Pérez.
• Chris Sanders will receive the Icon of Animation Award at Variety’s Pixels and Pencils panel.
• Sebastian Stan will receive the Maverick Award at a screening of A Different Man.
• The cast of The Piano Lesson, including actors Danielle Deadwyler, John David Washington, Skyler Aleece Smith, and Michael Potts, as well as director Malcolm Washington, will receive the inaugural Ensemble Award at the opening night screening of the film.
First Look: Wicked – Universal
Members of the Wicked creative team will be on hand for an exclusive panel offering an inside look at the upcoming cinematic event, based on one of the most beloved and enduring musicals on the stage. The panel will include a conversation about the extraordinary process of bringing this story to the big screen and a taste of this spectacular, immersive, cultural celebration before its release Nov. 22. Panelists will include cinematographer Alice Brooks, editor Myron Kerstein, and costume designer Paul Tazewell.
SAVFF LGBTQ+ Short Film Competition Presented by Amazon MGM Studios
Recognizing the need for more inclusive storytelling in the filmmaking industry, the SCAD Savannah Film Festival (SAVFF) and Amazon MGM Studios have created a dedicated SAVFF LGBTQ+ Short Film Competition. Amazon MGM Studios will donate $10,000 for the jury-awarded Best Overall Film and $5,000 for an Audience Award. Films in the program are under 40 minutes in length and represent excellence in storytelling and execution in narrative or documentary formats, reflecting unique insight into LGBTQIA+ themes, issues, or ideas. This year’s films include:
• ALOK (Director Alex Hedison)
• ILY, BYE (Director Taylor James)
• Out of the Dark: Cal Calamia (Directors Tom Mason and Sarah Klein)
• Re-Entry (Director Ariel Mahler)
• Ripe! (Director Tusk)
• Stan Behavior (Director Tyler C. Peterson)
• Twofold (Director Ella Greenwood)
Amazon MGM Studios will also lead a panel discussion, Authenticity in Action: Collaborating for Real Representation with Amazon MGM Studios, on Wednesday, Oct. 30 at the Gutstein Gallery.
Docs to Watch
The 11th annual Docs to Watch series will be accompanied by a roundtable with the directors hosted by Scott Feinberg of The Hollywood Reporter. Selected films include:
• Black Box Diaries — MTV Documentary Films (Director Shiori Ito)
• Carville: Winning Is Everything, Stupid! — CNN Films (Director Matt Tyrnauer)
• Daughters — Netflix (Directors Natalie Rae and Angela Patton)
• Hollywoodgate — self-distributed (Director Ibrahim Nash'at)
• Piece By Piece — Focus Features (Director Morgan Neville)
• Porcelain War — Picturehouse (Directors Brendan Bellomo and Slava Leontyev)
• Sugarcane — National Geographic Documentary Films (Directors Julian Brave NoiseCat and Emily Kassie)
• Super/Man: The Christopher Reeve Story — Warner Bros. Pictures/DC Studios (Directors Ian Bonhôte and Peter Ettedgui)
• Union — Level Ground (Directors Stephen Maing and Brett Story)
• Will & Harper — Netflix (Director Josh Greenbaum)
Pixels and Pencils: Top Animated Contenders Roundtable
Presented in partnership with Variety, Pixels and Pencils highlights the directors behind the top animated films of the year. Showcasing a broad array of artistic avenues and animation styles, this series culminates in the directors roundtable panel hosted by Variety senior awards editor Clayton Davis. Selected films include:
• Flow — Sideshow/Janus Films (Director Gints Zilbalodis)
• Inside Out 2 — Disney and Pixar (Director Kelsey Mann)
• Memoir of a Snail — IFC Films (Director Adam Elliot)
• Piece By Piece — Focus Features (Director Morgan Neville)
• Transformers One — Paramount Pictures (Director Josh Cooley)
• The Wild Robot — Universal Pictures/DreamWorks Animation (Writer/Director Chris Sanders)
The SCAD Savannah Film Festival's home for late night fun and genre fare, featuring classic horror and soon-to-be cult classics selected to thrill, scare, and entertain:
• Alien: Romulus (Director Fede Alvarez)
• The Substance (Director Coralie Fargeat)
• Wonders of the Wurlitzer: Nosferatu – A Symphony of Horror (1922)
• Y2K (Filmmakers Kyle Mooney and Evan Winter)
After Dark Shorts Program
• Bisected (Director Danny Pineros)
• Les Bêtes (Director Michael Granberry)
• The Preakness (Director Akshay Bhatia)
• To Hell With You (Director Jason Sheedy)
• Creature (Director Bryan Wynn Sutton)
• Strings (Director Paige Archer)
• Wake (Director Sean Carter)
Panels
Join the SCAD Savannah Film Festival for conversations and panels with industry stars and insiders. This year’s panels include:
The Behind the Lens series, which celebrates cinematic powerhouses who defy the odds and obstacles to bring us some of the most influential and poignant films and television series in recent years. Panels include:
• Behind the Lens: Directors, with panelists Marielle Heller (Nightbitch), Erica Tremblay (Fancy Dance), Jordan Weiss (Sweethearts), Kaila York (The Neighbor Who Saw Too Much), Rachel Morrison (The Fire Inside), and Sophia Takal (The Summer I Turned Pretty).
• Behind the Lens: Producers, with panelists Alison Owen (Back to Black), Carla Hacken (Hell or High Water), Daisy Ridley (Young Woman and the Sea, Magpie), Heather Rae (Fancy Dance), Joanna Calo (The Bear), and Laura Lewis (Tell Me Lies).
• Behind the Lens: Below the Line, with panelists Alice Brooks (director of photography, Wicked), Amy Williams (production designer, The Idea of You), and Laura Hudock (director of photography, Girls State).
The Artisans series, highlighting the contributions of below-the-line talent to the art of cinema, with a focus on costume design and production design:
• Below the Line: Costume Design with panelists Arianne Phillips (costume designer, Joker: Folie à Deux and A Complete Unknown), and additional panelists to be announced.
• Below the Line: Casting with panelists Bernie Telsey (Only Murders in the Building), Jeanne McCarthy (Hacks), Rich Delia (A Family Affair), and Victoria Thomas (Nickel Boys).
• Below the Line: Production Design with panelists Dina Lipton (Not Dead Yet), Molly Hughes (Thirteen Lives), and Scott Chambliss (Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2).
• Below the Line: The Art of Creating Cinematic Magic, with panelists production designer Michael Ralph and set decorator Bronwyn Franklin.
• Sonic Heroes: The Art of Sound in Disney and Marvel Studios’ Deadpool & Wolverine on Oct. 30 with panelists Rob Simonsen (composer) and Craig Henighan (Re-recording mixer / supervising sound editor).Get an in-depth look at the artistry behind the music and sound of the iconic Marvel franchise mashup.
• Power Brokers: Inside the Role of Agents with Gersh Panel will feature a panel of diverse agents at Gersh as they demystify the role of agents and offer insights into their influence, responsibilities, and the critical relationships they foster between talent and industry stakeholders.
Competition Films
The SCAD Savannah Film Festival celebrates the work of established and emerging filmmakers, from feature-length films to two-minute shorts.
From side-splitting comedies to heart-wrenching dramas, the narrative feature films selected represent diversity in storytelling, excellence in acting and directing, and exemplary cinematography and editing:
• Griffin in Summer (Director Nicholas Colia)
• Los Frikis (Directors Michael Schwartz and Tyler Nilson)
• Or Something (Director Jeff Schroeder)
• The Queen of My Dreams (Director Fawzia Mirza)
Documentary Features
Beyond simple subject matters, documentaries present compelling stories that illuminate and educate audiences in a thought-provoking and timely manner:
• Champions of the Golden Valley (Director Ben Sturgulewski)
• Paint Me A Road Out of Here (Director Catherine Gund)
• Secret Mall Apartment (Director Jeremy Workman)
• The Ride Ahead (Directors Dan Habib and Samuel Habib)
Professional Shorts
Running the gamut of subject matter and style, these short films are selected based on their individual merits in storytelling and execution:
• After Annecy (Director Rebecca Holstein)
• Bright Forests (Director Chadwick Harman)
• Diviners (Director Brian Watkins)
• Good Boy (Director Tom Stuart)
• Motherland (Director Jasmin Mozaffari)
• Tea (Director Blake Winston Rice)
• The Masterpiece (Director Àlex Lora)
Documentary Shorts
In this mesmerizing collection of shorts, filmmakers explore art, history, politics, and personal profiles to offer a captivating panorama of our world:
• All Things Metal (Director Motoki Otsuka)
• Good Enough Ancestor (Director Cynthia Wade)
• I'm Still Here: A Life on Dynamite Hill (Directors Stephen Stinson and Sam Miller)
• Stud Country (Directors Alexandra Kern and Lina Abascal)
• To Myself With Love: The Bessie Stringfield (Director Diane Fredel-Weis)
• The Hearts of Bwindi (Director Charli Doherty)
Animated Shorts
These animated films represent the diversity of the craft, from simple, hand-drawn figures to stop-motion and digital rendering, showcasing unique storytelling at its finest:
• Love of the Land (Director Travis Van Alstyne)
• Monsoon Blue (Directors Ellis Kayin Chan and Jay Hiukit Wong)
• My Weasel Teacher (Director Tian Shi)
• Remember Us (Director Pablo Leon)
• Tennis, Oranges (Director Sean Pecknold)
• The Death Of James (Director Sam Chou)
• The Wedding Veil of the Proud Princess (Director Anna-Ester Volozh)
Global Shorts Forum
The Global Shorts Forum is a curated collection of international shorts across multiple genres that focus on world issues. These include:
Latin Lens
• Deep in My Heart is a Song (Director Jonathan Pickett)
• El Lloron (Director Rodrigo Moreno-Fernandez)
• Iron Lung (Director Andrew Reid)
• ¡salsa! (Director Antonina Kerguelen Roman)
• Toros Bravos: Julián Cartas (Director Jack LaCalle)
• We Exist in Memory (Director Darian Woehr)
• When Everything Burns (Director María Belén Poncio)
Visions de France
• D'Oran à Almería (From Oran to Almería) (Director Lina Saïdani)
• Flatastic (Director Alice Saey)
• L'Invulnérable (The Invulnerable) (Director Lucas Bacle)
• Little Queen (Director Julien Guetta)
• Monochrome (Director Cédric Prévost)
• Yuck! (Director Loïc Espuche)