Now Covering: The 2022 SCAD Savannah Film Festival

The nation's largest university-run film festival returns to celebrate its 25th year. Over the years, SCAD Savannah Film Festival has screened more than 140 Academy Award-nominated films and has honored more than 100 legendary actors, directors, producers, writers, and filmmakers from around the world. The festival celebrates the imaginative creativity of both award-winning professionals and emerging student filmmakers, screening innovative features, shorts, animations, and documentaries. Guests are welcome to enjoy major studio releases, indie films, meet award-winning filmmakers at lectures, panels, and workshops, and make career-defining connections with industry honored guests. 

The festival runs in-person from Saturday October 22nd to the 29th in the heart of downtown Savannah, Georgia. The city is beaming with new life and rich history, which guests are urged to explore. Much of Savannah’s vibrant character can be attributed to SCAD’s revitalization efforts, in part by welcoming thousands of guests every year for the festival alone. Showings will take place in the grand Lucas Theater, Trustees theater, SCAD Museum of Art, and Gutstein Gallery. 

My first experience of the festival was back in 2016 when I was a freshman at SCAD. I was lucky enough to see Ewan McGregor’s directorial debut, American Pastoral. The film was so-so, but the experience was life changing. For the next three years, the last week of October was my favorite time of the year. I met amazing actors like Molly Shannon (Other People) and Sir Patrick Stewart (Logan), attended a coffee talk with director Karyn Kusama (Destroyer), and enjoyed panels with costume designer Kristin M. Burke (The Conjuring) and editor Joi McMillon (If Beale Street Could Talk). The festival was my wonderland and I am honored to return this year as not only a guest, but as accredited press for the first time.

This year, SCAD will be honoring Kerry Condon with the Distinguished Performance Award for The Banshees of Inisherin, JD Dillard with the Rising Star Director Award for Devotion, Nicholas Hoult with the Vanguard Award for The Menu, Jonathan Majors with the Spotlight Award for Devotion, Janelle Monáe with the Spotlight Award for Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, Jeremy Pope with the Distinguished Performance Award for The Inspection, Sandy Powell with the Variety Creative Impact Award in Costume Design for Living, Eddie Redmayne with the Virtuoso Award for The Good Nurse, Henry Selick with the Outstanding Achievement in Animation Award for Wendell & Wild, and Sadie Sink with the Rising Star Award for The Whale. Previously announced honorees include Colson Baker, aka Machine Gun Kelly, who will receive the Discovery Award for Taurus and Ron Howard who will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award in Directing for Thirteen Lives.

The festival has selected twenty-two studio films to be screened prior to their wider release for the distinguished Gala Screenings including Aftersun (Charlotte Wells), Empire of Light (Sam Mendes), Holy Spider (Ali Abbasi), The Menu (Director Mark Mylod) Nanny (Nikyatu Jusu), Till (Director Chinonye Chukwu), and Women Talking (Sarah Polley) to name a few. Other Signature Screeners, Docs to Watch, and Top Animated Contenders, include Blade Runner: The Final Cut and 40th Anniversary Panel (Ridley Scott), Triangle of Sadness (Ruben Östlund), Moonage Daydream (Director Brett Morgen) and Wendell & Wild (Henry Selick) 

SCAD invites you to join the conversation at a variety of different panels with Wonder Women Directors, Wonder Women Producers, Wonder Women Below-The-Line, The Below the Line series, The SCAD Alumni Panel.

Partners: 

National Geographic, Coca-Cola, Goldman Sachs, Film Savannah 

For more information on the festival, including the full line up, schedule, tickets, panels, and special events, go to:https://filmfest.scad.edu/