2024 SCAD Savannah Film Festival Honorees Include Steve McQueen, Karla Sofía Gascón and Sebastian Stan

The Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) has announced its first list of honorees for the 2024 SCAD Savannah Film Festival, scheduled to take place from October 26 to November 2.

The opening night gala presentation of Blitz Saturday, October 26, will kick off the 2024 edition of the festival, with director Steve McQueen in attendance to receive the Outstanding Achievement in Directing Award. Honorees attending the festival are expected to participate in an awards presentation, moderated conversations, and master classes with SCAD acting and film and television students.

Among the other honorees, Karla Sofía Gascón will receive the Distinguished Performance Award at a screening of Emilia Pérez, Sebastian Stan will receive the Maverick Award at a screening of A Different Man, Mikey Madison will receive the Breakthrough Award at a screening of Anora and Richard Linklater will receive the Lifetime Achievement in Screenwriting Award at a screening of Hit Man, among others.

Presented by the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), the SCAD Savannah Film Festival is filled with cinematic creativity from award-winning professionals and emerging student filmmakers. Each year, more than 60,000 people attend the eight-day festival, the largest university-run film festival in the nation.

“This year’s honorees epitomize the extraordinary breadth of talent within the world of cinema, from seasoned veterans to Hollywood’s rising stars,” said Christina Routhier, Executive Director of the SCAD Savannah Film Festival. “I am thrilled for our students and attendees to witness the incredible star power coming to Savannah.”

Along withe festivals honorees, the rest of the week features scheduled competition films, premiere screenings, workshops, lectures, and panels. Other programming highlights at the festival include The Hollywood Reporter’s Docs to Watch, Amazon MGM Studios’ LGBTQIA+ Shorts Competition and the Behind Her Lens series, which includes panels with influential female directors, producers, and artisans, who will discuss the importance of staying true to their vision and empowering the industry forward with profound stories. These events take place at SCAD’s historic theaters and industry-leading studio spaces throughout the historic city of Savannah.

During the 2024 festival, SCAD will also unveil a new 17,500 sq. ft. production and costume design building next to the Savannah Film Studios backlot. This state-of-the-art facility will include space for costume design sewing labs, a fabulous industrial garment conveyor, and massive production design scene shops for building, welding, painting, and much more.

This year’s full list of honorees:

• Annette Bening will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at a screening of her 1990 film The Grifters.
• Jerry Bruckheimer will receive the Legend of Entertainment Award at an In Conversation event discussing his career.
• 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.
• Richard Linklater will receive the Lifetime Achievement in Screenwriting Award at a screening of Hit Man.
• Mikey Madison will receive the Breakthrough Award at a screening of Anora.
• Isabela Merced will receive the Rising Star Award at a screening of Alien: Romulus.
• Lupita Nyong’o will receive the Virtuoso Award at a screening of The Wild Robot.
• Daisy Ridley will receive the Lumiere Award in recognition of her current projects Magpie and Young Woman and the Sea.
• Sebastian Stan will receive the Maverick Award at a screening of A Different Man.

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Erik Anderson

Erik Anderson is the founder/owner and Editor-in-Chief of AwardsWatch and has always loved all things Oscar, having watched the Academy Awards since he was in single digits; making lists, rankings and predictions throughout the show. This led him down the path to obsessing about awards. Much later, he found himself in film school and the film forums of GoldDerby, and then migrated over to the former Oscarwatch (now AwardsDaily), before breaking off to create AwardsWatch in 2013.

He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.

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