The Savannah College of Art and Design’s 26th annual SCAD Savannah Film Festival, the largest university-run film festival in the U.S., will return in person October 21–28, 2023 and today announced their lineup of gala films, signature screenings, panels and more.
The SCAD Savannah Film Festival will screen 165 films, including 49 narrative feature films, 17 documentary feature films, and 100 shorts, with 11 world premieres and 4 U.S. premieres.
This year, the festival will kick off Saturday, October 21, with the opening night screening of NYAD, directed by Academy Award winners Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin. The festival culminates Saturday, October 28, with the closing night screening of the critically acclaimed new film Origin, filmed partly in Savannah and written and directed by Academy Award nominee Ava DuVernay.
SCAD will also feature an exclusive inside look at director Blitz Bazawule’s bold new take on the beloved classic The Color Purple, which was filmed in Savannah and throughout coastal Georgia. The film, from all-star producers Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg, Scott Sanders, and Quincy Jones, features an award-winning cast that includes Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks, Colman Domingo, Corey Hawkins, Halle Bailey, H.E.R., Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, and Fantasia Barrino in her major motion picture debut. The screenplay is by acclaimed playwright Marcus Gardley, who won a WGA Award for Maid. His script is based on the novel by Alice Walker and based on the musical stage play, book (of the musical stage play) by Marsha Norman, music and lyrics by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis, and Stephen Bray. The Color Purple is set for release on Christmas Day from Warner Bros.
Other Gala Screenings include All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt, All of Us Strangers, Dream Scenario, May December, Maestro, Priscilla, Saltburn, The Taste of Things and The Zone of Interest.
The festival will also feature ‘signature’ screenings of summer box office hits Barbie and Oppenheimer, along with the penultimate episode of director Lulu Wang’s Prime Video series Expats, starring Nicole Kidman, Celine Song’s early summer hit Past Lives and Gina Gammell and Riley Keough’s Cannes-winning War Pony.
Recognizing the need for more inclusive storytelling in the filmmaking industry, the 2023 SCAD Savannah Film Festival (SAVFF) and Amazon MGM Studios have created a dedicated SAVFF LGBTQIA+ 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.
The 2023 schedule includes Gala and Signature Screenings, professional and student competition films, the Docs to Watch, Sketch to Screen: Top Animated Contenders, Shorts Spotlight, and Global Shorts Forum series, and the Behind the Lens panel series. The SCAD Savannah Film Festival has screened more than 180 Academy Award-nominated films and has honored more than 100 legendary actors, directors, producers, writers, and filmmakers from around the world. Students from an array of the university’s top ranked programs, including acting, animation, film and television, sound design, animation, 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.
“The future of film lives at SCAD, where audiences can see next year’s Oscar winners at our SCAD Savannah Film Festival later this month, and where guests are treated to a BTS tour of the latest and greatest SCAD triumph: the new backlot at Savannah Film Studios, the largest at any university in the world,” said SCAD President and Founder Paula Wallace. “From Savannah cityscapes to a courthouse square and suburbs, the backlot is a paradise for our Bees and other area filmmakers. Come see everything for yourself!”
“We are excited for this year’s lineup at the 26th annual SCAD Savannah Film Festival, which features Origin, May December, and The Color Purple, all filmed in Savannah and the coastal Georgia area,” said SCAD Savannah Film Festival Executive and Artistic Director Christina Routhier. “The programming for this year’s festival is stronger than ever, celebrating outstanding cinema and the filmmakers and artisans behind the art, with over 160 films to screen for SCAD students and our audiences.”
Gala Screenings
The SCAD Savannah Film Festival is renowned for spotlighting major award contenders, screening a multitude of studio films prior to their wider release. Twenty-five films have been selected for distinguished Gala Screenings:
Signature Screenings
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:
First Look: Warner Bros. Pictures and Domain Entertainment’s The Color Purple
An inside look at director Blitz Bazawule’s bold new take on the beloved classic The Color Purple, which was filmed in Savannah and throughout coastal Georgia. The film, from all-star producers Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg, Scott Sanders, and Quincy Jones, features an award-winning cast that includes Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks, Colman Domingo, Corey Hawkins, Halle Bailey, H.E.R., Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, and Fantasia Barrino in her major motion picture debut. The screenplay is by acclaimed playwright Marcus Gardley, who won a WGA Award for Maid. His script is based on the novel by Alice Walker and based on the musical stage play, book (of the musical stage play) by Marsha Norman, music and lyrics by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis, and Stephen Bray.
SAVFF LGBTQIA+ Short Film Competition Presented by Amazon MGM Studios
Recognizing the need for more inclusive storytelling in the filmmaking industry, the 2023 SCAD Savannah Film Festival (SAVFF) and Amazon MGM Studios have created a dedicated SAVFF LGBTQIA+ 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:
The jury will consist of Adam Keen (Co-Head, Global Film PR at Amazon Studios), Anthony Allen Ramos (Vice President of Communications & Talent, GLAAD), Daniel Reynolds (Editor in Chief at Out Magazine), Jazz Tangcay (Senior Artisans Editor at Variety) and Abbey White (News Reporter at The Hollywood Reporter).
Amazon MGM Studios will also lead two panel discussions on the future of LGBTQIA+ storytelling:
Docs to Watch
The 10th 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:
Sketch to Screen: Top Animated Contenders
Hosted by Clayton Davis of Variety, Sketch to Screen highlights the top animated films of the year. Showcasing a broad array of artistic avenues and animation styles, these films tell compelling stories as they contend for Oscar acclaim. Selected films include:
After Dark
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:
Panels
Join the SCAD Savannah Film Festival for conversations and panels with industry stars and insiders. This year’s panels include:
Competition Films
The SCAD Savannah Film Festival celebrates the work of established and emerging filmmakers, from feature-length films to two-minute shorts. The juried competition showcases the best of professional, animated, and student films selected from more than 2,100 entries annually. Jurors include Seth Fradkoff (executive vice president, MGM), Migizi Pensoneau (writer and producer), Jeanie Pyun (deputy editorial director, The Hollywood Reporter) and Rishi Rajani (CEO, Hillman Grad).
Narrative Features
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:
Documentary Features
Beyond simple subject matters, documentaries present compelling stories that illuminate and educate audiences in a thought-provoking and timely manner:
Professional Shorts
Running the gamut of subject matter and style, these short films are selected based on their individual merits in storytelling and execution:
Documentary Shorts
In this mesmerizing collection of shorts, filmmakers explore art, history, politics, and personal profiles to offer a captivating panorama of our world. This years’ films are presented in memory of noted producer Katie Spikes.
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:
Student Shorts
With solid storytelling and emerging vision, these films represent a broad range of categories including live-action, narrative, documentary, and animation. Shorts from student filmmakers at SCAD and universities in France, Germany, Canada, and the U.S. that are part of the competition include:
Global Shorts Forum
The Global Shorts Forum is a curated collection of international shorts across multiple genres that focus on world issues. This year’s collections include:
Shorts Spotlight
This year’s Shorts Spotlight themes include:
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