Vanessa Burghardt, Ty Simpkins, Anna Diop among Entertainment Weekly’s Breaking Big SCAD honorees
The Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) today announces Entertainment Weekly’s Breaking Big honorees as well as additional honorees and guests for the 25th annual SCAD Savannah Film Festival, which will take place October 22–29, 2022.
The festival is once again partnering with Entertainment Weekly to host the Breaking Big Awards and Panel on Friday, Oct. 28. This year’s honorees include Vanessa Burghardt (Cha Cha Real Smooth), Madelyn Cline (Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, Outer Banks), Anna Diop (Nanny), Banks Repeta (Armageddon Time), and Ty Simpkins (The Whale), who will participate in an awards presentation and panel discussion moderated by Entertainment Weekly Executive Editor Clarissa Cruz. Entertainment Weekly editors will attend the festival and moderate select panels.
Additional honors will be presented to the following guests: Mia Goth will receive the Lumiere Award Tuesday, October 25 prior to the screening of Pearl. Actor Jenna Ortega (The Fallout, Wednesday) will receive the Breakthrough Award Sunday, October 23 prior to the screening of her film X. The inaugural Socially Conscious Cinema Award will be presented to Till actor Jalyn Hall, who portrays Emmett Till, and producer and co-writer Keith Beauchamp, whose life work has been committed to seeking justice for Emmett Till and honoring Mamie Till-Mobley. Hall and Beauchamp will attend the post-screening Q&A. The SCAD Savannah Film Festival is proud to devote this new annual honor to the actors who bring important characters to life onscreen, giving hope to people watching them, illustrating that representation through art and culture matters, and harnessing film’s power to change hearts and minds.
The following guests will attend and participate in Q&As after their films: actor Micheal Ward will attend Empire of Light Sunday, October 23. Actors Aimee Carrero will attend The Menu, joining actor and Vanguard Award recipient Nicholas Hoult, writer Seth Reiss, and production designer Ethan Tobman (one of the festival’s Variety’s 10 Artisans to Watch honorees). Actors Judith Ivey, Sheila McCarthy, and Michelle McLeod will attend Women Talking on Friday, Oct. 28.
They join previously announced honorees Colson Baker (aka Machine Gun Kelly), who will be presented with the Discovery Award for Taurus; 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; Ron Howard, with the Lifetime Achievement in Directing Award for Thirteen Lives; 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 her distinguished career and new film 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.
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), Hollywood Critics Association (HCA) 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.
- 2025 Oscar Predictions: SUPPORTING ACTOR (November) - November 21, 2024
- 2025 Oscars: Eligibility Lists for Animated Feature, Documentary Feature and International Feature Film for the 97th Academy Awards - November 21, 2024
- Nava Mau, Sean Wang Among 2024 BAFTA Breakthroughs Championing New ‘Must-Watch’ Creatives - November 21, 2024
2025 Oscar Predictions: SUPPORTING ACTOR (November) 
Director Watch Podcast Ep. 72 – ‘Three Colours: Blue’ (Krzysztof Kieślowski, 1993) 
2025 Oscars: Eligibility Lists for Animated Feature, Documentary Feature and International Feature Film for the 97th Academy Awards 
Nava Mau, Sean Wang Among 2024 BAFTA Breakthroughs Championing New ‘Must-Watch’ Creatives