SCAD Savannah Film Festival lineup; Eddie Redmayne, Janelle Monáe, Sadie Sink among honorees

2022 honorees also include Kerry Condon, JD Dillard, Nicholas Hoult, Jonathan Majors, Jeremy Pope, Sandy Powell, and Henry Selick

The Savannah College of Art and Design celebrates 25 years with the 25th annual SCAD Savannah Film Festival, taking place in person October 22–29, 2022. 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. 

This year, SCAD will honor 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 and 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 kicks off Saturday, Oct. 22, with the opening-night Gala Screening of The Banshees of Inisherin, directed by Martin McDonagh. The festival culminates Saturday, Oct. 29, with the closing-night Gala Screening of Living and a Spotlight Gala Screening The Whale, directed by Darren Aronofsky, will feature on Friday, Oct. 28. Miles Teller (2016 Vanguard Award recipient) will attend an In Conversation following a Special Presentation of Top Gun: Maverick. Former U.S. Congresswoman and Presidential Medal of Freedom recipient Gabby Giffords will appear with Oscar nominated directors Julie Cohen and Betsy West following a Special Screening of the celebrated documentary Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down. A key stop on the Academy Awards festival circuit, the SCAD Savannah Film Festival will screen 143 films, including 53 narrative feature films, 20 documentary feature films, and 79 shorts, with eight world premieres and six U.S. premieres.  

The 2022 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 Wonder Women and Below the Line panel series. The 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. Students from an array of the university’s top ranked programs, including film and television, sound design, animation, performing arts, themed entertainment, 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.  

“Join me as we celebrate the cultural phenomenon of film at SCAD’s silver anniversary SCAD Savannah Film Festival,” said SCAD president and founder Paula Wallace. “Each year, the world’s preeminent university-run film festival delights tens of thousands of theatergoers who love to escape into the screen to preview future Academy Award winners. The lights will be bright, the red carpets rolled out, and Hollywood royalty will be in the house. There’s no telling who you might see strolling down Broughton Street.” 

“The 25th annual SCAD Savannah Film Festival is set to delight guests with our exciting group of honorees and stellar film line-up”, said SCAD Savannah Film Festival Executive and Artistic Director Christina Routhier. “This milestone anniversary for the festival is an incredible accomplishment. For the past 25 years, the university has achieved unprecedented growth and academic success and the film festival has become a venerable stop for films on their way to the Academy Awards. With a slate of nearly 150 films, including some filmed right here in Savannah, we are ready for eight full days of outstanding cinema.” 

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-two films have been selected for the distinguished Gala Screenings: 

• Aftersun (Director Charlotte Wells) 
• Armageddon Time (Director James Gray) 
• The Banshees of Inisherin (Director Martin McDonagh) 
• Broker (Director Hirokazu Kore-eda) 
• Causeway (Director Lila Neugebauer)  
• Close (Director Lukas Dhont) 
• Corsage (Director Marie Kreutzer) 
• Decision to Leave (Director Park Chan-wook) 
• Devotion (Director JD Dillard) 
• Empire of Light (Director Sam Mendes) 
• Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (Director Rian Johnson) 
• The Good Nurse (Director Tobias Lindholm) 
• Holy Spider (Director Ali Abbasi) 
• The Inspection (Director Elegance Bratton) 
• Living (Director Oliver Hermanus) 
• The Lost King (Director Stephen Frears) 
• The Menu (Director Mark Mylod) 
• My Policeman (Director Michael Grandage) 
• Nanny (Director Nikyatu Jusu) 
• One Fine Morning (Director Mia Hansen-Løve) 
• She Said (Director Maria Schrader) 
• Taurus (Director Tim Sutton) 
• Till (Director Chinonye Chukwu) 
• Women Talking (Director Sarah Polley)

Signature Screenings

The Signature Screenings series features premiere and special screenings, followed by Q&As with select directors, writers, actors, and producers. This year’s selection of films include: 

• 38 at The Garden (Director Frank Chi) 
• Blade Runner: The Final Cut and 40th Anniversary Panel (Director Ridley Scott) 
• Fenom (Director Kayla Johnson) 
• Freedom on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight for Freedom (Director Evgeny Afineevsky) 
• Gabby Giffords Won’t Back Down (Directors Julie Cohen and Betsy West) 
• Is That Black Enough for You?!? (Director Elvis Mitchell) 
• Orlando: Celebrating 30 Years of Sony Pictures Classics (Director Sally Potter) 
• Thirteen Lives (Director Ron Howard) 
• Top Gun: Maverick (Director Joseph Kosinski) 
• Triangle of Sadness (Director Ruben Östlund) 

Docs to Watch

The ninth 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: 

• All That Breathes (Director Shaunak Sen) 
• Bad Axe (Director David Siev) 
• Descendant (Director Margaret Brown) 
• Fire of Love (Director Sara Dosa) 
• Good Night Oppy (Director Ryan White) 
• Last Flight Home (Director Ondi Timoner) 
• Moonage Daydream (Director Brett Morgen) 
• Navalny (Director Daniel Roher) 
• Retrograde (Director Matthew Heineman) 
• The Return Of Tanya Tucker — Featuring Brandi Carlile (Director Kathlyn Horan) 

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. Directors participate in post-screening Q&As and join Davis for an Animation Roundtable during the festival. Films include: 

• Inu-Oh (Director Masaaki Yuasa) 
• Marcel the Shell with Shoes On (Director Dean Fleischer Camp) 
• Minions: The Rise of Gru (Director Kyle Balda) 
• First Look at “Puss in Boots: The Last Wish” (Director Joel Crawford and Co-Director Januel Mercado) 
• Turning Red (Director Domee Shi) 
• Wendell & Wild (Director Henry Selick) 

After Dark

The SCAD Savannah Film Festival’s home for late night fun and genre fare, these soon-to-be cult classics are selected to thrill, scare, and entertain: 

• The Atomic Dream (Director Angad Aulakh) 
• Bones & All (Director Luca Guadagnino) 
• Enys Men (Director Mark Jenkin) 
• Murmur (Director Mark Polish) 
• Weird: The Al Yankovic Story (Director Eric Appel) 

Panels

Join the SCAD Savannah Film Festival for conversations and panels with industry stars and insiders. This year’s panels include: 

• The exclusive Entertainment Weekly’s Breaking Big Panel and Awards, hosted by festival media partner Entertainment Weekly. Participants will be announced at a later date. 
• The inaugural Variety 10 Artisans To Watch. The 10 artisans selected are cinematographer Todd Banhazl (“Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty”), make-up head Michelle Chung (“Everything Everywhere All At Once”), composer Amie Doherty (“She-Hulk: Attorney at Law”), sound designer Mike James Gallagher (“Weird: The Al Yankovic Story”), VFX artist and SCAD alumnus Jessica Love (“Thor: Love and Thunder”), hair department head Deaundra Metzger (“Till”), editor Scott Morris (“Armageddon Time”), costume designer Gersha Phillips (“The Woman King”), supervising sound editor Mac Smith (“Moon Knight) and production designer Ethan Tobman (“The Menu”). 
• The Wonder Women series, focusing on the cinematic achievements and contributions of women directors, producers, and below-the-line talent in film and television. Panelists include: 
• Wonder Women Directors: Allison Anders, Sara Dosa, Jennifer Kaytin Robinson, and Maria Schrader 
• Wonder Women Producers: Carla Hacken, Nicôle Lecky, Alison Owen, Jurnee Smollett, and Christine Vachon 
• Wonder Women Below-The-Line: Angela Cantanzaro, Kathrin Eder, Catherine Haight, and Nicole Whittaker 
• The Below the Line series, highlighting the contributions of below-the-line talent to the art of cinema, with a focus on costume design and production design. 
• The SCAD Alumni Panel, highlighting graduates of the university’s top-ranked film and television degree programs. 

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 1,700 entries annually. 

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: 

• The Big Bend (Director Brett Wagner) 
• Dealing with Dad (Director Tom Huang) 
• The Moon & Back (Director Leah Bleich) 
• Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game (Directors Austin Bragg and Meredith Bragg) 
• Stay Awake (Director Jamie Sisley) 

Documentary Features

Beyond simple subject matters, documentaries present compelling stories that illuminate and educate audiences in a thought-provoking and timely manner: 

• Afghan Dreamers (Director David Greenwald) 
• Butterfly in the Sky (Directors Bradford Thomason and Brett Whitcomb) 
• Crows are White (Director Ahsen Nadeem) 
• The Quiet Epidemic (Director Lindsay Keys and Winslow Crane-Murdoch) 
• Sam Now (Director Reed Harkness) 

Professional Shorts

Running the gamut of subject matter and style, these short films are selected based on their individual merits in storytelling and execution:

• A Better Half (Director Marco Calvani) 
• The Bardia (Director Gabriella Garcia-Pardo) 
• The Daughter (Director Soumyak Kanti DeBiswas) 
• Long Line of Ladies (Directors Shaandiin Tome and Rayka Zehtabchi) 
• Love, Barbara (Director Brydie O’Connor) 
• Miss Patti (Director Kate Hamilton, Grasie Mercedes) 
• North Star (Director P.J. Palmer) 
• Rosie’s Theater Kids (Director Steven Cantor) 
• The Ruth Brinker Story (Director Apo W Bazidi) 
• Soft Sounds of Peeling Fruit (Director So Young Shelly Yo) 

Documentary Shorts

In this mesmerizing collection of shorts, filmmakers explore art, history, politics, and personal profiles to offer a captivating panorama of our world. 

• A Very Fragile Thing (Directors Selah Eshetu and Ryan De Franco) 
• Angola Do You Hear Us? Voices From A Plantation Prison (Director Cinque Northern) 
• Bacon ‘N’ Laces (Director Stephen Michael Simon) 
• The Flagmakers (Directors Cynthia Wade, Sharon Liese) 
• Invisible Seams (Director Jia Li) 
• Kinderland (Director Amy Grappell) 
• Of the Moment: Sculpting a Union’s Future (Director Jacob Moises Menache) 
• Our League (Director Sam Cullman) 
• State of Alabama vs Brittany Smith (Director Ryan White) 

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: 

• Black Slide (Director Uri Lotan) 
• Cat and Moth (Director India Barnardo) 
• Ex Creta (Director Jon Portman) 
• Letter to a Pig (Director Tal Kantor) 
• Manō (Director Brittany Biggs) 
• Memento Mori (Director Paul O’Flanagan ) 
• New Moon (Directors Jeff Le Bars and Jérémie Balais) 
• Pour Games (Director Patrick Smith) 
• Regular Rabbit (Director Eoin Duffy) 
• Reparations (Director Wilson Borja) 
• Toddler Talks (Director Diana Reichenbach) 

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: 

• Avalanches (Director Liz Lian) 
• Blue Curry (Directors Magali Dunyach, Chien-Ju Hung, Jimin Jung, Vajra Pancharia, and Léa Pietrzyk) 
• Clicker (Director Charles Kugler) 
• Darkside (Director Spencer Zimmerman) 
• Goodbye Jérôme! (Directors Gabrielle Selnet, Adam Sillard, and Chloé Farr) 
• He Was Hope (Director Taylor Conley) 
• Kaghati (Directors Stanley Soendoro and Amanda Jayapurna) 
• Laika & Nemo (Directors Jan Gadermann and Sebastian Gadow) 
• Lost Souls (Director Christina Giordano) 
• Maayanagri (A City of Dreams) (Director Sourab Reddy) 
• Memoria(l) (Director Ian Kelly) 
• Mileage (Directors Jennifer Wu, Kym Santiana, Ruyee Lu, Christopher Hsueh, Nicole Taylor-Topacio, Joy Zhou, Ruby Saysanasy, Miranda Li, and Saul Benavides 
• The Pope’s Dog (Director Neko Pilarcik-Tellez) 
• The Promised Land (Director Tanaseth Tulyathan) 
• Remnants of the Night (Director Kathie Yang) 
• The Soloists (Directors Mehrnaz Abdollahinia. Feben Woldehawariat, Razahk Issaka Celeste Jamneck, and Yi Liu) 
• The Uncertain Snow (Directors Marion Boisrond, Marie-Liesse Coumau, Gwendoline Legendre, Ada Hernaez, and Romane Tisseau) 
• Where No One Lives (Director Li Anne Liew) 
• This Wild Abyss (Director Thomas Mendolia) 

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 themes include: 

XX: A nuanced selection of films examining female-identifying perspectives drives this collection. 

Of the Land: These short films explore the unique and sometimes harrowing relationships that humans have with the natural world and their environment, offering diverse perspectives and experiences.

Shorts Spotlight

This year’s Shorts Spotlight themes include: 

Amusing Perspectives: A short film collection that reminds us that life is too short to miss out on the pursuit of amusement or a good laugh. 

Person First: Through struggles great and small, at the heart of every story is a unique human being trying to navigate their way through a world riddled with unknown challenges and obstacles to survive. 

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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), 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.

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