The 2017 SCAD Savannah Film Festival, celebrating it’s 20th anniversary, will run October 28 to November 4, and feature over 131 films. The festival will open with Aaron Sorkin’s directorial debut Molly’s Game, and the Centerpiece Gala film is Greta Gerwig’s Lady Bird.
This year, SCAD will honor Richard Gere (Lifetime Achievement Award), Zoey Deutch (Rising Star Award), Mariska Hargitay (Humanitarian Award), Ashley Judd (Virtuoso Award), Kyra Sedgwick (Spotlight Award), Andrea Riseborough (Outstanding Supporting Actress Award for “Battle of the Sexes”), Willow Shields (Rising Star Award), Salma Hayek Pinault (Outstanding Achievement in Cinema Award), John Boyega (Vanguard Award), Holly Hunter (Icon Award), Robert Pattinson (Maverick Award), Aaron Sorkin (Outstanding Achievement in Directing Award) and Sir Patrick Stewart (Legends of Cinema Award).
2017 Savannah Film Festival Film Lineup
GALA SCREENINGS
Call Me Be Your Name
(Director: Luca Guadagino. Cast: Armie Hammer, Timothee Chalamet, and Michael Stuhlbarg)
Darkest Hour
(Director: Joe Wright. Cast: Gary Oldman, Kristin Scott Thomas, Lily James, Stephen Dillane and Ben Mendelsohn)
Downsizing
(Director: Alexander Payne. Cast: Matt Damon, Christoph Waltz, Hong Chau, and Kristin Wiig)
Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool
(Director: Paul McGuigan. Cast: Annette Bening, Jamie Bell, Julie Walters, and Vanessa Redgrave)
The Florida Project
(Director: Sean Baker. Cast: Willem Dafoe, Brooklynn Prince, Bria Vinaite, and Valeria Cotto)
I, Tonya
(Director: Craig Gillespie. Cast: Margot Robbie, Sebastian Stan, and Allison Janney)
Into the Rainbow
(Director: Norman Stone, Gary Wing-Lun Mak. Cast: Willow Shields, Maria Grazia Cucinotta, Wu Lei Leo and Jacqueline Joe) U.S. Premiere
Lady Bird
(Director: Greta Gerwig. Cast: Saoirse Ronan, Laurie Metcalf, Tracy Letts, Lucas Hedges, Timothée Chalamet, Beanie Feldstein, Lois Smith, and Stephen McKinley Henderson)
Last Flag Flying
(Director Richard Linklater. Cast: Steve Carell, Bryan Cranston, and Laurence Fishburne)
LBJ
(Director: Rob Reiner. Cast: Woody Harrelson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Michael Stahl-David, Rich Sommer, Bill Pullman, C. Thomas Howell, Jeffrey Donovan and Richard Jenkins)
The Leisure Seeker
(Director: Paolo Virzi. Cast: Helen Mirren, and Donald Sutherland)
Molly’s Game
(Writer and Director: Aaron Sorkin. Cast: Jessica Chastain, Idris Elba, and Kevin Costner)
Mudbound
(Director: Dee Rees. Cast: Carey Mulligan, Garrett Hedlund, Jason Mitchell, Jason Clarke, Jonathan Banks, Mary J. Blige and Rob Morgan)
The Shape of Water
(Director: Guillermo del Toro. Cast: Sally Hawkins, Michael Shannon, Michael Stuhlbarg, Richard Jenkins, Doug Jones, and Octavia Spencer)
Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri
(Director: Martin McDonagh. Cast: Frances McDormand, Sam Rockwell, Woody Harrelson, Abbie Cornish, Peter Dinklage, Lucas Hedges, Caleb Landry Jones, Clarke Peters, Samara Weaving, John Hawkes, and Zeljko Ivankek)
The Upside
(Director: Neil Burger. Cast: Bryan Cranston, Kevin Hart, and Nicole Kidman)
Wonderstruck
(Director: Todd Haynes. Cast: Oakes Fegley, Julianne Moore, and Millicent Simmonds)
DOCS TO WATCH
Expected to attend this year are directors
Evgeny Afineevsky (Cries from Syria);
Greg Barker (The Final Year);
Bryan Fogel (Icarus);
Yance Ford (Strong Island);
Amanda Lipitz (Step);
Brett Morgen (Jane);
Jeff Orlowski (Chasing Coral);
Laura Poitras (Risk);
John Ridley (Let It Fall: Los Angeles 1982-1992)
Ceyda Torun (Kedi).
SIGNATURE SERIES
Beatriz at Dinner
(Director: Miguel Arteta. Cast: Salma Hayek, John Lithgow, Chloë Sevigny, Connie Britton, David Warshofksy, Amy Landecker, Jay Duplass, and John Early)
The Ballad of Lefty Brown
(Director: Jared Moshe. Cast: Bill Pullman)
Battle of the Sexes
(Director: Jonathan Dayton and Valerie Faris. Cast: Emma Stone, Steve Carell, Andrea Riseborough, Sarah Silverman, Alan Cumming, Bill Pullman, Elisabeth Shue, Austin Stowell, and Natalie Morales)
The Big Sick
(Director: Michael Showalter. Cast: Kumail Nanjiani, Zoey Kazan, Holly Hunter and Ray Romano)
Detroit
(Director: Kathryn Bigelow. Cast: John Boyega, Anthony Mackie, Algee Smith, Will Poulter, and Jacob Latimore)
Flower
(Director: Max Winkler. Cast: Zoey Deutch, Adam Scott, and Kathryn Hahn)
Gifted
(Director: Marc Webb. Cast: Chris Evans, McKenna Grace, Lindsay Duncan, Jenny Slate,
and Octavia Spencer)
Good Time
(Director: Benny Safdie, Josh Safdie. Cast: Robert Pattinson, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Benny Safdie, Buddy Duress, and Barkhad Abdi)
I Am Evidence
(Producer Mariska Hargitay. Director: Trish Adelsic, Geeta Gandhbir)
Logan
(Director: James Mangold. Cast: Hugh Jackman, Patrick Stewart, Richard E. Grant, Boyd Holbrook, Stephen Merchant, and Dafne Keen)
Norman: The Moderate Rise and Tragic Fall of a New York Fixer
(Director: Joseph Cedar. Cast: Richard Gere, Michael Sheen, and Steve Buscemi)
Ruby in Paradise
(Director: Victor Nuñez. Cast: Ashley Judd, Todd Field, and Bentley Mitchum)
Served Like a Girl
(Director: Lysa Heslov. Cast: Nichole Alred, Jas Boothe, and Rachel Engler)
Story of a Girl
(Director: Kyra Sedgwick. Cast: Kevin Bacon, Sosie Bacon, and Ryann Shane)
Strange Weather
(Director: Katherine Diekmann. Cast: Holly Hunter, Carrie Coon, and Ransom Ashley)
Tulip Fever
(Director: Justin Chadwick. Cast: Alicia Vikander, Dane DeHaan, Jack O’Connell, and Holliday Grainger)
The Year of Spectacular Men
(Director: Lea Thompson. Cast: Madelyn Deutch, Zoey Deutch, Lea Thompson, and Avan Jorgia)