The 22nd SCAD Savannah Film Festival, presented by Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), will showcase a record total of 159 films, including 35 narrative films, 15 documentary films and 109 shorts, from October 26 to November 2.
The festival will kick off on Saturday, October 26, with the Opening Night Gala Screening of The Aeronauts, directed by Tom Harper. The festival will close on Saturday, November 2 with the Closing Gala Screening of A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood, directed by Marielle Heller.
“SCAD alumni and students alike will join in the festivities at the 22nd annual SCAD Savannah Film Festival. With so many SCAD grads living in Georgia, they don’t have far to come! SCAD is a global leader in entertainment arts, and it’s our pleasure to host the best film festival anywhere,” said SCAD President and Founder Paula Wallace.
“This year’s festival is one of our best and most exciting film line-ups we’ve put together,” said SCAD Savannah Film Festival Executive Director Christina Routhier. “We are thrilled to present eight days of premiere screenings, panels, workshops, and a one-of-a-kind Immersive VR experience to SCAD, our students, and the City of Savannah. One of the highlights of this year’s festival is our annual Wonder Women series which includes award winning and rising directors, producers, writers, and below the line artists. I am even more proud that the festival will be screening films from over 50 female filmmakers making us one of the few festivals that are celebrating the work of female artists from around the world.”
2019 SCAD Savannah Film Festival Lineup
Gala Screenings
The SCAD Savannah Film Festival is known for shining a spotlight on upcoming award contenders, screening a multitude of studio films prior to their wider release. Last year, the festival screened 18 films that went on to receive 49 Academy Award nominations and 11 Oscar wins, including 2018 Best Picture winner Green Book. Sixteen films have been selected for the distinguished Gala Screening spot:
The Aeronauts (Director: Tom Harper. Cast: Felicity Jones, Eddie Redmayne, Tom Courtenay, Himesh Patel)
A Beautiful Day in the Neighborhood (Director: Marielle Heller. Cast: Tom Hanks, Matthew Rhys, Susan Kelechi Watson, Chris Cooper)
Clemency (Director/Writer: Chinonye Chukwu. Cast: Alfre Woodward, Aldis Hodge, Wendell Pierce, Richard Schiff, Danielle Brooks)
Harriet (Director: Kasi Lemmons. Cast: Cynthia Erivo, Leslie Odom Jr., Janelle Monáe, Joe Alwyn, Jennifer Nettles, Clarke Peters)
A Hidden Life (Director: Terrence Malick. Cast: August Diehl and Valerie Pachner)
Honey Boy (Director: Alma Har’el. Cast: Noah Jupe, Shia LeBeouf, Lucas Hedges, FKA twigs)
Just Mercy (Director: Destin Daniel Cretton. Cast: Michael B. Jordan, Jamie Foxx, Brie Larson)
The King (Director: David Michôd. Cast: Timothée Chalamet, Joel Edgerton, Sean Harris, Lily-Rose Depp, Thomasin McKenzie, Robert Pattinson, Ben Mendelsohn)
Knives Out (Director: Rian Johnson. Cast: Daniel Craig, Chris Evans, Ana de Armas, Jamie Lee Curtis, Michael Shannon, Don Johnson, Toni Collette, LaKeith Stanfield, Katherine Langford, Jaeden Martell, Frank Oz, Riki Lindhome, Edi Patterson, K Callan, Noah Segan and Christopher Plummer)
Motherless Brooklyn (Director: Edward Norton. Cast: Edward Norton, Gugu Mbatha-Raw, Alec Baldwin, Willem Dafoe, Bruce Willis)
Pain and Glory (Director: Pedro Almodóvar. Cast: Antonio Banderas, Penélope Cruz, Asier Etxeandia)
Parasite (Director/Co-Writer: Bong Joon Ho. Cast: Song Kang Ho, Chang Hyae Jin, Choi Woo Sik, Park So Dam)
Portrait of a Lady on Fire (Director/Writer: Céline Sciamma. Cast: Noémie Merlant, Adèle Haenel)
The Report (Director: Scott Z. Burns. Cast: Adam Driver, Annette Bening, Jon Hamm, Ted Levine, Michael C. Hall, Tim Blake Nelson, Corey Stoll, Maura Tierney)
Seberg (Director: Benedict Andrews. Cast: Kristen Stewart, Jack O’Connell, Anthony Mackie, Margaret Qualley, Zazie Beetz, Yvan Attal, Stephen Root, Colm Meaney)
The Truth (Director: Hirokazu Kore-eda. Cast: Catherine Deneuve, Juliette Binoche, Ethan Hawke)
The Two Popes (Director: Fernando Meirelles. Cast: Jonathan Pryce, Anthony Hopkins, Juan Miinujin)
Waves (Director/Writer: Trey Edward Shults. Cast: Kelvin Harrison Jr., Sterling K. Brown, Renée Elise Goldsberry, Taylor Russell, Lucas Hedges, Alexa Demie)
Docs to Watch
The ten films selected for the sixth annual Docs to Watch Roundtable hosted by Scott Feinberg of The Hollywood Reporter include:
American Factory (Director: Julia Reichert and Steven Bognar)
Apollo 11 (Director: Todd Douglas Miller)
The Biggest Little Farm (Director: John Chester)
The Cave (Director: Feras Fayyad)
Diego Maradona (Director: Asif Kapadia)
The Kingmaker (Director: Lauren Greenfield)
Knock Down the House (Director: Rachel Lear)
Maiden (Director: Alex Holmes)
One Child Nation (Director: Nanfu Wang and Jialing Zhang)
Sea of Shadows (Director: Richard Ladkani)
Signature Series
The Signature Series features premiere and special screenings, from narrative to documentary films, followed by a Q&A session with the film’s actors, directors, producers, or writers. This year’s selection includes:
Booksmart (Director: Olivia Wilde. Cast: Kaitlyn Dever, Beanie Feldstein)
Mickey and the Bear (Director: Annabelle Attanasio. Cast: Camila Morrone, James Badge Dale, Rebecca Henderson, Calvin Demba, Ben Rosenfield)
Greener Grass (Director/Writer: Jocelyn De Boer, Dawn Luebbe. Cast: Jocelyn De Boer, Dawn Luebbe, Beck Bennett, Neil Casey, Mary Holland, D’Arcy Carden)
Official Secrets (Director: Gavin Hood. Cast: Keira Knightley, Ralph Fiennes, Matt Smith, Matthew Goode, Indira Varma, Rhys Ifans)
Patti Cake$ (Director Geremy Jasper. Cast: Danielle Macdonald, Sahr Ngaujah, Bridget Everett, Mamoudou Athie)
Sound of Silence (Director: Michael Tyburski. Cast: Peter Sarsgaard, Rashida Jones, Tony Revolori)
After Dark Series
The SCAD Savannah Film Festival’s nod to the Halloween season, these late night feature films are selected to thrill, scare, and shock.
In Fabric (Director: Veronika Franz and Severin Fiala. Cast: Riley Keough, Jaedan Lieberher, Alicia Silverstone, Richard Armitage)
The Lodge (Director: Peter Strickland. Cast: Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Gwendoline Christie, Leo Bill, Hayley Squires, Julian Barratt