25th Savannah Film Festival
The Savannah College of Art and Design’s SCAD Savannah Film Festival–the largest university-run film festival in the world and a distinguished stop on the way to the Academy Awards–will celebrate its 25th year of movie magic in 2022, with competition film screenings, special features, workshops, panels with experts and the chance to view creative work from a broad range of fields. The eagerly anticipated annual event will showcase the most current trends in entertainment, featuring major studio releases and indie film debuts as well as the opportunity to meet and mingle with award-winning filmmakers. Each year, more than 63,000 people attend to hear lectures and screen celebrated and anticipated titles, and to catch a glimpse of honored guests, such as 2021 honorees Adrien Brody, Aunjanue Ellis, Chris Miller, Clifton Collins Jr., Dylan Penn, Harry Gregson-Williams, Kenneth Branagh, Kodi Smit-McPhee, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Mike Mills, Odessa Young, Phil Lord, Ruth Negga, and Simon Rex. Gala Screenings included Belfast, C’mon C’mon, Cyrano, King Richard, Mothering Sunday, Red Rocket, Spencer, The French Dispatch, The Lost Daughter, and The Power of the Dog.
SCAD’s School of Entertainment Arts is the preeminent program in the country for performing arts, film and television, production design, and sound design. Of the nearly 15,000 SCAD alumni from entertainment and digital media disciplines, 3,500 SCAD alumni work in the multi-billion-dollar Georgia entertainment industry, one of the fastest growing in America. Because of SCAD’s ideal locations in Atlanta and Savannah, students work on real sets long before graduation from major studio features to hit TV series and indie films.
SCAD film and television students, sound designers, production designers, and performing arts majors are also the first in the world to collaborate with immersive reality, visual effects, and interactive design and game development students to produce context on a virtual production (XR) stage. SCAD is the only university in the country with cutting edge technology at this scale available to its students. The stage opened in the fall of 2021 as part of the expansion of SCAD’s Savannah Film Studio, and a second XR stage will open this fall at the university’s Atlanta location.
The 25th SCAD Savannah Film Festival takes place in downtown Savannah from October 22 to 29, 2022. The Docs to Watch series, hosted by Scott Feinberg of The Hollywood Reporter, will take place on Sunday, October 23, presenting the top 10 documentaries of the year. Variety will host the 10 Artisans to Watch and Creative Impact Award this year as well. The festival concludes with a special closing night screening and reception. Passes are available at four levels: Savannah Daytime Pass for $100 which provides access to all panels and screenings prior to 6 p.m.; Bronze Pass for $275 which provides access to all panels and screenings; Silver Pass for $375 which provides access to all panels and screenings plus opening and closing receptions; and the Gold Pass for $500, providing access to all screenings and panels, opening and closing receptions and the reserved seating section. Tickets for individual screenings will become available Monday, October 3 at SavannahBoxOffice.com. Learn more about SCAD Savannah Film Festival at www.scad.edu/filmfest.