SCAD announced their major talent contributions to the many 2025 Oscar-nominated films, from alumni to current students.
Watching students and apprentices go on to do bigger and grander things is always exciting for mentors and fellow collaborators. The Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) continues to honours its wonderful array of students and alumni who have brought the best films to the 2025 Oscars this year. This year, SCAD was proud to announce that 137 alumni and students helped bring 18 films to the awards ceremony. The 87th Academy Awards will be televised live tonight: Sunday, Match 2nd, 2025 at 7:00 PM ET.
Of the 18 films the 137 SCAD filmmakers and artisans contributed, five of the films are nominated for Best Picture, two for Best Animated Film, and all five of the films nominated for Best Visual Effects. These films include the likes of global sensations: Wicked, Dune: Part 2, The Wild Robot, Inside Out 2 and critical favorite Anora. Many of the 2025 Oscar-nominated films were even screened at the 2024 SCAD Savannah Film Festival, the largest university-organized film festival in the world!
It was an awesome sight to see 23 Academy Award-nominated films, and 7 out of the 10 best picture nominees, including Emilia Peréz, Anora, and The Brutalist were screened at the 2024 SCAD Savannah Film Festival. Also, 26 actors/actresses and filmmakers visited the festival as honourees, panelists and guests. All of which are up for roles and films nominated at the Oscars this year. These special attendees included actresses Mikey Madison (Anora), Demi Moore (The Substance) and Zoe Saldana (Emilia Peréz), actors Kieran Culkin (A Real Pain), Colman Domingo (Sing Sing) and Sebastian Stan (The Apprentice), and costume designers Paul Tazewell (Wicked) and Janty Yates (Gladiator II).
“Our Oscar-nominated alumni are a source of pride and inspiration for all of our current students, other alumni, and most of all their mentor professors who helped put them on these stellar paths,” stated dean of SCAD’s School of Film and Acting Andra Reeve-Rabb . “SCAD provides resources like no other university and we teach every aspect of filmmaking, that’s what sets us apart. We send our students into the industry even before they graduate, placing them on film sets in Georgia, New York, Los Angeles, and beyond.”
All of Reeve-Rabb’s sentiments ring true as SCAD’s School of Film and Acting and School of Animation and Motion have launched thousands of alumni into the movie industry, with Oscar award-winning professors, resources that rival Hollywood studios, and stunning locations including an 11-acre backlot and two LED volume stages, two professionally run casting offices, and renowned film and television festivals. It does not get any better than this for those budding young minds looking to pursue a career in the entertainment industry.
Here is a list of some of the amazingly-talented SCAD alumni and students who were a part of the 2025 Oscar-nominated projects:
- Kayli Carter (B.F.A., performing arts, 2015) is an actress in A Complete Unknown. Carter plays Maria Muldaur, a folk singer in the film.
- Katerina Kojeva (B.F.A., production design, 2016) was the costume concept artist on Wicked which is nominated for Best Picture, Best Costume Design, and Best Production Design.
- Alyssa Bracken (B.F.A., production design, 2012) was the assistant costume designer on A Complete Unknown which is nominated for eight awards including Best Picture and Best Costume Design.
- Wyatt Garfield (B.F.A., film and television, 2007) was the cinematographer on A Different Man which is nominated for Best Makeup and Hairstyling.
- Hyun Huh (B.F.A., computer art, 1999) was the visual effects modeling supervisor and Yukinori Inagaki (M.F.A., visual effects, 2008) was the character rigging lead on The Wild Robot.
- Ryan Gillis (B.F.A., computer art, 2004) and Steve Bevins (B.F.A., visual effects, 2013) were both VFX department supervisors on Wicked.
- Gina Niespodziani (B.F.A., animation, 2011) was the visual effects executive producer on A Different Man.
