The SCAD Savannah Film Festival 2024 returns to Savannah, Georgia, USA, uniting cinema fans with filmmakers, industry leaders and stars.
Savannah, Georgia is kicking off its biggest celebration of cinema again, honouring and welcoming major industry luminaries, including award-winning directors, writers, and actors. SCAD Savannah Film Festival 2024 returns this weekend, from October 26-November 2. The largest university-run film festival in the U.S. is back in full swing, bringing major guests like Kathryn Hahn (Agatha All Along), Margaret Qualley (The Substance), Lupita Nyong’o (The Wild Robot), Jerry Bruckheimer (Bad Boys: Ride or Die) among others. The festival will have various panels, screenings and exciting surprises at every turn!
A key stop on the Academy Awards festival circuit, SCAD Savannah Film Festival 2024 will screen 162 films, including a whopping 123 narrative feature films, 31 documentary feature films, and 69 shorts, with 10 world premieres and six U.S. premieres. The SCAD Savannah Film Festival 2024 schedule includes Gala and Signature Screenings, Special Presentations, professional and student competition films, the Docs to Watch and Pixels and Pencils series, and the Behind the Lens and Below the Line panel series.
Last year’s SAG-AFTRA strike allowed SCAD Savannah Film Festival 2023 to highlight more on the creators behind the camera versus the stars that shine on camera. But this year, the filmmakers and actors will both shine on and discuss everything about their films—providing deeper insights.
One of the most interesting attractions from last year was SCAD newly built Savannah Film Studios backlot. Aside from its first building containing a huge 5,500-square-foot LED volume stage, phase one featured more than 4,500 square feet of set space, resembles Savannah’s historic district and includes 17 separate street façades, including homes, a café, a hardware store, and a lobby for a hotel and hospital.
“Lose yourself in the next wave of emergent cinemagic at the 2024 SCAD Savannah Film Festival, where SCAD honors the screen’s brightest stars—from Annette Bening to Lupita Nyong’o to Richard Linklater,” said SCAD President and Founder Paula Wallace. “Come for the stars, and stay for a tour of SCAD’s recently expanded Savannah Film Studios backlot, now featuring new streets, storefronts, and dozens more settings for the perfect shoot. Glitz, glamour, and good films — see you later this month at SCAD!”
This year, SCAD is ready to unveil phase two of their exclusive backlot. The phase two expansion includes New York City-inspired urban environments, such as alleys aged and distressed for gritty period pieces, as well as small-town movie sets like a 1960s-era gas station. This expansion also included a 17,000 sq. ft. production design building with a modern costume shop and a prop-making studio equipped with tools for woodcutting, welding, painting, and more.
As far as the panels go, the highly anticipated first look for Wicked will be taking place on October 30 at the Trustees Theatre. The panel will feature members of the Wicked creative team behind one of the most beloved and enduring musicals on the stage. The panel will include a conversation about the extraordinary process of bringing this story to the big screen and a taste of this spectacular, immersive, cultural celebration before its release on November 22. Panelists will include cinematographer Alice Brooks, editor Myron Kerstein, and costume designer Paul Tazewell.
No one can help but be excited to see their favourite stars and filmmakers walk down the red carpet. To celebrate winning their awards and talking to the media, this year’s SCAD Savannah Film Festival red carpet will include actors and film creatives Colman Domingo (Sing Sing), Mikey Madison (Anora), Jason Reitman (Saturday Night), Zoe Saldaña (Emilia Pérez), and many more! The biggest group will most likely be the cast of Netflix’s The Piano Lesson, which includes Danielle Deadwyler (I Saw The TV Glow), John David Washington (The Creator, Tenet), Skyler Aleece Smith, and Michael Potts, as well as director Malcolm Washington.
Most importantly, SCAD Savannah Film Festival 2024 continues to offer SCAD students the opportunity to submit and showcase their own films amongst the selected major pictures. These films come from a broad range of categories including live-action, narrative, documentary, and animation. Some of the ones we got to see at previous SCAD AnimationFests were Have You Eaten? (Director Pavida Changkaew), Time Flies (Director LJ Burnett) and Vainglorious (Director Oshiomati Gabriel Ugbodaga).
Be sure to stay up to date by checking in with CGMagazine on our on-the-ground coverage of the whole festival. And those attending or interested in following the festival are encouraged to visit the SCAD Savannah Film Festival socials: Facebook and Instagram @savfilmfest and TikTok @scaddotedu and use #SCAD and #SAVFF. Festival tickets for 2024 are available online now at the main film festival website.
