“We are excited for this year’s lineup at the 26th annual SCAD Savannah Film Festival, which features Origin, May December, and The Color Purple, all filmed in Savannah and the coastal Georgia area,” says SCAD Savannah Film Festival Executive and Artistic Director Christina Routhier. “The programming for this year’s festival is stronger than ever, celebrating outstanding cinema and the filmmakers and artisans behind the art, with over 160 films to screen for SCAD students and our audiences.”
The 2023 schedule includes the Gala and Signature Screenings, professional and student competition films, the Docs to Watch, Sketch to Screen: Top Animated Contenders, Shorts Spotlight, Global Shorts Forum series, and the Behind the Lens panel series.
“The future of film lives at SCAD, where audiences can see next year’s Oscar winners at our SCAD Savannah Film Festival later this month and where guests are treated to a behind-the-scenes tour of the latest and greatest SCAD triumph: the new backlot at Savannah Film Studios, the largest at any university in the world,” says SCAD President and Founder Paula Wallace. “From Savannah cityscapes to a courthouse square and suburbs, the backlot is a paradise for our ‘Bees’ and other area filmmakers. Come see everything for yourself!”
The SCAD Savannah Film Festival is renowned for spotlighting major award contenders and screening a multitude of studio films prior to their wider release. Twenty-five films have been selected for its distinguished Gala Screenings. In addition, the Festival’s Signature Screenings series features premiere and special screenings, with some followed by Q&As with select directors, writers, actors, and producers.
SAVFF will present First Look: Warner Bros. Pictures and Domain Entertainment’s The Color Purple with an inside look at director Blitz Bazawule’s bold new take on the beloved classic The Color Purple, which was filmed in Savannah and throughout coastal Georgia. The film, from all-star producers Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg, Scott Sanders, and Quincy Jones, features an award-winning cast that includes Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks, Colman Domingo, Corey Hawkins, Halle Bailey, H.E.R., Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor, and Fantasia Barrino in her major motion picture debut. The screenplay is by acclaimed playwright Marcus Gardley, who won a WGA Award for Maid. His script is based on the novel by Alice Walker and based on the musical stage play, book (of the musical stage play) by Marsha Norman, and music and lyrics by Brenda Russell, Allee Willis, and Stephen Bray.
Recognizing the need for more inclusive storytelling in the filmmaking industry, the 2023 SCAD Savannah Film Festival and Amazon MGM Studios have created a dedicated SAVFF LGBTQIA+ Short Film Competition. Amazon MGM Studios will donate $10,000 for the jury-awarded Best Overall Film and $5,000 for an Audience Award. Films in the program are under 40 minutes in length and represent excellence in storytelling and execution in narrative or documentary formats, reflecting unique insight into LGBTQIA+ themes, issues, or ideas.
The jury will consist of Adam Keen (Co-Head, Global Film PR at Amazon Studios), Anthony Allen Ramos (Vice President of Communications & Talent, GLAAD), Daniel Reynolds (Editor in Chief at Out Magazine), Jazz Tangcay (Senior Artisans Editor at Variety) and Abbey White (News Reporter at The Hollywood Reporter). Amazon MGM Studios will also lead two-panel discussions on the future of LGBTQIA+ storytelling, including Unlocking Equity: The Future of Inclusive Storytelling and The Power of LGBTQIA+ Marketing & Promotion.
The 10th annual Docs to Watch series will accompany a roundtable with the directors hosted by Scott Feinberg of The Hollywood Reporter. Films include American Symphony directed by Matthew Heineman, Beyond Utopia (Director Madeleine Gavin), Kokomo City (Director D. Smith), Silver Dollar Road (Director Raoul Peck), Stamped from the Beginning (Director Roger Ross Williams), Still (Director Davis Guggenheim, The Eternal Memory (Director Maite Alberdi), The Deepest Breath (Director Laura McGann), The Mission (Directors Amanda McBaine and Jesse Moss), and 20 Days in Mariupol (Director Mstyslav Chernov).
