SCAD Savannah Film Festival lineup features Nyad, Origin, and first look at The Color Purple

The nation's largest university-run film fest will return this month with the 26th annual SCAD Savannah Film Festival, and organizers have announced the full lineup.

The festival will kick off Oct. 21 with a screening of Nyad, a dramatic account of marathon swimmer Diana Nyad's journey to become the first person to complete the 110-mile trek from Cuba to Florida without a shark cage. Starring four-time Oscar nominee Annette Bening in the title role, the film is directed by Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin.

A screening of Ava DuVernay's Origin will conclude the festival on Oct. 28. Based on Pulitzer Prize-winning journalist Isabel Wilkerson's book Caste: The Origins of Our Discontents, the film follows Wilkerson (played by Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor) as she crosses continents and cultures to craft one of the defining American books of our time.

Another programming highlight is billed as a first look at director Blitz Bazawule's movie musical adaptation of The Color Purple. From producers Oprah Winfrey, Steven Spielberg, Scott Sanders, and Quincy Jones, the film is based on Alice Walker's acclaimed novel and the subsequent musical stageplay. The star-studded cast includes Taraji P. Henson, Danielle Brooks, Colman Domingo, Corey Hawkins, Halle Bailey, H.E.R., and Fantasia Barrino (in her major motion picture debut).

"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," festival executive and artistic director Christina Routhier said in a statement Friday. "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."

Filmmakers and artisans will be honored with various awards at the fest as well, including Kevin Bacon receiving the Outstanding Achievement in Entertainment Award, DuVernay receiving the Virtuoso Director Award, Emerald Fennell receiving the Spotlight Director Award, and Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer receiving the Outstanding Achievement in Production Design Award.

Additional programming includes an LGBTQIA+ short film competition, the 10th annual Docs to Watch series, an animated showcase, an After Dark section highlighting late-night fun and genre fare, and numerous panel discussions.

EW will also be present with our exclusive Breaking Big panel and awards (with participants to be announced at a later date).

Tickets and passes are for the SCAD Savannah Film Festival are on sale now. Read on for this year's full lineup.

Gala Screenings
All Dirt Roads Taste of Salt (dir. Raven Jackson)
All of Us Strangers (dir. Andrew Haigh)
American Fiction (dir. Cord Jefferson)
The Bikeriders (dir. Jeff Nichols)
The Boy and the Heron (dir. Hayao Miyazaki)
Eileen (dir. William Oldroyd)
Day of the Fight (dir. Jack Huston)
Dream Scenario (dir. Kristoffer Borgli)
Finestkind (dir. Brian Helgeland)
Foe (dir. Garth Davis)
The Holdovers (dir. Alexander Payne)
La Chimera (dir. Alice Rohrwacher)
A Little Prayer (dir. Angus MacLachalan)
May December (dir. Todd Haynes)
Maestro (dir. Bradley Cooper)
Memory (dir. Michel Franco)
Nyad (dir. Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Jimmy Chin)
Origin (dir. Ava DuVernay)
Perfect Days (dir. Wim Wenders)
The Persian Version (dir. Maryam Keshavarz)
Priscilla (dir. Sofia Coppola)
Poor Things (dir. Yorgos Lanthimos)
Robot Dreams (dir. Pablo Berger)
Rustin (dir. George C. Wolfe)
Saltburn (dir. Emerald Fennell)
The Taste of Things (dir. Tran Anh Hung)
The Teachers' Lounge (dir. Ilker Çatak)
The Zone of Interest (dir. Jonathan Glazer)

Signature Screenings
Barbie (dir. Greta Gerwig)
BS High (dir. Travon Free, Martin Desmond Roe)
Expats (dir. Lulu Wang)
Isle of Hope (dir. Damian Romay)
First Look: The Color Purple (dir. Blitz Bazawule)
La La Land (dir. Damien Chazelle)
Oppenheimer (dir. Christopher Nolan)
Past Lives (dir. Celine Song)
Shadow Men: Inside Russia's Secret War Company (dir. Candace Rondeaux)
War Pony (dir. Gina Gammell, Riley Keough)

SAVFF LGBTQIA+ Short Film Competition Presented by Amazon MGM Studios
All I Know (dir. Obinna Robert Onyeri)
Breakup Text (dir. Elizabeth Baudouin)
Fanatic (dir. Taran Killam)
I Thought the Earth Remembered Me (dir. Prem Santana)
Relighting Candles: The Tim Sullivan Story (dir. Zeberiah Newman, Michiel Thomas)
100% USDA Certified Organic Homemade Tofu (dir. Gbenga Komolafe)

Docs to Watch
American Symphony (dir. Matthew Heineman)
Beyond Utopia (dir. Madeleine Gavin)
Kokomo City (dir. D. Smith)
Silver Dollar Road (dir. Raoul Peck)
Stamped from the Beginning (dir. Roger Ross Williams)
Still (dir. Davis Guggenheim)
The Eternal Memory (dir. Maite Alberdi)
The Deepest Breath (dir. Laura McGann)
The Mission (dir. Amanda McBaine, Jesse Moss)
20 Days in Mariupol (dir. Mstyslav Chernov)

Sketch to Screen: Top Animated Contenders
Elemental (dir. Peter Sohn)
Nimona (dir. Nick Bruno, Troy Quane)
Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse (dir. Joaquim Dos Santos, Justin K. Thompson, Kemp Powers)
Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Mutant Mayhem (dir. Jeff Rowe)
Trolls Band Together (dir. Walt Dohrn)

After Dark
The Phantom of the Opera (dir. Rupert Julian) with live organ accompaniment
Shorts Spotlight: Horrors in Plain Sight, featuring a selection of horror-themed short films

Narrative Features
At the Gates (dir. Augustus Meleo Bernstein)
Breakwater (dir. James Rowe)
Hard Miles (dir. R.J. Daniel Hanna)
Intermedium (dir. Erik Bloomquist)
Smoking Tigers (dir. So Young Shelly Yo)

Documentary Features
Art for Everybody (dir. Miranda Yousef)
Bad Press (dir. Rebecca Landsberry-Baker, Joe Peeler)
Nathan-ism (dir. Elan Golod)
The Only Doctor (dir. Matthew Hashiguchi)
Story & Pictures By (dir. Joanna Rudnick)

Professional Shorts
Ambassadors of Hope (Directors Cassidy Friedman and Amber Allen-Peirson)
Don't Touch My Hair (Director Matthew Law)
I Bet You're Wondering How I Got Here (Director Ryan Polly)
If Dreams were Lightning: Rural Healthcare Crisis (Director Ramin Bahrani)
Lucas Needs an Agent (Director Lucas Grabeel)
The ABCs of Book Banning (Directors Nazenet Habtezghi and Trish Adlesic)
The Anne Frank Gift Shop (Director Mickey Rapkin)
The Old Young Crow (Director Liam LoPinto)
Panda (Director Sasha Briggs)
Young Hot Bloods (Director Jade Ang-Jackman)

Documentary Shorts
God's Love Split (Director Paloma Holub)
Good Boy (Director Russell Chadwick)
Mayan Softball Revolution (Director Michael Zimbalist)
Seeds of Change (Director Maximilian Armstrong)
Strong Grandma (Directors Cecilia Brown and Winslow Crane-Murdoch)
The Volunteer (Director David Brodie)
The Reconnaissance Painter (Director Matthew Corolis)
Trenton: To The Moon & Back (Director Josh Leong)
Unexpected (Director Zeberiah Newman)

Animated Shorts
A Grain of Sand in the Universe (dir. Suki)
Astoria (dir. Franck Dion)
Feather (dir. Sadegh Javadi)
Four Chambers to the Heart (dir. Kostas Ioannidis, Johan Grimonprez)
Holy Men (dir. David Lovric)
Menagerie (dir. Jack Gray)
Slow Light (dir. Katarzyna Kijek, Przemysław Adamski)

Student Shorts
A Snake Called Perseus (dir. Yara Elfouly)
Afterimage (dir. Robyn MacIntosh and Serin Chun)
Blood Drive (dir. Gurinder Jeet Singh)
Blue Hour (dir. J.D. Shields)
Close Your Eyes (dir. Manon Bérardengo, Audrey Defonte, Léo Depoix, Denis Koessler, Clémentine Laurent, Pierre Guislain, Chloé Boursier)
Expressions (dir. Mackenzie Rosario)
Flipping Off (dir. Kylie Fishman)
Freeze Frame (dir. Katie Smith)
Galibot (dir. Thomas Vandenbussche, Elise Petit, Ambre Grangereau, Emily Cousin, Wan-Jing Yang, Laure Vernier)
Goro Goro (dir. Ryotaro Sawada, Agatha Tiara Christa)
Hellscape (dir. Alixe Devaux, Camille Leroux, Félicia Poggi, Clémence Lacoume, Lara Brière, Valentine Wilke)
I Am More Dangerous Dead (dir. Majiye Uchibeke)
Just Jacob. (dir. Halle Lynn Losordo)
Midnight Hotel (dir. Vincent Albert, Malo Doucet, Neïl Dieu, May Taraud, and Marie Toury)
On the Ground (dir. Lucie Dupeyrat, Nathan Ygouf, Marine Sauvageot, Chirag Paul, Claire Savoye, and Jade Astoux)
Pink Flamingos Everywhere (dir. Jordan Vescio)
Primogeniture (dir. Savanna Nicole Menzel)
Raising Hell (dir. Michelle Bult)
Reunion Dinner (dir. Zheng Ren)
Samara Op.4 (dir. Maxime Wattrelos, Jérémy Trochet, Louis Cocquet, Marie Heribel, and François Mainguet)
Sunless (dir. Boris Vesselinov)
Tempo (dir. Raphaël Chiapparin)
The Fuse (dir. Kevin Haefelin)
Those Who Guide Us (dir. Mitchell Hemmer)
When We Sleep (dir. Alanna Johnson)
Radio Silence (dir. Colleen Busch)
The Last Dungeon (dir. Alexandra Young)
The Sun is Bad (dir. Rachel Mow)
We All Fall (dir. Robert Walls IV)

Global Shorts Forum
Beyond Identity: A nuanced selection of short films exploring the heights and depths of personal and collective identity.
Rocking the Cradle of Civilization: A modern collection of short films highlighting the unique challenges people of Middle Eastern and Southeast Asian origin face.

Shorts Spotlight
A Kaleidoscope of Connections: A curious collection of sweet, quirky, and sometimes heartbreaking shorts encompassing the highs and lows of interpersonal relationships.
Family Fun: A delightful collection of short films and animation for film lovers of all ages.
Horrors in Plain Sight: Part of the festival's After Dark series, revel in this collection of darker shorts begging the question: What exactly are you afraid of?

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