The SCAD Savannah Film Festival is the largest university-run film festival in the world.
The festival receives record numbers of submissions for the competition film series.
Two billion media impressions were made during the 2021 SCAD Savannah Film Festival.
Yearly SCAD Savannah Film Festival attendance rose above 63,000 in 2019.
The SCAD Savannah Film Festival's education series provides youth in disinvested local communities and regional high schools with tickets to film screenings and post-show discussions.
About the films
The SCAD Savannah Film Festival has established itself as a distinguished stop on the road to the Academy Awards. Since its inception, the festival has screened more than 150 Oscar-nominated films and honored more than 100 legendary actors, directors, producers, writers, and filmmakers.
Previous SCAD Savannah Film Festival honorees include Samuel L. Jackson, Hugh Jackman, Maggie Gyllenhaal, Emily Blunt, John Krasinski, Salma Hayek, Olivia Wilde, Robert Pattinson, and Aunjanue Ellis.
Kenneth Branagh was honored with the Lifetime Achievement in Acting and Directing Award at the 2021 SCAD Savannah Film Festival prior to his 2022 Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay win for Belfast, which Branagh wrote and directed.
Mahershala Ali was honored with the Discovery Award by the SCAD Savannah Film Festival in 2016. It was his first award before going on to win the 2017 Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor for his performance in the film Moonlight.
Other Academy Award-winning guests include actors Adrien Brody, Jennifer Hudson, Holly Hunter, Jeremy Irons, and Daniel Kaluuya, directors Oliver Stone and Phil Lord and Christopher Miller, screenwriters Geoffrey Fletcher and Aaron Sorkin, animator Glen Keane, and songwriting duo Alan and Marilyn Bergman.
Screenings at the 2021 festival included Dune, The Harder They Fall, The Power of the Dog, Belfast, The Last Duel, King Richard, Jockey, and Cyrano.
About SCAD
SCAD has prepared talented students for professional careers in the entertainment industry for more than 40 years, enrolling more than 5,000 students in entertainment-related disciplines.
SCAD has nearly 1 million square feet dedicated to the production of film, television, and other forms of entertainment.
SCAD's 11-acre Savannah Film Studios is the most comprehensive university film studio in the U.S.
SCAD's Savannah Film Studios and the SCAD Digital Media Center in Atlanta are home to next-generation mixed reality (XR) stages co-designed by alumni-owned firm MEPTIK.
Trustees Theater seats more than 1,100 and boasts advanced projection equipment and sound technology, including Dolby Atmos.
Lucas Theatre for the Arts has more than 1,200 seats, a 40-foot-wide ceiling dome, and Wedgewood-inspired colors and gold leaf accents preserved from the 1920s.
Architect C. K. Howell designed the Lucas Theatre to be a "preeminent amusement palace" upon its opening in 1921.
The SCAD Museum of Art is built around the historical remains of an 1853 Georgia Railroad depot. It has 82,000 square feet of space, hosting exhibitions, screenings in its on-site theater, and master classes with visiting artists and creative professionals.
About SCAD grads
23 SCAD alumni were honored for their work on Encanto, winner of the 2022 Academy Award for Best Animated Feature.
30 SCAD alumni worked as artists, animators, and compositors on the Marvel blockbuster Spider-Man: No Way Home, which was nominated for the 2022 Academy Award for Best Visual Effects.
More than 150 SCAD alumni and students contributed to 21 films nominated for 2022 Academy Awards, including CODA, King Richard, The Tragedy of Macbeth, West Side Story, Dune, Free Guy, No Time to Die, Spider-Man: No Way Home, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings, Encanto, Luca, Raya and the Last Dragon, and The Mitchells vs. the Machines.