Oct. 21-28, 2023

SCAD Savannah Film Festival announces 2022 competition award winners

SAVANNAH, GEORGIA — The Savannah College of Art and Design announces the award winners for the 25th annual SCAD Savannah Film Festival. A key stop on the festival circuit leading up to the Academy Awards, the 2022 SCAD Savannah Film Festival screened 143 films, including 53 narrative feature films, 20 documentary feature films, and 79 shorts, with eight world premieres and six U.S. premieres.

SAVANNAH, GEORGIA — The Savannah College of Art and Design announces the award winners for the 25th annual SCAD Savannah Film Festival. A key stop on the festival circuit leading up to the Academy Awards, the 2022 SCAD Savannah Film Festival screened 143 films, including 53 narrative feature films, 20 documentary feature films, and 79 shorts, with eight world premieres and six U.S. premieres.

21 awards were announced from the 81 films chosen to compete across eight categories: Narrative Features, Documentary Features, Professional Shorts, Animated Shorts, Documentary Shorts, Student Shorts, Global Shorts Forum, and Shorts Spotlight.

Professional competition

  • Best Animated Short — New Moon, directed by Jeremie Balais, Jeff LeBars, and Raul Domingo
  • Best Documentary Feature — Sam Now, directed by Reed Harkness
  • Best Documentary Short — The Flagmakers, directed by Cynthia Wade and Sharon Liese
  • Best Professional Short — North Star, directed by P.J. Palmer
  • Best Narrative Feature — Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game, directed by Austin Bragg and Meredith Bragg
  • Best Director — Reed Harkness, Sam Now
  • Best Editing — Butterfly in the Sky, edited by Bradford Thomason
  • Jury Award for Animation Excellence — Black Slide, directed by Uri Lotan.
  • ury Award for Best Ensemble Cast — The Big Bend, directed by Brett Wagner
  • Jury Award for Excellence in Inspirational Storytelling — Afghan Dreamers, directed by David Greenwald
  • Jury Award for Excellence in Cinematography — Crows are White, directed by Ahsen Nadeem
  • Jury Award for Comedic Excellence — Miss Patti, directed by Kate Hamilton and Grasie Mercedes
  • Jury Award for Powerful Storytelling — Angola Do You Hear Us? Voices from a Plantation Prison, directed by Cinque Northern

Student competition

  • Best Student Short — This Wild Abyss, directed by Thomas Mendolia
  • Best Student Animation — The Soloists, directed by Mehrnaz Abdollahinia, Feben Elias Woldehawariat, Razahk Issaka, Celeste Jamneck, and Yi Liu
  • Student Shorts Jury Award for Artistic Excellence — Maayanagri (A City of Dreams), directed by Sourab Reddy*

Global Shorts Forum

  • Global Shorts: Best of Show — Wax and Wane, directed by Beidi Wang
  • Best Global Short: Of The Land — Mulsotan — The Rooted, directed by Janantik Shukla*
  • Best Global Short: XX — Hysterical, directed by April Moreau
  • Global Shorts: Jury Award for Artistic Excellence — Murmurs of the Jungle, directed by Sohil Vaidya
  • Global Shorts: Jury Award for Unique Storytelling — Feeling the Apocalypse, directed by Chen Sing Yap

Shorts Spotlight

  • Shorts Spotlight: Best of Show — Burros, directed by Jefferson Stein
  • Shorts Spotlight Best Short: Amusing Perspectives — Chasin' Butterflies, directed by Joshua Harding,* Adam Hobbs, and Matt Klug. 
  • Shorts Spotlight Best Short: Person First — Murder Tongue, directed by Ali Sohail Jaura

*SCAD student or alum

Three SCAD alums earned awards in the festival's short film categories: Sourab Reddy (B.F.A., film and television, 2022), for his film Maayanagri (A City of Dreams); Janantik Shukla (M.A., film and television, 2009), for his film Mulsotan — The Rooted; and Joshua Harding (B.F.A., photography, 2009), for his film Chasin' Butterflies.

The 2022 festival's professional jury members included award-winning writer and director Alison Anders, Crime Story Media founder Kary Antholis, Vanity Fair writer David Canfield, The Hollywood Reporter writer Mia Galuppo, and Mad Solar president Karina Manashil.

About the SCAD Savannah Film Festival

Celebrating its 25th year, the SCAD Savannah Film Festival and competitions provide SCAD students with opportunities as unique as the selected films. This year, the festival received more than 1,700 submissions for the competition series. During the festival, students from every academic discipline connect with leaders from the entertainment industry through master classes, coffee talks, lectures, workshops, and panel discussions. Presented each year in Savannah, a premier film hub in the Southeast, the festival promotes quality movies produced by independent and studio filmmakers.

Follow the festival on Facebook and Instagram @savfilmfest and TikTok @scaddotedu and use #SCAD and #SAVFF.

About SCAD: The University for Creative Careers

SCAD is a private, nonprofit, accredited university, offering more than 100 graduate and undergraduate degree programs across locations in Atlanta and Savannah, Georgia; Lacoste, France; and online via SCADnow.

SCAD enrolls more than 16,000 undergraduate and graduate students from more than 120 countries. The future-minded SCAD curriculum engages professional-level technology and myriad advanced learning resources, affording students opportunities for internships, professional certifications, and real-world assignments with corporate partners through SCADpro, the university's renowned research lab and prototype generator. SCAD is No. 1 in the U.S., according to Art & Object's 2023 Best Art Schools ranking, with additional top rankings for degree programs in interior design, architecture, film, fashion, digital media, and more. Career success is woven into every fiber of the university, resulting in a superior alumni employment rate. For the past five years, 99% of SCAD graduates were employed, pursuing further education, or both within 10 months of graduation. SCAD provides students and alumni with ongoing career support through personal coaching, alumni programs, a professional presentation studio, and more. For more information, visit scad.edu.

About the SCAD School of Film and Acting

With resources that rival Hollywood studios, award-winning professors, stunning locations, a professionally run casting office, and stellar film and television festivals, the SCAD School of Film and Acting is the ideal place to launch into the film and television industry. The SCAD film and television, performing arts, production design, and sound design programs prepare students to command roles onstage and on screen through films, live performances, TV sitcoms, dramatic series, music videos, commercials, and more.

SCAD is making a significant investment in the futures of the SCAD School of Film and Acting, the SCAD School of Animation and Motion, and the SCAD School of Creative Technology, building a Hollywood-style film backlot and two state-of-the-art mixed reality (XR) stages in Savannah and Atlanta for virtual productions. As its phased expansion is completed, Savannah Film Studios will be the largest, most comprehensive university film studio complex in the U.S. These facilities will further SCAD's tremendous impact on the film and television industry in Georgia and beyond, producing the next generation of creative leaders in film, TV, digital media, and more.