SCAD Savannah Film Festival Announces Entertainment Weekly’s Breaking Big Honorees
Honorees Adia, India Amarteifio, Jalen Thomas Brooks, Skyler Gisondo, Summer H. Howell, and Tom Rhys Harries to join Entertainment Weekly panel Thursday, Oct. 29
SAVANNAH, Ga. (Oct. 7, 2026) — The Savannah College of Art and Design's 29th annual SCAD Savannah Film Festival (Oct. 24–31) today announced its 2026 Breaking Big honorees. This year's honorees Adia (Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother), India Amarteifio (Clarissa), Jalen Thomas Brooks (Off Campus), Skyler Gisondo (Primetime), Summer H. Howell (Carrie), and Tom Rhys Harries (Clayface) will participate in an awards presentation and panel discussion moderated by Entertainment Weekly Thursday, Oct. 29, at Gutstein Gallery.
Presented in partnership with Entertainment Weekly, Breaking Big is the SCAD Savannah Film Festival's dedicated spotlight on the next generation of on-screen talent — actors on the rise whose work is beginning to define the industry's future. The program brings these emerging names directly to SCAD students during an intimate panel discussion, offering a rare, early look at careers still being written. For students at the SCAD School of Film and Acting, the panel is a chance to hear firsthand from performers just a few steps ahead of them in the industry, a perspective just as valuable as a master class from an established star.
Additional information about this year's Breaking Big honorees:
A rising star on- and off-screen who has made herself one to watch with her dynamic performances, Adia currently stars in in Bassam Tariq's highly anticipated Amazon MGM film Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother. Most recently, Adia was a series regular in Steven Soderbergh's crime-drama limited series Full Circle, earning praise from outlets like The Wrap, which noted her character as standout and "powerfully yet poignantly played." She made her acting debut as a series regular in Netflix's horror series The Midnight Club from Mike Flanagan. Outside of acting, Adia is a certified birth and postpartum doula and is passionate about informed birth to ensure patients have sufficient information to make decisions about their care. She is also an outspoken advocate on the water crisis in America and is a supporter of the Moses West Foundation (MWF), which uses atmospheric water generators to create clean drinking water for areas in need.
India Amarteifio is a flourishing young star within the British acting landscape, with a plethora of diverse work and a promising bright future. Her early career began on stage in London's West End, with roles in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Matilda the Musical, and The Lion King, among others. She soon progressed to film and TV, appearing in Doctor Who, The Interceptor, The Line of Duty, The Tunnel, The Midwich Cuckoos, Sex Education, and Military Wives. Amarteifio's breakout role came in the Netflix series Queen Charlotte: A Bridgerton Story, a prequel to the platform's hit Bridgerton. She led the cast as Queen Charlotte, winning an NAACP Image Award and receiving honors from Tatler UK, Variety, and Glamour. Amarteifio most recently starred in The Rapture and will next star in Clarissa, a reimagining of Virginia Woolf's Mrs. Dalloway that premiered to acclaim at the Cannes Film Festival.
Named one of Variety's 2025 Young Hollywood Impact Report honorees, Actor Award winner Jalen Thomas Brooks is one of the industry's most exciting rising stars. Brooks is best known for his role of John Tucker in the hit Prime Video series Off Campus, which received more than 36 million views in its first 12 days on the streamer. Brooks' initial breakout role as came as fan-favorite character Mateo Diaz on HBO Max's Emmy Award-winning medical drama The Pitt. Alongside his castmates, Brooks won a 2026 Actor Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Drama Series for his work on the series. His other film and TV credits include Thanksgiving, Animal Kingdom, Walker, and Rebel. Prior to acting, Brooks was an accomplished basketball player on the AAU and Under Armour youth circuits.
Skyler Gisondo currently stars in A24's critically acclaimed Primetime opposite Robert Pattinson. He will next be seen alongside Robert De Niro, Ben Stiller, and Ariana Grande in Focker-in-Law, the highly anticipated fourth installment of the Meet the Parents franchise, and he recently wrapped production on James Gunn's Superman sequel Man of Tomorrow, where he will reprise his role as Jimmy Olsen. Gisondo is currently in production on The People vs. Gorilla Grodd, a Jimmy Olsen spinoff series for HBO Max, and his upcoming projects include Shrek 5 and the A24 comedy Goblin. His additional film and TV credits include Licorice Pizza, Booksmart, Brothers, The Righteous Gemstones, The Resort, Santa Clarita Diet, and Wet Hot American Summer: Ten Years Later, among many others.
Canadian actor Summer H. Howell recently landed one of the most high-profile roles of her career, starring as title character Carrie White in Mike Flanagan's Carrie for Amazon Prime Video. She was selected for the bold reimagining of Stephen King's classic novel after auditioning with more than 2,000 others for the role. Howell began acting as an eight-year-old, with her breakout performance coming as Alice Pierce in the 2013 horror film Curse of Chucky. She has since appeared in Cult of Chucky, Hunter Hunter, Clouds, Abducted by My Teacher: The Elizabeth Thomas Story, and Spirit in the Blood. Howell recently wrapped production on the action thriller Runaway opposite Josh Duhamel.
Tom Rhys Harries is one of the most captivating and versatile actors working today, having built his career across film, television, and theater with a classical approach to choosing roles that stretch his range. Rhys Harries next stars in the titular role of Matt Hagen/Clayface in Warner Bros.' Clayface, which releases theatrically Oct. 23; Variety included Rhys Harries as Clayface in their list of most anticipated performances of 2026. His early film credits include The Gentleman, Kandahar, Madfabulous, The Return, The Secret Life of Flowers, Sisi & I, and Slaughterhouse Rulez. On TV, Rhys Harries has starred in Britannia, Doctor Who, Hinterland, Jekyll and Hyde, Parade's End, and The Split. His performance in Netflix's global hit White Lines — which reached No. 1 in more than 20 countries — established his international star status and led to a lead role opposite Uma Thurman in Suspicion. On stage, Rhys Harries made his West End debut in 2013 in Mojo and later starred in Hotel and The Seagull.
They join previously announced honorees for this year's festival, including Gemma Chan (Lumiere Award), John Cho (Luminary Award), Carrie Coon (Luminary Award), Rosalind Eleazar (Breakthrough Award), Jordan Firstman (Rising Star Director Award), James Gray (Auteur Award), Guitarricadelafuente (Discovery Award — Actor), Anthony Ippolito (Breakthrough Award), Jessica Lange (Lifetime Achievement Award), Helen Mirren (Legend of Entertainment Award), Billie Piper (Marquee Award), Julianne Moore (Icon Award), and Patrice Vermette (Variety Creative Impact in Production Design Award).
Tickets are on sale now and available online at filmfest.scad.edu, by phone at 912.525.5050, or in person at the SCAD Box Office (scadboxoffice.com) at 216 E. Broughton St. in Savannah.
ABOUT THE SCAD SAVANNAH FILM FESTIVAL
Presented by the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), the SCAD Savannah Film Festival is filled with cinematic creativity from award-winning professionals and emerging student filmmakers. Each year, more than 74,000 people attend the eight-day festival. The festival has become a distinguished stop on the road to the Academy Awards, hosting exclusive screenings, competition films, feature films, documentaries, shorts, animated films, panel discussions, and workshops at SCAD's historic theaters and industry-leading studio spaces. Presented 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, Instagram, Letterboxd, and TikTok @savfilmfest. For additional information and tickets, visit filmfest.scad.edu.
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 17,000 undergraduate and graduate students from more than 100 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 has earned 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. A 2026 study found that 99% of recent SCAD graduates were employed, pursuing further education, or both within 12 months of graduation. SCAD provides students and alumni with ongoing career support through personal coaching, alumni programs, a professional presentation studio, and more.
ABOUT THE SCAD SCHOOL OF FILM AND ACTING
With resources that rival Hollywood studios and Broadway theaters, award-winning faculty, professionally run casting offices, and renowned film and television festivals, the SCAD School of Film and Acting prepares students for impactful careers in film, television, and live performance. Students in acting, cinematography, editing, film and television, production design, sound design, and the school's new music production and vocal performance degree programs work across disciplines on professional-caliber film and TV shoots and stage performances, gaining hands-on experience, production credits, and valuable industry connections before graduation.
The heart of the SCAD School of Film and Acting is the newly completed 16-acre SCAD Film Studios in Savannah, the largest and most comprehensive university film studio complex in higher education. Designed for professional and student productions, the complex includes purpose-built soundstages and an expansive Hollywood-style backlot with more than 50 façades and practical interiors that can be transformed for different locations and eras. Filmmakers in Savannah also have access to a leading-edge LED volume stage, as well as virtual production, postproduction, and extensive production and costume design facilities. Together with SCAD Film Studios in Atlanta — with its own state-of-the-art spaces, such as an LED volume stage, broadcast studios, and editing facilities — located amid one of the nation's leading film and television production markets, these resources position students on the same sets and spaces they will lead throughout their careers. At SCAD, every set, stage, and studio is a classroom.
Each fall, the SCAD Savannah Film Festival welcomes celebrated filmmakers, actors, producers, and other industry leaders to Savannah, bringing national and international attention to filmmaking throughout the region and Georgia. During the festival's weeklong lineup of screenings and panels, SCAD students enjoy myriad opportunities to connect with major stars in front of and behind the camera, including exclusive master classes and Q&A sessions.
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