Oct. 24-31, 2026

2026 SCAD Savannah Film Festival Reveals Honorees

Keanu Reeves to Receive Legend of Cinema Award

Top Award Season Contenders Gemma Chan, John Cho, Carrie Coon, Rosalind Eleazar, Jordan Firstman, James Gray, Anthony Ippolito, Kane Parsons, Billie Piper, Seth Rogen and the cast of ‘The Mosquito Bowl’ to Be Honored for This Year’s Standout Work

Honors to Be Presented Alongside Screenings of ‘Backrooms,’ ‘Club Kid,’ ‘Elsinore,’ ‘I Play Rocky,’ ‘The Invite,’ ‘Josephine,’ ‘The Liberation,’ ‘The Matrix,’ ‘Misty Green,’ ‘The Mosquito Bowl,’ ‘Paper Tiger,’ and ‘Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother’

SAVANNAH, Ga. (Oct. 2, 2026) — The Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) proudly announces 11 additional honorees for the 29th annual SCAD Savannah Film Festival, taking place Oct. 24–31. The nation’s largest university-led film festival and one of the largest of any kind in the Southeast, SCAD celebrates this dynamic lineup of acclaimed filmmakers, actors, and producers whose work has shaped the year in cinema. The festival is an extension of SCAD’s top-ranked School of Film and Acting, where students in acting, film and television, production design, sound design, and the new vocal performance program learn from and work alongside leading professionals across the entertainment industry.

Newly announced festival honorees in 2026 include:

  • Keanu Reeves will receive the Legend of Cinema Award at a screening of The Matrix. He will also participate in a panel about the creation of BRZRKR with co-writer Matt Kindt, and illustrator Ron Garney as they explore the acclaimed comic book series’ epic mythology, characters, distinctive visual style, and the collaborative creative process behind bringing its world to life.
  • Gemma Chan will receive the Lumiere Award at a screening of Josephine.
  • John Cho will receive the Luminary Award at a screening of Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother.
  • Carrie Coon will receive the Luminary Award at a screening of The Liberation.
  • Rosalind Eleazar will receive the Breakthrough Award at a screening of Misty Green.
  • Jordan Firstman will receive the Rising Star Director Award at a screening of Club Kid.
  • James Gray will receive the Auteur Award at a screening of Paper Tiger.
  • Anthony Ippolito will receive the Breakthrough Award at a screening of I Play Rocky.
  • Kane Parsons will receive the NextGen Director Award at a screening of Backrooms.
  • Billie Piper will receive the Marquee Award at a screening of Elsinore.
  • Seth Rogen will receive the Spotlight Award at a screening of The Invite.
  • The Mosquito Bowl will receive the Ensemble Award, presented to cast members Nicholas Galitzine, Bill Skarsgärd, Ray Nicholson, and Tom Francis.

They join previously announced honorees Paul Bettany (Virtuoso Award), Meghann Fahy (Spotlight in Television Award), Ethan Hawke and Sterlin Harjo (Outstanding Collaboration in Television Award), Guitarricadelafuente (Discovery Award), Helen Mirren (Legend of Entertainment Award), Julianne Moore (Icon Award), Emmy Rossum (Outstanding Achievement in Television Award), and production designer Patrice Vermette (Variety Creative Impact in Production Design Award). This year’s honorees step directly into what makes the SCAD Savannah Film Festival unlike any other, headlining awards presentations and moderated conversations by night while sharing their insights and career experiences at master classes with SCAD School of Film and Acting students by day. Long a hallmark of the festival, it is an only-at-SCAD experience: where today’s leading actors, directors, and storytellers share their craft and career experience directly with a new generation who will soon join them in the film and television industry.

“Every honoree represents a different path into this industry, and we are so excited to welcome these artists to Savannah for their range, expertise, and stories, which are defining this year in film,” said Christina Routhier, senior executive director of the SCAD Savannah Film Festival. “Our students don’t just watch these artists on screen — they study them. This October, they will sit across from them in an intimate master class, ask the questions they’ve always wanted to ask, and hear firsthand about the choices, challenges, and experiences that shaped their careers. This kind of access is at the heart of what makes this festival, and a SCAD education, so distinct.”

Additional information about this year’s honorees:

Gemma Chan is receiving career-best reviews for her powerhouse performance in Josephine opposite Channing Tatum. She serves as both star and producer. Variety called the “finest performance of her career,” praising her “precision” and describing her portrayal of grief as “understated, but unforgettable.” IndieWire similarly called Chan “thrilling” as Claire, highlighting her portrayal of a mother “just barely holding it together.” Directed by Beth de Araújo, Josephine won both the U.S. Dramatic Grand Jury Prize and Audience Award at the Sundance Film Festival before screening at the Berlin and Toronto International Film Festivals. The film was acquired by Sumerian Pictures in a seven-figure deal, with Variety naming Chan among its early Best Supporting Actress nominee predictions. It will release November 20 in select cities and nationwide on December 4. Chan broke through internationally with Crazy Rich Asians, which won Best Comedy at the Critics’ Choice Awards and earned Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations. She most recently starred as Gigi Ling in The Five-Star Weekend, Peacock’s most-watched scripted series ever, which has been renewed for a second season. She recently wrapped production on Hello & Paris for Amazon MGM Studios, starring alongside Javier Bardem and Kate Hudson. Upcoming, Chan will star in and executive produce a feature about actress Anna May Wong, as well as a limited series adaptation of The Moon Represents My Heart. She also serves as executive producer on Rise of the Empress, continuing to expand her work behind the camera as a producer. Her television credits include leading the BAFTA-nominated series Humans, the BAFTA-winning anthology series I Am, directed by Dominic Savage, and Secret Diary of a Call Girl. Her film credits include Captain Marvel, Mary Queen of Scots, Don’t Worry Darling, Eternals, The Creator, Let Them All Talk, Extrapolations, and The Actor. She also voiced Namaari in the Academy Award, Critics’ Choice, and Golden Globe-nominated animated feature Raya and the Last Dragon and joined the voice cast of The Boy and the Heron, which won Best Animated Feature at the Academy Awards, BAFTAs, Golden Globes, and the Japan Academy Film Prize. On stage, Chan starred in the British premiere of Yellow Face at the Park Theatre and its National Theatre revival, as well as The Homecoming at Trafalgar Studios. She is a UNICEF UK Ambassador and helped launch a GoFundMe initiative supporting East and South East Asian communities in the UK.

John Cho is an Independent Spirit Award-nominated actor, producer, and New York Times bestselling author. Cho most recently starred in Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother opposite Mahershala Ali and Giancarlo Esposito, which was released in September via Amazon MGM Studios’ Orion Pictures. Next, Cho will star in the limited series The Off Weeks and return for a second season of the Emmy Award-nominated Murderbot. He recently starred in Tempest — his first Korean original — as well as Poker Face, The Sympathizer, the second season of The Afterparty, and as Spike Spiegel in the live-action adaptation of Cowboy Bebop. Cho earned an Independent Spirit Award nomination for Best Male Lead for Searching, which won two awards at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival and was named to the National Board of Review’s Top 10 Independent Films. He also starred in Columbus, which earned multiple Gotham Award and Independent Spirit Award nominations. Additional film credits include Don’t Make Me Go, and the voice of Ba Ba in the Academy Award and Golden Globe Award-nominated Over the Moon. In 2022, Cho made his literary debut with the middle-grade novel Troublemaker, which reached No. 2 on the New York Times Middle Grade bestseller list. Cho first came to prominence in American Pie and American Reunion, starred as Harold Lee opposite Kal Penn in Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay, and A Very Harold & Kumar 3D Christmas, and played Lt. Hikaru Sulu in the rebooted Star Trek franchise, including Star Trek, Star Trek Into Darkness, and Star Trek Beyond. Born in Seoul and raised in Los Angeles, Cho began acting while studying English literature at the University of California, Berkeley.

Carrie Coon is one of Hollywood’s most sought-after talents, with a wide variety of roles across film, television, and theater. She will next star in The Liberation, releasing theatrically via Bleecker Street on Jan. 8, 2027. She also stars in season four of The Gilded Age as Bertha Russell, a role that has earned her three Emmy Award nominations and a Critics’ Choice Award nomination. Her upcoming projects include Honeymoon/Funeral and I Am Not Your Mother. Coon recently starred in season three of The White Lotus, earning Emmy and Golden Globe Award nominations. Her film credits include Gone Girl, His Three Daughters, Boston Strangler, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, Lake George, Another Happy Day, The Nest, Widows, Kin, Avengers: Infinity War, The Legacy of a Whitetail Deer Hunter, The Post, Izzy Gets the F*ck Across Town, The Keeping Hours, and Strange Weather. On TV, she has starred in The Sinner, The Leftovers, and Fargo — winning the first-ever double TCA Award for Individual Achievement in Drama and a Critics’ Choice Television Award for The Leftovers, and earning Emmy and Critics’ Choice nominations for Fargo — as well as Intelligence, Ironside, Law & Order: SVU, and The Playboy Club. On stage, Coon starred in Broadway’s BUG, earning her second Tony Award nomination, and made her Broadway debut in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, earning a Tony Award nomination and a Theatre World Award. Her other stage credits include The March, Three Sisters, and Mary Page Marlowe with Steppenwolf Theatre Company, where she is an ensemble member, and off-Broadway’s Mary Jane, earning her a Lucille Lortel Award and an Obie Award.

Rosalind Eleazar will next star in the title role of A24’s Misty Green, for which she has received critical acclaim, releasing Friday, Oct. 9. She currently stars in Slow Horses and recently starred in Rose of Nevada and Missing You, which earned her the Royal Television Society Award for Best Actress. Her additional screen credits include Class of ’09, The Personal History of David Copperfield, Harlots, Rellik, the BAFTA-winning National Treasure, and Deep Water. On stage, Eleazar most recently starred in Small Hotel as part of the Theatre Royal Bath Season. Her stage credits also include an award-winning performance in Uncle Vanya, The Starry Messenger at Wyndham’s Theatre, Plaques and Tangles at the Royal Court Theatre, and The House of Bernarda Alba at the National Theatre. Eleazar trained at the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art and resides in London.

Jordan Firstman is one of the most sought-after multihyphenates working today. He most recently wrote, directed, starred in, and produced Club Kid, which premiered at the 2026 Cannes Film Festival, sold to A24 in an eight-figure deal, and opens in limited theatrical release Friday, Nov. 6. Firstman starred in I Love LA, now in production on its second season, and returned for the second season of FX’s English Teacher. In April 2025, he released his debut comedy album, Secrets, via Capitol Records. His other acting credits include Rotting in the Sun, You People, Dave, and Ms. Marvel. As a writer, Firstman has written for Search Party, The Other Two, and Big Mouth, where he also serves as a voice actor and consulting producer, and has directed multiple episodes of the Peabody Award-nominated series This Close. He additionally wrote, directed, and starred in the short film Call Your Father, and directed, starred in, and co-wrote the short film Men Don’t Whisper.

James Gray made his directorial debut in 1994 with Little Odessa, which received the Silver Lion at the Venice Film Festival. In 2000, he wrote and directed The Yards, his first collaboration with Joaquin Phoenix, who went on to star in Gray’s acclaimed We Own the Night, Two Lovers, and The Immigrant — all of which screened In Competition at Cannes. Gray’s recent films include The Lost City of Z (which premiered as the closing night selection of the 2016 New York Film Festival before its 2017 release), Ad Astra (which premiered In Competition at Venice and released in September 2019), and Armageddon Time (which premiered at Cannes and screened at Telluride and the New York Film Festival ahead of its October 2022 release). His latest feature, Paper Tiger, starring Scarlett Johansson, Miles Teller, and Adam Driver, premiered In Competition at Cannes and opened the New York Film Festival ahead of its November 2026 release by Neon. Born in New York City and raised in Queens, Gray attended film school at the University of Southern California.

Anthony Ippolito recently wrapped the title role of Sylvester Stallone in the upcoming biopic I Play Rocky. Directed by Academy Award-winner Peter Farrelly for Amazon MGM, the film is slated for theatrical release Friday, Nov. 20, marking the 50th anniversary of Rocky. Ippolito previously delivered a standout turn as another iconic actor, starring as Al Pacino in Paramount+’s acclaimed limited series The Offer opposite Miles Teller. Ippolito first emerged with a breakout performance in Netflix’s Grand Army alongside Odessa A’zion and appeared in Columbia Pictures’ Pixels, directed by Christopher Columbus, portraying a young Adam Sandler.

At just 21 years old, Kane Parsons is redefining the future of horror. A self-taught filmmaker and visual effects artist, Parsons first captivated audiences with The Backrooms (Found Footage), a viral YouTube short that has amassed over 90 million views and cemented him as a visionary new voice in genre storytelling. Now, with his feature directorial debut Backrooms for A24, Parsons has made history. The film has grossed over $400 million worldwide, making it A24’s highest-grossing film of all time, with a domestic total that has surpassed $197 million. It also delivered the studio’s largest-ever opening weekend, with $81.4 million domestically and $118 million globally. Parsons became the youngest filmmaker in history to have a film open at number one at the U.S. box office. Produced by James Wan and Shawn Levy, among others, the film stars Academy Award nominees Chiwetel Ejiofor and Renate Reinsve.

Billie Piper is an award-winning British actress, writer, director, and producer whose career spans film, television, theatre, and music. She was most recently seen in Netflix’s global hit series Wednesday and will next star in Simon Stone’s Elsinore, alongside Andrew Scott, Olivia Colman, and Johnny Flynn, which had its world premiere at the Telluride Film Festival. The Focus Features’ film will be released on Friday, Nov. 20. Her acclaimed television credits include I Hate Suzie and I Hate Suzie Too, which she co-created with Lucy Prebble, as well as Scoop, Kaos, Collateral, and Penny Dreadful. For I Hate Suzie, Piper received two BAFTA Television Award nominations for Leading Actress, while Scoop earned her a further BAFTA nomination. She also won two National Television Awards for Best Actress for her performance as Rose Tyler in Doctor Who. On stage, Piper received incredible reviews for performance in Simon Stone’s Yerma at the Young Vic and The Armory in New York. She won the Olivier Award, Critics’ Circle Theatre Award, Glamour Award for Best Actress, as well as an Obie Award Special Citation, among other accolades. She became the only actress to win all six major UK theatre Best Actress awards for a single performance. Her film work includes Catherine Called Birdy, Eternal Beauty, and Two for Joy. She made her feature directorial debut with Rare Beasts, writing, directing, producing, and starring in the film, which premiered at the Venice Film Festival..

Keanu Reeves is one of Hollywood’s most beloved and enduring stars, with a career spanning film, television, theater, music, comics and video games. His films have earned more than $7 billion at the worldwide box office, and he is best known for his iconic leading roles in The Matrix and John Wick franchises. His other credits include Point Break, Bill & Ted’s Excellent Adventure, Bill & Ted’s Bogus Journey, Bram Stoker’s Dracula, Constantine, The Devil’s Advocate, The Gift, Good Fortune, The Lake House, My Own Private Idaho, Outcome, A Scanner Darkly, Speed, Something’s Gotta Give, Toy Story 4, and Toy Story 5. Reeves will next star in Shiver, a sci-fi action thriller directed by Tim Miller, set for theatrical release from Warner Bros. on Aug. 13, 2027. Also due in 2027 is Ruben Östlund’s The Entertainment System is Down from A24, in which he stars alongside Kirsten Dunst, Samantha Morton, Nicholas Braun, and Daniel Brühl. Reeves made his comic book writing debut with BRZRKR, a 12-issue graphic novel series he co-created and co-wrote with writer Matt Kindt and artist Ron Garney. Published by BOOM! Studios, the series became the highest-selling original comic book series debut in more than 25 years. In 2023, Reeves expanded the BRZRKR universe with The Book of Elsewhere, co-written with acclaimed author China Miéville, which became a New York Times bestseller.

Seth Rogen is a multi-award-winning actor, writer, producer, director, entrepreneur and philanthropist. He most recently starred in A24’s The Invite, directed by and co-starring Olivia Wilde, alongside Penélope Cruz and Edward Norton, and produced Neon’s The Wrong Girls through his production company, Point Grey Pictures. He will next star in Babies, written and directed by Lauren Miller Rogen and co-starring Anna Kendrick, and the animated feature Tangles, based on Sarah Levitt’s acclaimed graphic novel and memoir, which he also produced through Point Grey. On television, Rogen created, wrote, directed, produced, and starred in Apple TV’s acclaimed comedy series The Studio, for which he earned an Emmy Award for Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series. The series received 23 Emmy nominations and 13 wins, including Outstanding Comedy Series, as well as Golden Globe Awards for Best Television Series — Musical or Comedy and Best Actor for Rogen. His television credits also include Pam & Tommy, for which he received an Emmy Award nomination, Platonic, The Boys, Gen V, Invincible, Sausage Party: Foodtopia, Preacher, Future Man and Black Monday. Rogen’s celebrated film career includes The Fabelmans, The Super Mario Bros. Movie, The Lion King, Long Shot, Dumb Money, The Disaster Artist, Neighbors, This is the End, Sausage Party, The Interview, Knocked Up, and Superbad.

The Mosquito Bowl follows the attack on Pearl Harbor, as four of America’s top college football stars set their fame aside to enlist in the Marines. As they prepare for the brutal invasion of Okinawa, they’ll play in a legendary game featuring some of the greatest players in history — a game that, for many, will be the last they ever play. The film is directed and written by Peter Berg and stars Nicholas Galitzine, Bill Skarsgärd, Ray Nicholson, and Tom Francis.

Festival tickets for 2026 are available now 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 11-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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