SCAD Savannah Film Festival Announces Additional Honorees

SCAD Savannah Film Festival Announces Additional Honorees, Including Marisa Abela, Amy Adams, Felicity Jones, Pablo Larraín, Diego Luna, Natasha Lyonne, Demi Moore, Margaret Qualley, Jason Reitman, and RaMell Ross

SAVANNAH, GEORGIA (Oct. 4, 2024) — The Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) proudly announces additional honorees for the2024 SCAD Savannah Film Festival, scheduled to take place from Oct. 26 to Nov. 2. The largest university-run film festival in the nation, the SCAD Savannah Film Festival will celebrate a star-studded lineup of actors and directors from this year’s most anticipated films.

• Marisa Abela will receive the Next Gen Award at a screening of Back to Black.
• Amy Adams will receive the Outstanding Achievement in Cinema Award at a screening of Nightbitch.
• Felicity Jones will receive the Spotlight Award at a screening of The Brutalist.
• Pablo Larraín will receive the Auteur Award at the Closing Night screening of Maria.
• Diego Luna will receive the Impact Award at a screening of the documentary State of Silence.
• Natasha Lyonne will receive the Maverick Award at a screening of His Three Daughters.
• Demi Moore will receive the Icon Award and Margaret Qualley will receive the Luminary Award at a screening of The Substance.
• Jason Reitman will receive the Vanguard Director Award at a screening of Saturday Night.
• RaMell Ross will receive the Breakthrough Director Award at a screening of Nickel Boys.

Additional information about this year’s honorees:

Marisa Abela has garnered critical praise for her performance as Grammy Award-winning singer and songwriter, Amy Winehouse, in the Sam Taylor-Johnson feature film, Back to Black, from StudioCanal and Focus Features. This was followed by her reprisal in the third season of Industry, which is currently airing on HBO and BBC One. Abela has wrapped production on her leading role in Steven Soderbergh-directed thriller Black Bag alongside Michael Fassbender, Cate Blanchett, and Regé-Jean Page. The film is slated to release theatrically March 2025 by Focus Features. Prior to this success, Abela appeared in Barbie, the espionage thriller Rogue Agent, and the improvisational romance She Is Love.

Amy Adams’ next project is Searchlight Pictures’ Nightbitch, which she stars in and produces under her production banner Bond Group Entertainment. Based on the novel by Rachel Yoder, the film is directed by Marielle Heller, about a woman (Adams) who pauses her career to be a stay-at-home mom, but soon her new domesticity takes a surreal turn. Adams is a six-time Academy Award-nominated actress for her roles in Junebug, Doubt, The Fighter, The Master, American Hustle, and Vice. Her other film credits include Arrival, Enchanted, Disenchanted, Sharp Objects, Justice League, Nocturnal Animals, Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice, Her, Julie and Julia, Dear Evan Hansen, The Woman in the Window, Hillbilly Elegy, Big Eyes, Trouble with the Curve, On the Road, The Muppets, Night at the Museum 2: Battle at the Smithsonian, Sunshine Cleaning, Charlie Wilson’s War, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day, and Catch Me If You Can. Adams is currently in production on At the Sea, a new drama from Kornel Mundruczó and Kata Wéber, and recently wrapped production on the film Klara and the Sun, directed by Taika Waititi.

Felicity Jones can next be seen in The Brutalist alongside Adrien Brody and Guy Pearce. The film, directed by Brady Corbet, premiered at the 2024 Venice Film Festival. Jones is best known for her Academy Award, BAFTA, SAG and Golden Globe Award-nominated role in The Theory of Everything. Her other film credits include Dead Shot, which she starred in and produced, Last Letter From Your Lover, Midnight Sky, The Aeronauts, On the Basis of Sex, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, Inferno, Monster Calls, The Invisible Woman, True Story, Breathe In, The Amazing Spider-Man 2, and Like Crazy. Next up, she is set to star in Train Dreams opposite Joel Edgerton and will also star in Michael Showalter’s holiday comedy Oh. What. Fun.

Pablo Larraín is one of the most celebrated filmmakers and producers working today. A founding partner of Fabula Producciones, his most recent film is Maria, premiered at the 2024 Venice Film Festival. His other films include No, which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best International Feature in 2013, El Club, Jackie, Spencer, and El Conde. Through Fabula, he has produced numerous films and television series such as A Fantastic Woman, winner of the Academy Award for Best Foreign Language Film in 2018, and the documentary The Eternal Memory, which was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature and won the Goya Award for Best Ibero American Film. His TV series include Midnight Family (Apple TV+), El Dentista (ViX), and Baby Bandito (Netflix) as well as the documentary The Doomsday Cult of Antares de la Luz (Netflix).

Deigo Luna was introduced to worldwide audiences with his starring role in Alfonso Cuaron’s 2001 award-winning road epic, Y Tu Mama Tambien. Luna’s other credits include Andor, which he also executive produces, Rogue One: A Star Wars Story, If Beale Street Could Talk, Milk, The Terminal, Before Night Falls, Elysium, Frida, Contraband, Mister Lonely, Ambar, El Cometa, Criminal, Soldados De Salamina, Solo Dios Sabe (What God Knows), Trollhunters, and Narcos: Mexico. As a filmmaker, he made his English-language directorial feature debut with Cesar Chavez. He also directed the documentary J.C. Chavez, Mr. Pig, and he directed, wrote, and produced the feature film Abel.  In 2018, Luna co-founded La Corriente del Golfo with Garcia Bernal, where they develop and produce film, television, theater, and podcasts, including State of Silence, will be released on Netflix on Oct 17. Luna will next star in Searchlight TV’s Spanish-Language boxing limited series La Maquina for Hulu, alongside Gael García Bernal, also under La Corriente del Golfo.

Natasha Lyonne stars in and executive produces Azazel Jacobs’ film His Three Daughters, a bittersweet portrait of three sisters (Lyonne, Carrie Coon, and Elizabeth Olsen) coming together in the wake of their father’s worsening health. She is in production on the second season of Poker Face, which she directs and writes for as well as executive produces under her Animal Pictures banner. Lyonne co-created the critically acclaimed Netflix series Russian Doll, which won three Emmy Awards and ​earned 14 Emmy nominations in addition to a Golden Globe nomination for Lyonne in the Best Performance by an Actress in a Television Series Musical or Comedy category. Her TV credits include The Second Best Hospital in the Galaxy, Orange Is the New Black, Awkwafina is Nora From Queens, Portlandia, The Simpsons, Documentary Now, and Pee-wee’s Playhouse. Her film credits include Slums of Beverly Hills, But I’m a Cheerleader, Everyone Says I Love You, American Pie, and The United States vs. Billie Holiday. She will co-star in Marvel Studios’ upcoming The Fantastic Four and in Taika Waititi’s film adaptation of Klara and the Sun. She lends her voice to Paramount’s upcoming animated Smurfs movie.

Demi Moore is an actress, producer, and New York Times bestselling author who can currently be seen starring in Coralie Fargeat’s critically acclaimed body horror feature, The Substance, alongside Margaret Qualley. The film premiered in-competition at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival and it in theaters now from MUBI. She most recently starred in the second season of Feud: Capote vs. The Swans, and can soon be seen in Paramount+’s upcoming drama Landman from Taylor Sheridan and Christian Wallace, in which she stars alongside Jon Hamm and Billy Bob Thornton. The actress set a record in 1995 when she became the highest-paid actress in Hollywood, known for her work in St. Elmo's Fire, About Last Night…, Ghost, A Few Good Men, Indecent Proposal, The Scarlet Letter, Disclosure, G.I. Jane, Charlie’s Angels; Full Throttle, Bobby, Margin Call among many others.

Margaret Qualley can currently be seen starring in Coralie Fargeat’s critically acclaimed body horror feature, The Substance, alongside Demi Moore. She has become one of the most sought-after actors of her generation since her esteemed debut portrayal on the HBO series The Leftovers. In 2021, Qualley starred in the Netflix limited series Maid, for which she received Emmy, Screen Actors Guild and Critics’ Choice Award nominations. Her additional credits include Kinds of Kindness, Drive Away Dolls, Poor Things, Sanctuary, Maid, Stars at Noon, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Fosse/Verdon, Wake Up, Native Son, Death Stranding, Novitate, Seberg, My Salinger Year, Donnybrook, Adam, The Nice Guys, and Palo Alto. Her upcoming films include Ethan Coen’s Honey Don’t, Richard Linklater’s Blue Moon, and Huntington, also starring Glen Powell.

Jason Reitman is a four-time Academy Award-nominated filmmaker who made his feature film debut with the 2006 Sundance Film Festival hit Thank You for Smoking. He notably earned Oscar nominations for directing Juno and Up in the Air, the latter of which earned Reitman a Golden Globe Award, WGA Award, and BAFTA Award for Best Screenplay. His other films include Young Adult, Tully, The Front Runner, and Ghostbusters: Afterlife. Reitman executive produced the Oscar-winning film Whiplash and the Jean-Marc Vallee-directed Demolition, and served as a producer on the cult hit Jennifer’s Body and Gil Kenan’s Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire. He also produced four seasons of the Hulu comedy series Casual.

RaMell Ross is an artist, filmmaker, writer, and liberated documentarian. He has been awarded an Aaron Siskind Foundation Individual Photographer’s Fellowship, Howard Foundation Fellowship, and a USA Artist Fellowship. He was also selected as a 2022 Solomon Fellow at Harvard University. His feature experimental documentary Hale County This Morning, This Evening won a Special Jury Award for Creative Vision at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival and a 2020 Peabody Award. It was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature Film and an Emmy Award for Exceptional Merit in Documentary Film. His work is in various public and private collections, including the Museum for Modern Art, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, and the High Museum. His book Spell, Time, Practice, American, Body was shortlisted for the Kraszna-Krausz Foundation photobook award.

Additional honorees and the festival’s lineup are to be announced. These honorees join Colleen Atwood (Variety Creative Impact Award for Costume Design), Annette Bening (Lifetime Achievement Award), Jerry Bruckheimer (Legend of Entertainment Award), Colman Domingo (Spotlight Award), Karla Sofía Gascón (Distinguished Performance Award), Jharrel Jerome (Lumiere Award), Richard Linklater (Lifetime Achievement in Screenwriting Award), Mikey Madison (Breakthrough Award), Isabela Merced (Rising Star Award), Lupita Nyong’o (Virtuoso Award), Daisy Ridley (Lumiere Award), Zoe Saldaña (Vanguard), Chris Sanders (Icon of Animation), Sebastian Stan (Maverick Award) and The Piano Lesson (Ensemble Award).

Presented by the Savannah College of Art and Design, the SCAD Savannah Film Festival is filled with cinematic creativity from award-winning professionals and emerging student filmmakers. Each year, more than 63,000 people attend the eight-day festival. A distinguished stop on the road to the Academy Awards, the annual festival kicks off with a gala opening night screening, while the rest of the week features scheduled competition films, premiere screenings, workshops, lectures, and panels. Other programming highlights at the festival include The Hollywood Reporter’s Docs to Watch, Amazon MGM Studios’ LGBTQIA+ Shorts Competition and the Behind Her Lens series, which includes panels with influential female directors, producers, and artisans, who will discuss the importance of staying true to their vision and empowering the industry forward with profound stories. These events take place at SCAD’s historic theaters and industry-leading studio spaces throughout the historic city of Savannah.

Festival passes for 2024 are available now. Individual event tickets will go on sale Friday, Oct. 4, 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 60,000 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, and TikTok @savfilmfest and@scaddotedu and use #SCAD and #SAVFF.

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 18,500 undergraduate and graduate students from more than 110 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 2024 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. Visit scad.edu.

About the SCAD School of Film and Acting

With resources that rival Hollywood studios, award-winning professors, stunning locations, two professionally run casting offices, and stellar film and television festivals, the SCAD School of Film and Acting is the ideal place for students to launch into the multibillion film and television industry. The SCAD acting, cinematography, editing, film and television, production design, and sound design programs prepare students to command roles on stage, screen, and behind the scenes through instruction that includes real-world experience on productions for short films, live performances, TV sitcoms, dramatic series, music videos, commercials, and more.

Additionally, SCAD is making a significant investment in the futures of the university's School of Film and Acting and School of Animation and Motion students with the completion of a Hollywood-style film backlot at Savannah Film Studios. The landmark 11-acre, three-phase expansion includes the backlot, a next-generation LED volume stage for virtual productions — one of two owned and operated by the university, along with a second at SCAD Atlanta's Digital Media Center — and new soundstages, among other features. The expanded Savannah Film Studios is the largest and most comprehensive university film studio complex in the nation.

During the 2024 festival, SCAD will unveil a magnificent new 17,500 sq. ft. production and costume design building next to the Savannah Film Studios backlot. This state-of-the-art facility will include space for costume design sewing labs, a fabulous industrial garment conveyor, and massive production design scene shops for building, welding, painting, and much more. This facility further highlights the university’s commitment to collaborations across filmmaking disciplines.