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The 29th annual Savannah SCAD Film Festival at the Savannah College of Art and Design has announced its 2026 lineup and panel programming. SCAD is the country’s largest university-run film festival and one of the largest in the Southeast, and this year’s edition will be held from October 24 to October 31.
The 2026 schedule includes Gala and Sign Screenings, Special Screenings, Professional and Student competition films, the Docs to Watch and Pixels and Pencils screening series, and the Behind Their Lens and Below the Line panel series. Over its history, the festival has presented more than 250 films nominated for an Academy Award and has honored nearly 225 actors, directors, producers, writers and filmmakers famous around the world.
“It’s one of those series where you look at the filmmakers and the performers and realize how much amazing work is happening across the industry right now,” said Christina Routhier, executive director of the SCAD Savannah Film Festival. “We have films from some of the most unique talents in the world, alongside bold work from emerging voices. What I love most is that our students experience it all by being in the room with these artists, hearing how the work came together, asking questions and making connections that will shape their own careers. It’s that combination of great cinema, access, and discovery that leave a great film with SCAD and our festival as a meaningful place to experience the year in year.”
In addition to the strong screening schedule, SCAD will enhance a large series of panels with industry stars and informants, including Behind Their Lens, presented in partnership with IndieWire, which celebrates cinematic powerhouses who defied the odds and obstacles to bring us some of the most influential and poignant films and television series of recent years. Cast, directors, and producer panels have yet to be announced, but will include Beth de Araujo (“Josephine”), Sophy Romvari (“Blue Heron”), Ruth De Jong (“The Odyssey”), and Alison Owen (“Back to Black”).
In addition, the panel series Below The Line highlights the contributions of below-the-line talent to the art of cinema, with a focus on costume design and production design, and the SCAD Alumni Voices panel highlights graduates of the university’s film and television degree programs. Other panels include Critical Darlings – Awards Season: LIVE! With Alison Willmore (Vulture) and Richard Lawson (Main Party), A Look Inside Walt Disney Animation and Disney’s Hexed with Jared Bush, Variety’s 10 Artisans to Watch, and Entertainment Weekly’s Breaking Big Panel & Awards.
Read the full screenplay below. Language comes courtesy of the festival.
Gala & Centerpiece Presentations
“Talent for Murder”
“Behemoth!”
“Being a Heumann”
“Clarissa”
“Club Kid”
“The Debate”
“Helen”
“I’m playing Rocky”
“ink”
“Joseph”
“The Black Ball”
“The Freedom”
“The Mosquito Bowl”
“mouse”
“New York’s only living pocket”
“Paper Tiger”
“Tender loving care”
“Wild Horse Nine”
Special exhibitions
“Suddenly”
“Bedford Park”
“Bitter Christmas”
“bunker”
“Coward”
“Every time”
“Earth”
“Fjord”
“Noble Monster”
“Iron Boy”
“La Gradiva”
“Long Winter”
“look back”
“Minotaur”
“Love That Could”
“Rose”
Signature displays
“back room”
“Crothach Gorm”
“The Invitation”
“A Long Day’s Journey into the Night”
“The Matrix”
“Misty Green”
“The Odyssey”
“Project Hail Mary”
“SCAD Reveals: A Mosquito in the Ear”
“Awareness and Awareness”
“Your mother, your mother, your mother”
After dark shows
“Clayface”
“The Cycle”
“Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma”
Docs to watch
“American Doctor”
“Avedon”
“Queen of Cookies”
“Everest: The Other Side”
“The First Last: K2 Winter”
“My Unwanted Friends: Part II – Exile”
“Once Upon a Time in Harlem”
“One in a Million”
“The Alec Baldwin Test”
“You see everything”
Pixels and pencils: Top animated contenders
“Forgotten Island”
“Hoppers”
“Ray Gunn”
“Tangles”
“Wild Forest”
Panels
The Behind their Lens series, presented in partnership with IndieWire, celebrating cinematic powerhouses who defied the odds and obstacles to bring us some of the most influential and poignant films and television series of recent years.
The Below the line series, highlighting the contributions of below-the-line talent to the art of cinema, with a focus on costume design and production design.
The SCAD Alumni Voices panel celebrating graduates of the university’s leading film and television degree programs. Panelists include Annie Taylor (MA, sound design, 2019), Alchemy Post Sound, “The Bear,” “Widow’s Bay;” Benjamin Frisch (MFA, sequential art, 2011; BFA, sequential art, 2009), podcast producer and sound designer, “Making Gay History,” “Critical Darlings;” Eldar Isgandarov (BFA, performing arts, 2024), actor, “Club Kid,” “The Debut;” Wai Yan “Sunny” Chan (BFA, visual effects, 2008), face animator, “Wildwood;” and Chloe Lipp (BFA, film and television, 2008), visual effects artist, “Stranger Things,” “The Mandalorian.”
The The world of BRZRKR – Go inside the creation of the epic comic book series BRZRKR by creators and writers Keanu Reeves and Matt Kindt along with illustrator Ron Garney as they explore the mythology, characters, unique visual style of the acclaimed series, and the collaborative creative process that delivers the action-packed visuals in vivid color.
The Art of the Epic: Crafting The Odyssey highlighting the contributions of artisans and behind-the-scenes talent such as production designer Ruth De Jong, costume designer Ellen Mijornik, and casting director John Papsidera.
Building Arrakis and Beyond: In Conversation with Patrice Vermette takes a look back at the curtain with Dune production designer and Honoree Patrice Vermette, Creative Impact Award Winner in Production Design, who sits down with Variety’s Jazz Tangcay for a career chat and an inside look at the highly anticipated Dune: Part Three.
A Look Inside Walt Disney Animation and Disney’s Hexed by Jared Bush – Get an exclusive first look inside Walt Disney Animation Studios’ animated adventure Disney’s Hexed by chief creative officer, writer and Academy Award winner Jared Bush.
Variety’s 10 Craftsmen to Watch, hosted by festival media partner Variety. Participants will be announced in mid-October.
Entertainment Weekly’s Breaking Big Panel & Awards. Breaking Big Honorees to be announced separately.
Shudder Reveals: The New Face of Horror featuring rising filmmakers Alex Goyette (Breeder) and Jordan Downey (The Cycle), moderated by Angel Melanson (Shudder director of programming).
Critical Darlings – Awards Season Kickoff: LIVE! With Alison Willmore (Vulture) and Richard Lawson (Main Party)
From red carpet to reels: entertainment journalism in the digital age with film journalist and host Kevin McCarthy and Gersh producer Sydnie Rowland.
The Long Game: Gersh Agents on Building Careers in Entertainment welcomes a panel of representatives from Gersh, one of the largest entertainment and sports groups in the world.
Competition Films – Commentary
“The Huntress” (director Suzanne Andrews Correa)
“One of Us” (director Stefan van de Graaff)
“Summer of Three” (dir. Carlitos Ruiz-Ruiz)
“Test” (directed by Sam McConnell)
Competition films – documentaries
“Dernise: The Amazing Life of Bruce Dern” (director Mike Mendez)
“The Lorraine” (dir. Sam Pollard)
“The Secret Reading Club of Kabul” (dir. Shakiba Adil, Elina Hirvonen)
“Uncle Roy” (directed by Keri Pickett)
Student Shorts – Animated
“Let Stone Lions Roar” (dir. by Hang Whalen)
“Cardboard Heart” (directed by Catalina Ferreira Martin)
“Au gré de l’iode” (directed by Léa Deprez, Pierre-Luis Bordes, Elliot Desmarets, Jeanne Finet)
“Sunburn” (dir. Esther Son)
“Me in a Nutshell” (directed by Joshua Higgs, Elena Krasteva)
“Our Fleeting Soul” (directed by Marin Caquez, Eva-Louise Moreau, Nour Kharraz)
“Kenopsia” (dir. Camille Redon, Sélène Le, Alice Hegymegi-Kiss, Gregoire Pezzulo, Fanny Belougne, Quentin Szczygiel, Adel Tebib)
“CHAI” (dir. Aryan Anand)
“The Memory Clocksmith” (director Jing Rickie Liu, Ellie Grace Colwill)
“The Moon Stole My Stripes” (directed by Sarah Buckley)
“Sundown” (dir. Jérémie Jayraj Itty, Inna Soroka, Julia Estrada Torres, Sammi Khuu)
“The Nest” (dir. Aurélien Coquery, Léa Kermanach, Soline Mauguin, Abel Tixador, Jean Baounon, Romane Selter-Fiette)
“Moticos” (dir. Paige Meakin)
Student Shorts – Live Action
“KATTI (Unfriend)” (dir. Kanishka Aggarwal)
See Me (dir. Cormac Fingeret)
“Rio Negro” (director Luke Cooper Escobar)
“The View was Everything” (dir. Blais Cameron)
“The Kalgan Horse” (dir. Zichen Zhao)
“Killer of Men” (dir. Jordan Betine)
“Cadencia” (dir. Paulís Cofresí)
SCAD student documentary series
“Cora Dale – Rediscovering Harmony” (directed by Silas Immanuel, Isabel Massud Faria De Souza)
“Madame Marseille” (director Brennen Fletcher)
“With You” (directed by Rebecca Floto)
“Assemblé” (directed by Lena Faeskorn)
“From the Sound to the Sea” (director Olivia Jackson)
“Nanmoku” (directed by Will Franz)
“The Eternal Sound” (director Ryan Broussard, Andrew Meriwethe)
