The red carpet is rolling back into Savannah! The SCAD Savannah Film Festival will return this Oct. 25-Nov. 1, 2025, in Savannah, GA. Celebrating its 28th-year, more than 63,000 people attend the eight-day festival, which 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.
Returning programs include The “Docs to Watch” series, hosted by Scott Feinberg of The Hollywood Reporter, spotlighting the ten best documentaries of the year; Variety returns with its “Artisans to Watch” hosted by Jazz Tangcay and “Pixels and Pencils” hosted by Clayton Davis; and Entertainment Weekly’s “Breaking Big” panel recognizes the next generation of Hollywood talent.
At last year’s event, SCAD screened 23 Oscar-nominated films, including seven of the 10 Best Picture nominees. Twenty-six of the festival’s honorees and panelists went on to receive Oscar nominations, with several taking home top awards. Among them were Best Actress Mikey Madison for Anora, Best Supporting Actress Zoë Saldaña for Emilia Pérez, Best Supporting Actor Kieran Culkin for A Real Pain, Best Animated Feature director Gints Zilbalodis for Flow, and Best Costume Designer Paul Tazewell for Wicked. SCAD alumni also worked on three of the five films nominated for best animated feature: Elemental, Nimona and Spider-Man: Across the Spider-Verse.
Additional guests and honorees in 2024 included Amy Adams, Monica Barbaro, Kris Bowers, Jodie Comer, Kevin Costner, Colman Domingo, Felicity Jones, Richard Linklater, Natasha Lyonne, Kelsey Mann, Steve McQueen, Demi Moore, Arianne Phillips, Ramell Ross, Chris Sanders, Sebastian Stan, Janty Yates, and many more.
As the countdown to Oct. 25 begins, all eyes are on Savannah, a city where cobblestone streets meet Hollywood dreams. The SCAD Savannah Film Festival isn’t just a stop on the awards circuit; it’s a celebration of craft, community, and the next big thing in cinema. Whether you’re chasing Oscar buzz, scouting fresh talent, or just soaking in the magic of movies under the Spanish moss, this year’s festival promises to be another unforgettable chapter in film history.
