I’m going to be covering the Savannah Film Festival for CHUD this year, and I’m pretty fucking excited about it.
The festival will run October 25th to November 1st and has an excellent line-up this year. To bring everyone who is interested up to speed, I’m going to be doing two or three introductory articles this week. I want to familiarize everyone with the festival, the city, and the school before things get started. So first…
THE BASICS
For those who don’t know, I am a junior at the Savannah College of Art & Design, or SCAD. Over the last decade or so, SCAD has experienced an enormous growth and expansion, becoming (I believe) the largest film school in the country. Right now we represent around 2,500,000 square feet here in Savannah, at the Atlanta campus, and our facilities in Lacoste, France. I’ll tell you more about the school in my next entry, but suffice to say, it’s a badass place (hence why I came here).
For the last ten years the school has hosted the Savannah Film Festival, a pretty huge event in this fair city. The line up grows more impressive each year, attracting around 35,000 students, residents, celebrities, and visitors. In my time here, we’ve had some pretty cool visitors, just naming ones I can remember…
Michael Douglas
Charlie Rose (so awesome)
Tommy lee Jones
Guillermo Arriaga
Vanessa, Lynn, & Corin Redgrave
Milos Foreman (Absolutely wonderful man)
Liev Schreiber
Brett Ratner
Bruce Dern
John Sayles (one of my favorite visitors)
Todd Wagner
James Franco
Rex Reed
Catherine-Zeta Jones
Chris Cooper
Walter Hill
Alan Cumming
Illeana Douglas
…and probably some others than I am regrettably forgetting. Some of the movies we’ve had play at the fest include…
Little Children (Hell yes)
The Diving Bell & The Butterfly
The Last King of Scotland
Babel
The Lives of Others
The Savages
The Queen
Grace is Gone
Lonely Hearts
Persepolis
The Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada
Volver
Reservation Road
Disappearances
The Hip Hop Project
The Kite Runner
Before my time, I know Peter O’Toole visited, as well as Ebert, Sydney Pollack, Alec Baldwin, John Waters, and many others.
For a tiny Fest started by an art college in coastal GA, it’s done pretty damn well for itself. I can say from a student’s perspective, it’s absolutely amazing. Our film department (of which I am a part) buzzes with excitement in the lead up to the fest, and it’s a great opportunity for many of us.
THE FILMS
So what’s on the plate for this year? The list of films goes like this…
The Wrestler (FUCKING A)
Slumdog Millionaire (I continue to hear good things)
Synecdoche, New York (Hell yes)
Your Name Here
War Eagle, Arkansas
The Wrecking Crew
Elite Squad (Did well at Berlin)
A Clockwork Orange (Can’t wait to see this on a big screen)
Never Apologize
The Brothers Warner (Super interested in this)
The 27 Club
Happy-Go-Lucky
Lake City
Recount (HBO on the big screen, cool enough)
The Burning Plain
The Class
Along with those, we will be joined by Malcolm McDowell, Peter Bart, Alan & Marilyn Bergman, Suzanne De passe, and several others. I’m rather excited.
I have a lot of great memories (and pictures) from festivals past, which I will share with you in my next entry (including the Brett Ratner story!). Till then, cheers.
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Oh yeah, by the way… That picture at the top of the article is the official Savannah Film Festival Promo still. It even made it onto the latest phonebook for Savannah. If you take a look at the bottom right….
…that’s me!