SCAD Celebrates the 20th Anniversary of the SCAD Savannah Film Festival

SAVANNAH, Ga., Sept. 26, 2017 /PRNewswire/ -- The Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) today announced honorees for the 2017 SCAD Savannah Film Festival, Oct. 28 – Nov. 4. This year celebrates the festival's 20^th anniversary. Now the largest university-run film festival in the country, the annual tribute to excellence in film has screened over 100 Oscar nominated films and honored over 75 legendary actors, directors, producers, writers and filmmakers from around the world.

This year, SCAD will honor Salma Hayek Pinault with the Outstanding Achievement in Cinema Award, John Boyega with the Vanguard Award, Holly Hunter with the Icon Award, Robert Pattinson with the Maverick Award, Aaron Sorkin with the Outstanding Achievement in Directing Award and Patrick Stewart with the Legends of Cinema Award. Additional honorees and programming will be announced at a later date.

The festival has become a distinguished stop on the road to the Oscars, hosting exclusive screenings, competition films, feature films, documentaries, shorts, animated films, panel discussions, and workshops at SCAD's historic theaters and industry-leading studios.

Academy Award nominee Salma Hayek Pinault is a prolific actress, producer and director, in both film and television. In addition to her Oscar nomination, she has been nominated for Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild and British Academy of Film and Television Arts awards for her leading role in Julie Taymor's Frida. Hayek can be seen currently in the title role in Beatriz at Dinner. Other recent projects include the comedy How to be a Latin Lover, the action comedy The Hitman's Bodyguard, and past films include The Prophet, Tale of Tales, Some Kind of Beautiful, Sausage Party, Grown-Ups, Savages, Puss in Boots, Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Dogma, From Dusk Til Dawn and Desperado.

John Boyega captured worldwide attention for his starring role in Star Wars: The Force Awakens. He will reprise his role as Finn in Star Wars: The Last Jedi later this year. Most recently, Boyega starred in director Kathryn Bigelow's Detroit, the true story of the civil unrest and riots that sieged Detroit for five days during the summer of 1967. Boyega recently wrapped filming on Pacific Rim: Uprising, his next franchise-leading role, which he is also producing through his production company, UpperRoom Productions. His other film credits include Imperial Dreams and Attack the Block.

A prominent actor on both stage and screen, Holly Hunter is an Academy and Emmy Award-winner who has portrayed a vast array of complex and powerful characters throughout her career. Hunter has been nominated for an Academy Award for her performances in Broadcast News, The Firm, Thirteen, and The Piano, for which she won the Academy Award for Best Actress in 1993. She won Primetime Emmy Awards for her performances in Roe vs. Wade and The Positively True Adventures of the Alleged Texas Cheerleader-Murdering Mom, and she was nominated for her work in Things You Can Tell Just By Looking at Her, When Billie Beat Bobby, Saving Grace, and Top of the Lake. Hunter was most recently seen in The Big Sick, starring Kumail Nanjiani, Zoe Kazan and Ray Romano, as well as Strange Weather, which is the story of a mother trying to grieve over the death of her son. Upcoming, Hunter will star in the Alan Ball HBO series "Here, Now." Additional film credits include Raising Arizona, Miss Firecracker, Home for the Holidays, Crash, A Life Less Ordinary, Living Out Loud, O Brother Where Art Thou?, The Incredibles, and Batman v. Superman: Dawn of Justice.

Robert Pattinson maintains a fearless pursuit of challenging roles, evolving with each new project and captivating global audiences with his transformative performances. Pattinson gained industry notice at 19 years of age when he joined the Harry Potter franchise in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, playing Cedric Diggory. He is also known for his portrayal of the vampire "Edward Cullen" in The Twilight Saga. Pattinson currently stars in Good Time, a film centered around "Constantine Nikas," who embarks on a journey through New York City's underworld in a desperate attempt to get his brother out of jail. His performance is hailed by many critics as a career-defining moment. His other film credits include The Lost City of Z, Life, Queen of the Desert, The Rover, Cosmopolis, Life, Queen of the Desert, Map to the Stars, Water For Elephants, Remember Me and Bel Ami. Pattinson is currently in production on Claire Denis' High Life and he recently wrapped production on Damsel.

Aaron Sorkin is an Academy Award-winning writer and renowned playwright. Sorkin won the Academy Award, Golden Globe, Critics Choice, and British Academy of Film and Television Arts Award (BAFTA) for Best Adapted Screenplay for The Social Network. The film was also nominated for eight Academy Awards including "Best Picture," was named "Best Drama" at the Golden Globes and appeared on over 350 critics' lists of the top ten films of 2010. Sorkin marks his directorial debut in Molly's Game which he also wrote.  The film is based on the true story of Molly Bloom, an Olympic-class skier who ran the world's most exclusive high-stakes poker game before being arrested in the middle of the night by 17 FBI agents wielding automatic weapons. His other screenwriting credits include A Few Good Men, which was nominated for four Academy Awards and five Golden Globes, including Best Screenplay, Malice, The American President, Charlie Wilson's War, Steve Jobs and Moneyball, which earned Sorkin an Academy Award nomination for Best Screenplay.

Patrick Stewart is one of the most acclaimed performers working today, with numerous and varied roles on both stage and screen. He has garnered multiple Golden Globe, Screen Actors Guild, Emmy and Tony nominations. In the 2001 New Year Honours List, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II conferred on Stewart the Order of the Officer of the British Empire, and in 2010 he received a knighthood for his services to drama. Earlier this year, Stewart returned as Professor Charles Xavier in the latest X-Men epic, Logan. Stewart originated the role in the first installment of the franchise in 2000. His other film credits include the films in the X-Men franchise, Green Room, Ted and Ted 2, Jeffrey, Dune, Excalibur, L.A. Story, Conspiracy Theory, I, Claudius and Tinker Tailor Solider Spy.

About SCAD Savannah Film Festival
Celebrating its 20^th anniversary, the festival, and the competition, provides SCAD students with opportunities as unique as the selected films. Students from every academic discipline connect with leaders from the entertainment industry through master classes, coffee talks, lectures, workshops and panel discussions. Savannah, a premier film hub in the Southeast, promotes quality movies produced by independent and studio filmmakers.

Tickets and passes are available for purchase online at savannahboxoffice.com, by telephone at 912.525.5050, or in person at the Trustees Theater, located at 216 E. Broughton St., Savannah. Visit filmfest.scad.edu for a complete list of films and screening locations or follow the festival on Facebook and on Twitter @savfilmfest and use the hashtag #SAVFF.

About SCAD
The Savannah College of Art and Design is a private, nonprofit, accredited university offering more than 100 academic degree programs in 43 majors across its locations in Atlanta and Savannah, Georgia; Hong Kong; Lacoste, France; and online via SCAD eLearning. SCAD enrolls more than 13,000 undergraduate and graduate students from more than 100 countries. The innovative SCAD curriculum is enhanced by advanced professional-level technology, equipment and learning resources, as well as opportunities for internships, professional certifications and collaborative projects with corporate partners.

In 2015, the prestigious Red Dot Design Rankings placed SCAD in the top four universities in the Americas and Europe. Career preparation is woven into every fiber of the university, resulting in a superior alumni placement rate. In a study of Spring 2016 SCAD graduates, 98 percent were employed, pursuing further education, or both within 10 months of graduation. For more information, visit the official SCAD blog.

SOURCE Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD)