The Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) announced Jessica Lange will receive the Lifetime Achievement Award at the SCAD Savannah Film Festival.
Lange will receive her award during the festival’s screening of “Long Day’s Journey Into Night,” in which she stars as matriarch Mary Tyrone opposite Ed Harris. She previously played the role on Broadway, earning her a Tony and Drama Desk Award.
“Jessica Lange has given us some of the most unforgettable performances of the past five decades, bringing extraordinary intelligence, vulnerability and power to every role,” said Christina Routhier, senior executive director of the SCAD Savannah Film Festival. “We are honored to celebrate her remarkable body of work and welcome her to SCAD for what promises to be a memorable evening for our students and audiences.”
Taking place Oct. 24-31, the festival has also added “Paper Tiger,” “I Play Rocky” and “Behemoth!” to its 2026 lineup. The festival will open with a screening of “A Talent for Murder” and closes with “Wild Horse Nine.” “The Debut” will screen Oct. 27 as the Centerpiece Gala Presentation.
Variety will present its fifth annual 10 Artisans to Watch at the festival, honoring standout talent in cinematography, costume design, editing, hair and makeup, production design, sound editing and design and visual effects. Variety’s senior artisans editor Jazz Tangcay will moderate that conversation.
Variety’s “Pixels and Pencils” panel also returns to SCAD Savannah Film Festival for a fifth year, spotlighting the directors behind the year’s standout animated features. Clayton Davis, Variety’s chief awards editor, will moderate the conversation with the six filmmakers.
This year’s schedule includes Gala and Signature Screenings, Special Presentations, 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. Throughout its history, the festival has screened more than 250 Academy Award-nominated films and honored nearly 225 legendary actors, directors, producers, writers and filmmakers from around the world.
“This is one of those lineups where you look at the filmmakers and performers and realize just how much incredible work is happening across the industry right now,” Routhier said. “We have films from some of the world’s most distinctive talents, alongside bold work from emerging voices. What I love most is that our students get to experience it all by being in the room with these artists, hearing how the work came together, asking questions and making connections that can shape their own careers.”
The following 24 films have been selected for distinguished screenings:
● A Talent for Murder (Bleecker Street/LD Entertainment), dir. Anton Corbijn
● Behemoth! (Searchlight Pictures), dir. Tony Gilroy
● Being Heumann (Apple Original Films), dir. Siân Heder
● Clarissa (Neon), dir. Arie Esiri, Chuko Esiri
● Club Kid (A24), dir. Jordan Firstman
● The Debut (A24), dir. Jesse Eisenberg
● Elsinore (Focus Features), dir. Simon Stone
● I Play Rocky (Amazon MGM), dir. Peter Farrelly
● Ink (Netflix), dir. Danny Boyle
● Josephine (Sumerian Pictures), dir. Beth de Araújo
● La Bola Negra (Netflix), dir. Javier Ambrossi, Javier Calvo
● The Liberation (Bleecker Street), dir. Guy Nattiv
● The Mosquito Bowl (Netflix), dir. Peter Berg
● Mouse (Independent Film Company), dirs. Kelly O’Sullivan, Alex Thompson
● The Only Living Pickpocket in New York (Sony Pictures Classics), dir. Noah Segan
● Paper Tiger (Neon), dir. James Gray
● Tender Loving Care (Bleecker Street), dir. Mike Leigh
● Wild Horse Nine (Searchlight Pictures), dir. Martin McDonagh
Special Presentations
● All of a Sudden (Neon), dir. Ryusuke Hamaguchi
● Bedford Park (Sony Pictures Classics), dir. Stephanie Ahn
● Bitter Christmas (Sony Pictures Classics), dir. Pedro Almodóvar
● Bunker (Sony Pictures Classics), dir. Florian Zeller
● Coward (Mubi), dir. Lukas Dhont
● Everytime (1-2 Special), dir. Sandra Wollner
● Fatherland (Mubi), dir. Paweł Pawlikowski
● Fjord (Neon), dir. Cristian Mungiu
● Gentle Monster (Netflix), dir. Marie Kreutzer
● Iron Boy (Sony Pictures Classics), dir. Louis Clichy
● La Gradiva (1-2 Special), dir. Marine Atlan
● A Long Winter (Mubi), dir. Andrew Haigh
● Look Back (GKIDS), dir. Hirokazu Kore-eda
● Minotaur (Mubi), dir. Andrey Zvyagintsev
● Possible Love (Netflix), dir. Lee Chang-dong
● Rose (Mubi), dir. Markus Schleinzer
Signature Screenings
The Signature Screenings series features premiere and special screenings, with some followed by Q&As with select directors, writers, actors, and producers. This year’s selection of films and series include:
● Backrooms (A24), dir. Kane Parsons
● Blue Heron (Janus), dir. Sophy Romvari
● The Invite (A24), dir. Olivia Wilde
● Long Day’s Journey Into Night (Quiver), dir. Jonathan Kent
● The Matrix (Warner Bros.), dir. Lana Wachowski, Lilly Wachowski
● Misty Green (A24), dir. Chris Rock
● The Odyssey (Universal Pictures), dir. Christopher Nolan
● Project Hail Mary (Amazon MGM), dir. Phil Lord, Christopher Miller
● SCAD Presents: A Mosquito in the Ear (Persimmon), dir. Nicola Rinciari
● Sense and Sensibility (Focus Features), dir. Georgia Oakley
● Your Mother Your Mother Your Mother (Orion Pictures), dir. Bassam Tariq
After Dark Screenings
These soon-to-be-cult-classics are selected to thrill, scare and entertain.
● Clayface (Warner Bros.), dir. James Watkins
● The Cycle (Shudder), dir. Jordan Downey
● Teenage Sex and Death at Camp Miasma (Mubi), dir. Jane Schoenbrun
Docs to Watch
The 13th annual Docs to Watch series will be accompanied by a roundtable with the directors hosted by Scott Feinberg of The Hollywood Reporter. Selected films include:
● American Doctor (Watermelon), dir. Poh Si Teng
● Avedon (Netflix), dir. Ron Howard
● Cookie Queens (Roadside Attractions), dir. Alysa Nahmias
● Everest: The Other Side (National Geographic), dir. Jimmy Chin, Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi
● The Last First: Winter K2 (Apple Original Films), dir. Amir Bar-Lev
● My Undesirable Friends: Part II – Exile, dir. Julia Loktev
● Once Upon a Time in Harlem (Neon), dir. William Greaves, David Greaves
● One in a Million (Frontline), dir. Itab Azzam and Jack MacInnes
● The Trial of Alec Baldwin (Abramorama), dir. Rory Kennedy
● You Can See Everything (A24), dir. Nathan Fielder, Lance Oppenheim
Pixels and Pencils: Top Animated Contenders
Presented in partnership with Variety, Pixels and Pencils highlights the directors behind the top animated films of the year. Showcasing a broad array of artistic avenues and animation styles, this series culminates in the directors roundtable panel, hosted by Variety senior awards editor Clayton Davis. Selected films include:
● Forgotten Island (DreamWorks/Universal Pictures), writers/dirs. Joel Crawford and Januel P. Mercado
● Hoppers (Disney/Pixar), dir. Daniel Chong
● Ray Gunn (Netflix), dir. Brad Bird
● Tangles (Independent Film Company), dir. Leah Nelson
● Wildwood (Laika), dir. Travis Knight
Panels
● The Behind Their Lens series, presented in partnership with IndieWire, celebrates cinematic powerhouses who defied the odds and obstacles to bring us some of the most influential and poignant films and television series in recent years. Panels include:
○ Behind Their Lens: Directors, with panelists Beth de Araújo (Josephine), Sophy Romvari (Blue Heron), and more to be announced.
○ Behind Their Lens: Producers, with panelists Alison Owen (Back To Black), Lauren Miller Rogen (Tangles), and more to be announced.
○ Behind Their Lens: Artisans, with panelists Amy Roth (I Play Rocky, Paper Tiger), Ruth De Jong (The Odyssey), Sarah Broshar (Disclosure Day), and more to be announced.
● 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:
○ Below the Line: The Power of Casting
■ Panelists include John Papsidera (The Odyssey), Sarah Finn (Wild Horse Nine), Jessica Ronae (Elsinore), and more to be announced.
○ Below the Line: Costume Design Roundtable with Variety’s Jazz Tangcay
■ Panelists include Arianne Phillips (The Invite), Ellen Mijornick (The Odyssey), Linda Muir (Werwulf), Marci Rodgers (Michael), and Molly Rogers (The Devil Wears Prada 2).
○ Below the Line: Scoring for the Screen with the Alliance for Women Film Composers
■ In this illuminating conversation, members of the Alliance for Women Film Composers discuss their creative process, the challenges and triumphs of the industry, and the vital role composers play in bringing depth and resonance to film and television. Additional information on panelists to be announced.
● The SCAD Alumni Voices panel highlights graduates of the university’s top-ranked film and television degree programs. Panelists include Annie Taylor (M.A., sound design, 2019), Alchemy Post Sound, The Bear, Widow’s Bay; Benjamin Frisch (M.F.A., sequential art, 2011; B.F.A., sequential art, 2009), podcast producer and sound designer, Making Gay History, Critical Darlings; Eldar Isgandarov (B.F.A., performing arts, 2024), actor, Club Kid, The Debut; Wai Yan “Sunny” Chan (B.F.A., visual effects, 2008), facial animator, Wildwood; and Chloe Lipp (B.F.A., film and television, 2008), visual effects artist, Stranger Things, The Mandalorian.
● The World of BRZRKR – Go inside the creation of the epic comic book series BRZRKR with creators and writers Keanu Reeves and Matt Kindt along with illustrator Ron Garney as they explore the acclaimed series’ mythology, characters, distinctive visual style, and the collaborative creative process that render its action-packed scenes in vivid color.
● The Art of the Epic: Crafting The Odyssey highlights the contributions of artisans and behind the scenes talent like production designer Ruth De Jong, costume designer Ellen Mijornik and casting director John Papsidera.
● Building Arrakis and Beyond: In Conversation with Patrice Vermette peels back the curtain with Dune production designer and Variety Creative Impact in Production Design Award honoree Patrice Vermette, who will sit down with Variety’s Jazz Tangcay for a career conversation and look inside the upcoming, highly-anticipated Dune: Part Three.
● A Look Inside Walt Disney Animation and Disney’s Hexed with Jared Bush – Get a special first look inside Walt Disney Animation Studios’ upcoming animated adventure Disney’s Hexed with chief creative officer, writer and Academy Award winner, Jared Bush.
● Variety‘s 10 Artisans 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 Presents: The New Face of Horror spotlights rising filmmakers Alex Goyette (Breeder), Jordan Downey (The Cycle), and Micheline Pitt Norman (V/H/S Halloween), with moderator Angel Melanson (Shudder director of programming).
● Critical Darlings — Awards Season Kick-off: LIVE! With hosts Alison Willmore (Vulture) and Richard Lawson (Premiere Party)
● From Red Carpets to Reels: Entertainment Journalism in the Digital Age with film journalist and host Kevin McCarthy and Gersh agent Sydnie Rowland.
● The Long Game: Gersh Agents on Building Careers in Entertainment welcomes a panel of agents from Gersh, one of the largest entertainment and sports agencies in the world.
Competition Films
The SCAD Savannah Film Festival celebrates the work of established and emerging filmmakers, from feature-length films to shorts. The juried competition showcases the best of professional, animated and student films selected from more than 2,300 entries annually.
Festival jurors include Alan Khamoui (senior film executive of development, production and acquisitions, Amazon MGM Studios), Seth Fradkoff (senior vice president of publicity, Amazon MGM Studios), Sharon Badal (vice president of filmmaker relations, Tribeca Film Festival), Ben Thompson (vice president of shorts programming, Tribeca Film Festival), Mike McNamara (producer) and Sam A. Davis (director).
Narrative Features
● The Huntress (dir. Suzanne Andrews Correa) One of Us (dir. Stefan van de Graaff)
● Summer of Three (dir. Carlitos Ruiz-Ruiz)
● Test (dir. Sam McConnell)
Documentary Features
● Dernsie: The Amazing Life of Bruce Dern (dir. Mike Mendez)
● The Lorraine (dir. Sam Pollard)
● The Secret Reading Club of Kabul (dir. Shakiba Adil, Elina Hirvonen)
● Uncle Roy (dir. Keri Pickett)
Student Animated Shorts
● Stone Lions Don’t Roar (dir. Le Hang Whalen)
● Cardboard Heart (dir. Catalina Ferreira Martin)
● Au gré de l’iode (dir. Léa Deprez, Pierre-Luis Bordes, Elliot Desmarets, Jeanne Finet)
● Sunburn (dir. Esther Son)
● Me in a Nutshell (dir. Joshua Higgs, Elena Krasteva)
● Our Fleeting Soul (dir. 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 (dir. Jing Rickie Liu, Ellie Grace Colwill)
● The Moon Stole My Stripes (dir. 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 Live-Action Shorts
● KATTI (Unfriend) (dir. Kanishka Aggarwal)
● See Me (dir. Cormac Fingeret)
● Rio Negro (dir. 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)
Student Documentary Shorts
● Cora Dale – A Rediscovered Harmony (dir. Silas Immanuel, Isabel Massud Faria De Souza)
● Madame Marseille (dir. Brennen Fletcher)
● With You (dir. Rebecca Floto)
● Assemblé (dir. Lena Faeskorn)
● From the Sound to the Sea (dir. Olivia Jackson)
● Nanmoku (dir. Will Franz)
● An Eternal Sound (dir. Ryan Broussard, Andrew Meriwether)
Shorts Spotlight
● Unsung Heroes
○ One Last Order (dir. Lauren DeFilippo, Sam Soko)
○ The Baddest Speechwriter of All (dir. Ben Proudfoot, Stephen Curry)
● Ordinary, Everyday Monsters
○ He’s Out There (dir. Kurt Andrew Schneider, Sam A. Davis)
○ Plastic Pastures (dir. Darren Rubin)
○ Four Itchy Boys (dir. Andrew Hebert)
○ Bundle (dir. Carlo Milillo)
○ PRIME (dir. Meagan Coyle)
○ Meeting Your Maker (dir. Gregory Kasunich)
○ Scissors (dir. Hannah Alline)
● Boundary Waters
○ DISC (dir. Blake Rice)
○ Enjoy Your Visit (dir. Erin Cramer)
○ What Have You Done, Zarina? (dir. Camila Sagyntkan)
○ Jane (dir. Eva Ravenal)
○ Because Today is Saturday (dir. Alice Eça Guimarães)
○ Selah (dir. Lara Everly)
● Generation Next
○ Fletcher Street (dir. Jannat Gargi, David Darg)
○ Where We Played: Voices From the Fire (dir. Nat Wolff, Austin Cauldwell)
○ The Boys and the Bees (dir. Arielle C. Knight)
○ The Boy with the Dinosaur Head (dir. Imran J Khan)
○ Couture to the Max (dir. Dori Berinstein)
● Hearts Across Time and Space
○ The Making of Taylor Square (dir. Caroline Josey Karoki)
○ The Second Life of Freddie Nole (dir. Dana Nachman)
○ 32B (dir. Mohamed Taher)
○ The View (dir. Alli Sadegiani)
○ I Got You (dir. Jayme Lawson) — World Premiere
○ The Old Man and the Barber (dir. Nima Fakhrara)
● One World
○ The Art of Sharing (dir. Ricardo Serena)
○ Buckskin (dir. Mars Verrone)
○ Listen (dir. Taliesin Black-Brown)
○ Plant Life (dir. Brett Marty, Josh Izenberg)
○ The Lost Snows of the Alps (dir. Kevin McCarey)
● Dangerous Territory
○ A New Inferno (dir. Nita Blum, Jonathan Pickett)
○ 80 is the Most Dangerous Anniversary (dir. Frank Chi) — World Premiere
○ Escalation (dir. AJ Schnack)
○ Apart (dir. Pola Maneli)
● Your Attention, Please!
○ A Crime Across Four Landscapes (dir. Aidan Weaver)
○ A Man Who Takes Pictures of Flowers (dir. Yoo Lee)
○ Getar Hero (dir. Teddy Stern)
○ Them That’s Not (dir. Mekhai Lee)
○ FLESH IMPACT (dir. Maggie Gyllenhaal)
○ A Sisyphean Task (dir. Gus Flind-Henry, George Malcher)
○ Please (dir. Anna Mantzaris)
● All the Love in the World…and Then Some
○ The Late in Life Guide to Modern Day Lesbianism (dir. Emelie Claxton, Molly Rangel)
○ Kiloran Bay (dir. Michael Bruce)
○ Perfect Love (dir. Kelly McCready) — World Premiere
○ Cheers Camden (dir. Joshua Black)
○ The Last Day of Byron Bray (dir. Michael Borrelli)
○ Callback (dir. Matthew Puccini)
○ Never Never Never (dir. John Sheedy)
● Animated Delights
○ Living with a Visionary (dir. Stephen P. Neary)
○ How Not to Die on an Alien Planet (dir. Carlos Fernandez Puertolas)
○ Paper Daughter (dir. Cami Kwan)
○ Cartoon Physics (dir. Ru Kuwahata, Max Porter)
○ El Cuerpo del Cristo (dir. Bea Lema)
○ Virgin Fandango (dir. Marcy Page)
○ The Undying Pain of Existence (dir. Oscar Jacobson)
○ Sundays (dir. Ashley Gerst)
○ 9 Million Colors (dir. Bára Anna)
Honorees at this year’s festival:
● Paul Bettany will receive the Virtuoso Award
● Meghann Fahy will receive the Spotlight in Television Award
● Ethan Hawke and Sterlin Harjo will receive the Outstanding Collaboration in Television Award
● Guitarricadelafuente will receive the Discovery Award
● Helen Mirren will receive the Legend of Entertainment Award
● Julianne Moore will receive the Icon Award
● Emmy Rossum will receive the Outstanding Achievement in Television Award
● Patrice Vermette will receive the Variety Creative Impact in Production Design Award
Presented by the Savannah College of Art and Design, the SCAD Savannah Film Festival is a signature stop on a film’s journey to the Academy Awards. More than 74,000 people attend each year.
Lange recently returned to “American Horror Story” for its 13th season and starred in the title role of “The Great Lillian Hall.” She made her Broadway debut in “A Streetcar Named Desire” and went on to star in “The Glass Menagerie” and “Mother Play.” Her film career includes “King Kong,” “Tootsie” and “Blue Sky,” while her television career includes “Grey Gardens,” “Feud” and “Feud: Capote vs. the Swans.” She is also a celebrated photographer, and a documentary about her photography journey titled “Jessica Lange: Something About the Light” will begin filming this year.
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