Save the Date! The Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) today announced the honorees for the 2017 SCAD Savannah Film Festival, Oct. 28 – Nov. 4. Celebrating its 20th Anniversary the 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 Kathryn Bigelow’s Detroit, the true story of the civil unrest and riots that sieged Detroit for five days during the summer of 1967.
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. Hunter was most recently
seen in The Big Sick, starring Kumail Nanjiani, Zoe Kazan, and Ray Romano.
Robert 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.
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.
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. 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.
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
