The Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) today announced the 2018 honorees to be recognized at the 21st annual SCAD Savannah Film Festival, taking place Oct. 27-Nov. 3. Now the largest university-run film festival in the country, the annual tribute to excellence in film has screened over 110 Oscar-nominated films and honored over 80 legendary actors, directors, producers, writers and filmmakers from around the world.
This year, SCAD will honor Hugh Jackman with the Legend of Cinema Award, Emily Blunt with the Icon Award, Maggie Gyllenhaal with the Outstanding Achievement in Cinema Award for Acting and Producing, Armie Hammer with the Outstanding Achievement in Cinema Award, Stephan James and KiKi Layne with the Discovery Award, John Krasinski with the Vanguard Award, Shailene Woodley with the Spotlight Award and Amandla Stenberg with the Rising Star 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. SCAD has a top-ranked film and TV program with more than 75 SCAD alumni working on 2018 Academy Award films.
This year, SCAD has joined forces with Entertainment Weekly as a media partner for SCAD Film Festival. In this role, EW will program and moderate select talent panels. EW will also establish a video studio where talent will stop by to create an exclusive video that will run across EW’s digital and social platforms.
Hugh Jackman will next be starring in The Front Runner, directed by Jason Reitman, set to open in theaters this November.
Later this year, Blunt stars in Mary Poppins Returns, the sequel to the 1964 Disney classic. She most recently starred in the thriller A Quiet Place and is currently working on Disney’s Jungle Cruise.
Maggie Gyllenhaal has starred in many films over her career, including Secretary, Mona Lisa Smile, Sherrybaby, and Crazy Heart. On television, she starred in the BBC/Sundance original series The Honourable Woman and recently wrapped filming and producing the second season of the HBO drama The Deuce. Her next film, The Kindergarten Teacher, which she is also producing.
Armie Hammer received an Independent Spirit Award and Golden Globe nomination for his role in Call Me by Your Name. Hammer will next be seen starring in the Ruth Bader Ginsburg biopic, On the Basis of Sex. He will also appear in Hotel Mumbai, based on the 2008 terrorist attack at the Taj Mahal Palace Hotel.
Stephan James, holds the honor of portraying two significant figures in African-American history. He starred as Olympic champion Jesse Owens in Race, and as activist and future U.S. congressman John Lewis in Selma. James will next be seen starring opposite Julia Roberts in the Amazon series Homecoming, launching November 2nd, and in the upcoming film If Beale Street Could Talk for director Barry Jenkins.
In April 2018, Krasinski was named one of Time’s 100 Most Influential People. This distinction followed the successful opening of A Quiet Place, which Krasinski co-wrote, directed and starred in, opposite Emily Blunt.
KiKi Layne marks her first leading role in If Beale Street Could Talk from Moonlight director Barry Jenkins. Amandla Stenberg will next be seen in 20th Century Fox’s highly anticipated film The Hate U Give which premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival in September 2018.
Shailene Woodley served as a producer and the star of the true-life story of a woman and her fiancée lost at sea in Baltasar Kormakur’s film Adrift.
Tickets and passes are available for purchase online at savannahboxoffice.com The Savannah Film Festival take place Oct. 27-Nov. 3
