SCAD Savannah Film Festival Screens ‘American Symphony,’ ‘Rustin,’ ‘The Bikeriders,’ & More

Megan McLachlan attends the 10th Anniversary of Scott Feinberg’s Docs to Watch Roundtable at the 2023 SCAD Savannah Film Festival and sees Rustin, The Bikeriders, and more.

“In the age we live in [with people denying history], everything has to be recorded,” said 20 Days in Mariupol director Mstyslav Chernov at Scott Feinberg’s Docs to Watch Roundtable which highlights some of the best documentaries of the year.

In the 10 years that Feinberg has been hosting this event at SCAD, there have been 45 featured films and 7 Best Documentary Oscar wins, including last year’s Navalny.

This year’s slate included 20 Days in Mariupol from Chernov, American Symphony from Matthew Heineman, Beyond Utopia from Madeleine Gavin, The Deepest Breath from Laura McGann, The Eternal Memory from Maite Alberdi, Kokomo City from D. Smith, The Mission from Jesse Moss, Silver Dollar Road from Raoul Peck, and Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie by Davis Guggenheim. Roger Ross Williams was scheduled to be on the panel on behalf of his film Stamped from the Beginning but unfortunately was unable to attend.

The group talked about everything from going into dangerous territory, like Gavin documenting a family escaping North Korea in Beyond Utopia, to follow-ups since filming, like Smith discussing the death of one of the black trans sex workers in Kokomo City. As always, it was an impressive panel, and you couldn’t help but wonder if one of them was going to be an Oscar winner next year at this time.

American Symphony: An Intimate Intersection of a Musical Genius at His Highest & Lowest Point

Matthew Heineman’s doc American Symphony, which follows Grammy Award-winning musician Jon Batiste during the high point of his professional life and low point of his personal one, offers an intimate look at Batiste and his wife Suleika Jaouad leading up to the performance of his American Symphony at Carnegie Hall. In addition to providing truly private scenes between Jon and Suleika, it also shows audiences Batiste’s personal moments of reflection and musical genius. During the Q&A with Vanity Fair‘s David Canfield following the screening, Heineman said he spent up to 17 hours a day for 7 months with the couple.

“It certainly had a different energy than any other film that I had made,” said Heineman. “I had no idea where it would go. He was originally going to drive around the U.S. and meet people and gain regional influences from a diverse cross-section of America and that would feed into this crescendo performance at Carnegie Hall. But life intervened, and he got nominated for 11 Grammys, Suleika got rediagnosed with cancer, and another COVID wave came through New York.”

American Symphony ends up being a thoughtful moment in Batiste’s career and life, taking audiences on an emotional journey of life’s highs and lows.

20 Days in Mariupol: A Must-See Doc & Reminder of the Devastation in the Ukraine

Between the conflict in Israel and gun control in the United States, it’s challenging for some Americans to watch the news and remember that the Russia-Ukraine War is still raging on. Mstyslav Chernov’s 20 Days in Mariupol is a must-watch documentary that forces you to witness the breadth of humanity, both the evils and the resistors.

The doc emphasizes the importance of journalism, with Chernov constantly shooting and seeking a web connection so he can share the devastating footage with his editors to challenge the conflict’s outcome. Chernov has already received the Pulitzer Prize for his coverage, and given the standing ovation the film received at SCAD, he’s sure to be in the Oscar conversation, too.

“With the fact that the world is so polarized, most of the conflicts are historically complex,” Chernov said in the post-screening Q&A with SheKnows editor Reshma Gopaldas. He addressed Russia’s claim throughout the film that his footage was fake. “As journalists, we approach events the way the judicial system approaches events—with specific investigation. Here’s the hospital, who bombed it, how it happened. In the same way, the only way to exist as journalists is to approach events this way.”

Chernov said some of the most meaningful reactions to the doc have been from Ukrainians and Mariupol civilians.

“Making a film and knowing this all matters helped me a lot. There were several screenings just for them, and those were the deepest and most meaningful ones because it tells them the world will not forget.”

Rustin & The Bikeriders: Two Performance Showcases

George C. Wolfe’s Rustin and Jeff Nichols’ The Bikeriders played back to back at Lucas Theater and then around the corner at Trustees, and while I originally thought of this as a quirky double feature, it suddenly dawned on me that both films are anchored by show-stopping performances, with Colman Domingo in Rustin and Jodie Comer in The Bikeriders.

One of the hallmarks to an Oscar-worthy performance is that you can’t imagine anyone else playing the part, and that’s certainly the case with Domingo in Rustin. The film completely depends on this performance, as the gay civil rights activist who faces scrutiny for his personal life, and he carries every scene. After years of supporting work, it’s great to see him lead, as he plays Bayard Rustin with wit, bravado, and a little tinge of melancholy. Ahead of the screening, Wolfe received the Storyteller Award for the film.

Jodie Comer completely knocked me out with her performance as Kathy in The Bikeriders, inspired by the real-life biker gangs of the ’60s. Her narration introduces you to the film and the characters (she’d fit in great in a Scorsese flick), and she nails that Midwestern accent with shocking authenticity. She also manages to take a character that could be seen as comical and play it straight, even with her mousey, Didi-Conn-in-Grease voice. I always knew she was a great actress, but I’m convinced she will have an Oscar in the near future (maybe not for this film since its release has been indefinitely postponed due to the strike).

The Bikeriders is like Sons of Anarchy meets the ’60s, and it immerses you in the time period without ever feeling cliche or hackneyed (the soundtrack is great). When he received the Auteur Award for the film, director Jeff Nichols called it, “a portrait of a subculture and people who feel like they don’t belong.”

All of Us Strangers: A Moving Meditation on Grief and Nostalgia

With each film festival, buzz continues to grow for writer/director Andrew Haigh’s All of Us Strangers (it just recently garnered 4 Gotham Award nominations).

“It’s amazing,” he told me on the red carpet before the premiere. “You never know. You make a film and hope it resonates and connects with a wide range of people. It seems to have done so so far. I couldn’t be happier.”

All of Us Strangers is part romance, part coming-of-age story, part ghost story (which is perfect for a town like Savannah). Adam (Andrew Scott) discovers his long-deceased parents (Claire Foy and Jamie Bell) are alive and well when he visits his childhood home to channel inspiration for a screenplay. The two are just the way they were when he was 12, which means they are roughly the same age as he is. All of Us Strangers is a meditation on grief and the inevitable nostalgia we all have for the past, even when there’s tragedy. Andrew Scott’s child-like response to his present-day parents allows you to fully believe in the fantastical conceit, along with layered, heartfelt performances from Foy and Bell. After the screening, Haigh spoke about the broad scope of grief in the film.

“You grieve so much in your life. Old partners, boyfriends, and girlfriends vanish, and you don’t get to tell them the things you wanted to tell them. […]Whether you lost your parents or not, we all crave to go back and have the conversations we never had.”

When Haigh set out to adapt the 1987 Japanese novel for which the film is based, he struggled with nailing down the genre.

“It’s not really a ghost story, but it is. It doesn’t fit within the logic of ghost stories. It’s about ghosts in the sense of memories in the past.”

Priscilla: A Coming-of-Age Horror Story of Loneliness, Sexual Repression, & Eye Liner

A24 is known for its horror films, but who would expect Sofia Coppola’s Priscilla to join this list? Based on Priscilla Presley’s autobiography Elvis and Me, this biopic stars Cailee Spaeny, who received SCAD’s Breakthrough Award, as Elvis’s first and only wife. What starts as a dream come true—your teenage celeb crush wants to hang with you—soon devolves into a tale of loneliness and sexual repression (Elvis keeps her around for years without ever having relations). Where Austin Butler’s Elvis was painted as a victim, Jacob Elordi’s iteration is a mystery, to both the audience and Priscilla. Why does he want Priscilla? Why does he keep her around when he’d rather be hanging with Ann-Margaret? All these questions make him a nightmare to live with and probably messed with Priscilla’s psyche for a long time.

The makeup by Jo-Ann MacNeil, specifically Priscilla’s eyeliner, evolves with our heroine. When we first meet Priscilla, her face is clean with minimal makeup, but as Elvis becomes a part of her life, the eyeliner gets heavier, thicker, and all-encompassing, as if he’s taking over her life. Spaeny gives life to Priscilla with minimal dialogue or interior motive, and I only wish we could see more of her coming into her own toward the end of the film when she finally starts to stand on her own two feet.

The Holdovers: Paul Giamatti, Dominic Sessa, & Da’Vine Joy Randolph Shine in This Bittersweet Comedy

Tender-hearted and poignant, Alexander Payne’s The Holdovers might be the best film of the festival, which is saying a lot considering the depth of this bench. The dramedy consistently surprises you and offers up Paul Giamatti as yet another Best Actor candidate. This marks the second collaboration between Payne and Giamatti, with the first being 2004’s Sideways, and both films couldn’t be more different. Where Giamatti’s wine-drinking Miles was lonely and self-loathing, Paul Hunham is happy to be alone and prefers his own company (just swap the wine for Jim Beam on the rocks).

Written by David Hemingson, The Holdovers takes place during Christmas break at New England’s Barton Academy in the winter of 1970. When families don’t come to pick up their children from school, the academy refers to these students as “the holdovers” who must be babysat by a teacher (in this case, Giamatti’s Hunham) and fed by the school chef (Randolph’s Mary), both on duty during the interim.

Everyone I talked to at the festival spoke longingly and lovingly about The Holdovers. Dominic Sessa is such a find in his first feature film. Playing holdover student Tully, the newcomer’s inexperience works in his favor, as you never feel like you’re watching an actor work; he’s genuine and never cloying. Da’Vine Joy Randolph is also fantastic, as a grieving mother during the first holiday without her son. Just as Giamatti should be in the Best Actor conversation, Randolph should certainly be considered for Best Supporting Actress.