SCAD Savannah Film Fest: Ava DuVernay, Todd Haynes and Emerald Fennell Among 13 Set for Special Honors (Exclusive)

A host of Oscar hopefuls — among them Origin writer/director Ava DuVernay, May December director Todd Haynes, Saltburn writer/director Emerald Fennell and American Fiction writer/director Cord Jefferson — will head south later this month for the SCAD Savannah Film Festival, a regional fest that has become a high-profile stop on the road to the Academy Awards, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

The fest, which will run Oct. 21-28, will honor Jefferson with its Breakthrough Director Award (Oct. 22), Haynes with its Outstanding Achievement in Directing Award (Oct. 23), Fennell with its Spotlight Director Award (Oct. 24) and DuVernay with its Virtuoso Director Award (Oct. 28).

Other awards hopefuls set for honors: Barbie production designers Sarah Greenwood and Katie Spencer, who will receive the Outstanding Achievement in Production Design Award (Oct. 23); Maestro makeup artist Kazu Hiro, who will receive the Career Achivement Award (Oct. 24); The Bikeriders writer/director Jeff Nichols, who will receive the Auteur Award (Oct. 25); Rustin director George C. Wolfe, who will receive the Storyteller Award (Oct. 25); Past Lives lead actress Greta Lee, who will receive the Spotlight Award (Oct. 27); and Priscilla lead actress Cailee Spaeny, who will receive the Breakthrough Award (Oct. 27).

Meanwhile, several other big names without ties to the current awards season will also be feted — Day of the Fight director Jack Huston with the Rising Star Director Award (Oct. 22); Kevin Bacon with the Outstanding Achievement in Entertainment Award (Oct. 23); and Memory lead actor Peter Sarsgaard with the Vanguard Award (Oct. 26).

The fest previously announced the 10 filmmakers who will represent their Oscar-contending documentary features on the 10th annual ‘Docs to Watch’ panel on the afternoon of Oct. 25, which, as always, will be presented by THR and moderated by yours truly: 20 Days in Mariupol’s Mstyslav Chernov, American Symphony’s Matthew Heineman, Beyond Utopia’s Madeleine Gavin, The Deepest Breath’s Laura McGann, The Eternal Memory’s Maite Alberdi, Kokomo City’s D. Smith, The Mission’s Jesse Moss (also representing his co-director, Amanda McBaine), Silver Dollar Road’s Raoul Peck, Still: A Michael J. Fox Story’s Davis Guggenheim and Stamped from the Beginning’s Roger Ross Williams.

At the start of that same gathering, the Oscar-winning directing team of Travon Free and Martin Desmond Roe, who are coming off the HBO doc short 38 at the Garden (2022) and doc feature B.S. High (2023), will be presented with this year’s Rising Documentarian Award.

An additional major announcement — revealing the guests on a live episode of THR’s Awards Chatter podcast, which is hosted by yours truly — will be coming shortly.