Phil Lord and Chris Miller to be honored for Outstanding Achievement in Animation for ‘The Mitchells vs. The Machines;’ hybrid event runs in-person and virtually October 23-30
SCAD Savannah Film Festival returns to celebrate cinematic excellence, both in-person and virtually, from October 23-30. The event honors both professional and student filmmakers, welcoming major industry leaders, including award-winning directors, writers, and actors. Each year, more than 60,000 people attend the event to both enjoy and support cinematic creativity.
Every year the SCAD Savannah Film Festival hosts special guests and honorees in a variety of disciplines. For a look at all 2021 honorees, click here.
This year the award for Outstanding Achievement in Animation honors will be presented to:
- Phil Lord and Chris Miller for The Mitchells vs. The Machines
A stop on the Academy Awards festival circuit, the SCAD Savannah Film Festival will screen 157 films, including 45 narrative feature films, 15 documentary feature films and 97 shorts, with 14 world premieres, 1 U.S. premiere, and 3 North American premieres - with 63 of these films directed by women.
The 2021 schedule includes Gala and Signature Screenings, professional and student competition films, Docs to Watch, Shorts Spotlight, Global Shorts Forum, and the Wonder Women and Below the Line panel series. The SCAD Savannah Film Festival has screened more than 120 Academy Award-nominated films and has honored more than 100 legendary actors, directors, producers, writers, and filmmakers from around the world.
A complete list of SCAD Savannah Film Festival events, panels, and screenings is available here.
Noted animation-related highlights:
Animation Corner: Art in Motion
Animation has experienced an artistic resurgence that informs and entertains across generations and across the globe. Films include:
- Ciao Alberto (Director McKenna Harris)
- A Look Inside Disney’s Encanto (Directors Jared Bush, Byron Howard, Charise Castro Smith)
- Luca (Director Enrico Casarosa)
- The Mitchells vs. The Machines (Director Mike Rianda)
- The Summit of the Gods (Director Patrick Imbert)
The SCAD Savannah Film Festival celebrates the work of established and emerging filmmakers, from feature-length films to two-minute shorts. The juried competition showcases the best of professional, animated, and student films selected from more than 1,500 entries annually.
Animated Shorts in competition:
These animated films represent the diversity of the craft — from simple, hand-drawn figures to stop-motion and digital rendering — showcasing unique storytelling at its finest:
Annah la Javanaise - Directed by Fatimah Tobing Rony:
- In 1893, a 13-year-old girl began working for French painter Paul Gauguin as his maid and model. They called her Annah la Javanaise. This is a reimagining of her story.
Blush - Directed by Joe Mateo:
- Blush follows the journey of a stranded horticulturist-astronaut after he crash lands on a desolate dwarf planet. When an ethereal visitor arrives, the once-lone traveler discovers the joy in building a new life and realizes the universe has delivered astonishing salvation.
Her Song – Directed by Éabha Bortolozzo and Jack Kirwan:
- Eve learns of her grandmother's harrowing history in an Irish home for mothers and babies. Woven through her past is the mythological and misunderstood figure of the Banshee, whose comforting presence inspires the strength she needs to tell her story.
The Mechanical Dancer – directed by Jenna Jaillet:
- As an eccentric showman takes drastic steps to achieve fame, the fates of several characters will be decided over the course of one perilous night in his mechanical theater.
Mondo Domino – Directed by Suki:
- Trees are cut down to be used as decor for a fashion show. A contemporary cartoon satire, in the form of a burlesque action musical tragicomedy, takes us into a delirious whirlwind of chain reactions as chaotic as they are grotesque.
She Dreams at Sunrise - Directed by Camrus Johnson
- In this heartwarming animated film, an elderly woman escapes her mundane reality through her dreams while her great-nephew helps reconnect her to what she's really missing.
Stars on the Sea – Directed by Seung-Wook Jang:
- It is just another ordinary day - until the house begins filling up with water.
Under the Skin, the Bark (Director - Franck Dion)
- An uninspiring character decides to visit his uninspired author.
Visit the SCAD Savannah Film Festival website for additional information.
Source: SCAD Savannah Film Festival
