By Travis Walters
Malcom McDowell will be given the Lifetime Achievement Award for acting at the 11th annual Savannah Film Festival to be held Oct. 25-Nov. 1. Also receiving Lifetime Achievement awards are songwriters Alan and Marilyn Bergman and editor-in-chief of Variety magazine, Peter Bart. McDowell’s film, “Never Apologize,” a documentary about the late British stage and film director Lindsay Anderson, will be screened just before a screening of “A Clockwork Orange.” McDowell is also involved in television, appearing in “Entourage” on HBO and “Heroes” on NBC.
“The Class,” winner of Cannes Palm d’Or award will be screened, along with Charlie Kaufman’s “Synechdode, New York,” Mark Herman’s “The Boy in the Striped Pajamas,” and Philip Claudel’s “I’ve Loved You So Long,” among others.
Past Lifetime Achievement Award winners include Michael Douglas, Peter O’Toole, Vanessa Redgrave, Sidney Lumet, Tommy Lee Jones, Sydney Pollack, Milos Forman, Jane Fonda, et al.
A panel of industry professionals will also judge the Student Filmmaker Competition Awards which are held during the festival. Of the 12 entrants, seven are by SCAD students; “Quercus Venenum,” by Claire Almon; “The Execution of Solomon Harris,” by Wyatt Garfield, Ed Yonaitis, and Jeff Steiger; “Flight Lessons,” by Neil Helm; “Licious,” by Amanda Bayard and Misty Cordeiro; “On Homeostasis,” by Matt Boman, Biff Flowers and Dan Dowding; “Scaredy Cats,” by Bossi Baker, and Hovey Kemp; and “Window Pains,” by Paul Allen Tillery.
Competition award winners have gone on to win many awards. “Focus” by SCAD student Nilanjan Neil Lahiri, won the Silver Medal in the alternative category at the 31st Annual Student Academy Awards.
There are another 17 entries into the Professional Filmmaker Competition Awards, in Documentary, Feature, and Short Film categories. All entrants are independent and come from the US, UK, Czech Republic, Switzerland, France, Israel, St. Vincent and Grenadines, and Germany.
Other guests of the festival will include Bill Pullman, who is screening his film “Your Name Here” in the Professional Filmmaker Competition, James Franco, Troy Garity, John Hart, Scott Prendergast, and Christine Vachon, et al. Professionals in the film industry will also be in attendance, and conducting panel sessions for attendees.
The festival is hosted by the Savannah College of Art and Design. Films will be screened at the Trustees and Lucas theaters on Broughton and Abercorn Streets, while presentations and other events will take place at the Red Gallery also located on Broughton St. Tickets for the festival go on sale Oct. 1 and vary in price depending on the time. Morning and afternoon screenings and panels are free to SCAD students, faculty and staff. The evening screenings will be $5 for SCAD students, faculty and staff. The general public will pay $5 and $10 respectively, with discounts for students and seniors. The awards are given out the evening of the first day of the event.