Written by Laura Sands. Photo by Laura Sands.
As SCAD welcomes dozens of artists, and specifically directors, to Savannah for the 2026 SCAD Film Festival, it may be hard to know who is who. Luckily, there is a panel just for this- Behind the Lens: Directors. This year, SCAD hosted Beth de Araújo (“Josephine”), Steph Green (“The Good Daughter,” “Ahsoka”), Kenna Harris (“Toy Story 5,” “Ciao Alberto”), Sophy Romvari (“Blue Heron”), and Josie Rourke (“Custom of the Country,” “Mary Queen of Scots”) in the Gutstein Gallery. Each director gave insightful highlights of their directing style, experience, and advice for other filmmakers.
Beth de Araújo
Araújo had one of the most unique starts as a director because her original path was in poetry. When a lawyer friend had a case he wanted to turn into a free transcript, she volunteered, and through this process fell in love with film. During this panel, Araújo focused on the power of mistakes and how they follow you, and help you grow. She explains that each one is a lesson, and each big name is just a person, and you take something from all of them to make the next project more powerful. Araújo bounces off one of Romvari’s thoughts on hiring the right people, especially for “Josephine,” her new thriller-drama set in San Francisco, saying, “One person on a film set can really change the mood, the atmosphere. One bad attitude can become a very quick disease, but everyone was so wonderful, and it made me appreciate [San Francisco] just for the people.”
Steph Green
Green was unique to the panel because although she has done short films like her peers on stage, her most recent work, “Good Daughter” is a TV show. In TV, there are often episodic directors, but “Good Daughter” is unique because Green directed every episode. She compares episodic directing to trying to cook Thanksgiving dinner in someone else’s house, and you can’t find anything. Yet shows that are run episodically allow directors to meet amazing creatives and learn to work with other people seamlessly, which is something Green carried into her own TV show. She then continues to explain that ‘Good Daughter’ really gets to be more autonomous and more ‘mine’ from a director point of view. I really get to think about the beginning, middle, and end. I get to establish that tone and hire those amazing artists to create the feeling of this show with me.”
Kenna Harris
Harris started her directing career after the hit Pixar movie “Luca,” where she was a story lead. She tells the audience that she actually got her first directing job through fanfiction, saying “I have legitimately written fan fiction for the film that turned into “Ciao Alberto” […] I would deliver the chapters periodically throughout the week to my crewmates […] and then one of the writers on the film, he emailed me back, and he’s like, no, I’m not joking, you should make this.” So, she directed “Ciao Alberto,” which eventually led her to co-direct “Toy Story 5.” In the early stages of that film, the network wanted to create it on a smaller budget, so they brought two directors on to split up the work, making it go faster; however, Harris found that she and her co-director, Andrew Stanton, didn’t enjoy that. They ended up working together to create one film out of a conjoined brain. Harris continues to talk about how her experience in animation is unique to many of the other directors on the panel, explaining that in animated feature films there are many small details that are built from the ground up with hundreds of crew members, which lets you have more time to make every detail have a reason.
Sophy Romvari
Romvari was very quickly asked about her experience in low-budget short films, as an independent filmmaker in Canada, and how this might limit her process. She responds with “I think limitations can be the enemy of artwork, but for me it has been the gift of my career […] I was able to do a lot of work that was extremely independent, but also extremely low budget, but it allowed me to find my voice.” Her voice is very clearly seen in her first feature film released “Blue Heron,”which aired at SCAD Savannah Film Fest. And with such a student body presence in the audience, she also talks about the importance of collaboration in a film school. Romvari explains that in film school, it can be hard to get an enthusiastic crew because so many people want to direct. Some people end up stuck doing something they don’t want to do, and they’re doing it very begrudgingly. She promises a brighter future to SCAD students who make sure they’re enthusiastic, love their work, are good at it, and want to be there.
Josie Rourke
Rourke was the first female director for the famous Footlight Patomine in England, and came from a huge, successful theater background. She reveals to the audience that, unlike many of her peers on stage, she’s never directed a short film or really been on a set before she was flung into directing her first feature in “Mary Queen of Scots.” Rourke explains that she felt imposter syndrome because she had never been on a film set before “Mary Queen of Scots,” yet she still had to figure out how to lead and direct. Partially because of this sudden insert into film and TV, Rourke had an answer right away when the moderator asked what department she wished she knew more about. She explains that in her upcoming film, they are currently working on visual effects, and she wasn’t happy with how one of the castles was looking, but she didn’t have the toolbox to describe to the visual effects artist what needs fixing. Rourke explains that filmmakers are often baffled by VFX, which can be frustrating to both parties, something we even see happening in projects at SCAD.
