The SCAD Savannah Film Festival has announced programming for its annual TV Sidebar, presented in partnership with Deadline. Continuing its celebration of bold episodic storytelling, the SCAD Savannah Film Festival will present exclusive screenings of three highly anticipated series — All Her Fault, where Dakota Fanning will be presented with the Outstanding Achievement in Television Award, I Love LA, and It: Welcome to Derry — followed by conversations with creators and cast. Antonia Blyth, Deadline’s Executive Editor for Awardsline, will moderate Q&As with participants at each event.
The festival will host the special premiere screening of I Love LA on Friday, Oct. 31. The HBO Original comedy series, debuting at 10:30 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 2, on HBO and HBO Max, follows an ambitious friend group navigating life and love in Los Angeles. Created and executive produced by Rachel Sennott (Shiva Baby, Bottoms), the series is also executive produced by Emma Barrie, Aida Rodgers, Max Silvestri, and Lorene Scafaria. Following the screening, a Q&A will feature creator, executive producer, director, and actor Rachel Sennott, along with actors Odessa A’zion, Josh Hutcherson, and True Whitaker. The series is directed by Sennott, Lorene Scafaria, Bill Benz, and Kevin Bray. The cast also includes Jordan Firstman.
The festival will also screen an episode of It: Welcome to Derry on Friday, Oct. 31, the chilling new HBO Original series set in Stephen King’s It universe. Expanding on the vision established by filmmaker Andy Muschietti in the hit films It and It: Chapter Two, the series debuts Sunday, Oct. 26 at 9 p.m. on HBO and HBO Max, with new episodes airing weekly. A Q&A will follow the screening with director and executive producer Andy Muschietti and executive producer Barbara Muschietti, who also developed the series for television, as well as cast members. The HBO Original series, from Warner Bros. Television, is developed for television by filmmakers Andy Muschietti and Barbara Muschietti and Jason Fuchs, and is executive produced by the Muschiettis, Fuchs, Brad Caleb Kane, David Coatsworth, Bill Skarsgård, Shelley Meals, Roy Lee, and Dan Lin.
Dakota Fanning will receive the Outstanding Achievement in Television Award on Saturday, Nov. 1, at a screening of the new Peacock series All Her Fault. Created, written, and executive produced by Megan Gallagher (Wolf, Suspicion), the eight-episode mystery thriller — which is based on the bestselling 2021 novel by Andrea Mara — begins when a mother’s (Sarah Snook) young son suddenly disappears, promising a compelling, twist-filled adventure as the search for her son (and the truth) unfolds. The first four episodes of All Her Fault will premiere on Thurs, Nov 6 exclusively on Peacock. The cast includes Sarah Snook, Jake Lacy, Dakota Fanning, Michael Peña, Sophia Lillis, Abby Elliott, Daniel Monks, Jay Ellis, Thomas Cocquerel, Duke McCloud, and Kartiah Vergara.
Fanning garnered her first Emmy® nomination for Supporting Actress in a Limited or Anthology Series, her first Golden Globes® nomination for Best Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role on Television, and a Critics’ Choice Awards nomination for Best Supporting Actress in a Limited Series or Movie Made for Television for her magnetic performance of ‘Marge Sherwood’ in Steve Zaillian’s critically acclaimed adaptation of Ripley, opposite Andrew Scott, and for Netflix. Her most recent performance in Netflix’s adaptation of Elin Hilderbrand’s bestselling novel The Perfect Couple, also earned her rave reviews starring alongside Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber and Eve Hewson.
“We’re thrilled to continue our partnership with Deadline for the TV Sidebar, which has quickly become a highlight of the SCAD Savannah Film Festival,” said Christina Routhier, executive director of the SCAD Savannah Film Festival. “This TV Sidebar brings a defining caliber of fall premieres and talent directly to Savannah, an extraordinary opportunity for our students to engage with the storytellers shaping today’s most talked-about series without leaving the Savannah area.”
Additional programming includes the Opening Night screening of Eternity with Miles Teller receiving the Distinguished Performance Award, while his co-star and festival honored guest Da’Vine Joy Randolph will join him onstage. Song Sung Blue will screen as the Centerpiece Gala, with director Craig Brewer to receive the Spotlight Director Award, and close with director Rian Johnson receiving the Outstanding Achievement in Directing Award at a screening of Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery.
They will join previously announced festival honorees: Luminary Award recipients Will Arnett (Is This Thing On?) and Rose Byrne ( If I Had Legs I’d Kick You); Rising Star Award recipient Miles Caton (Sinners); Vanguard Director Award recipient Jon M. Chu (Wicked: For Good); Breakthrough Performance Award recipient Zoey Deutch (Nouvelle Vague); Vanguard Award recipient Joel Edgerton (Train Dreams); Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Mark Hamill (The Life of Chuck); Icon Award recipient Oscar Isaac (Frankenstein); Virtuoso Award recipient Jennifer Lopez (Kiss of the Spider Woman); Lumiere Award recipient Dylan O’Brien (Twinless); Maverick Director Award recipient Benny Safdie (The Smashing Machine); and Distinguished Performance Award recipient Tessa Thompson (Hedda).
The festival will also spotlight the panel “Below the Line: Scoring for the Screen with the Alliance for Women Film Composers.” In this illuminating conversation, members of the Alliance for Women Film Composers discuss their creative process, the challenges and triumphs of the industry, and the vital role composers play in bringing depth and resonance to film and television. Panelists include: Chanda Dancy (composer, Swiped, Blink Twice, Devotion), Florencia di Concilio (composer, The Mysterious Gaze of the Flamingo, Maestro(s)), Laura Karpman (composer, Captain America: Brave New World, American Fiction), and moderator Allyson Newman, co-president, Alliance for Women Film Composers.
Presented by the Savannah College of Art and Design, the SCAD Savannah Film Festival is filled with cinematic creativity from award-winning professionals and emerging student filmmakers. Each year, more than 75,000 people attend the eight-day festival. A distinguished stop on the road to the Academy Awards, the events of the Festival take place at SCAD’s historic theaters and industry-leading studio spaces throughout the historic city of Savannah.
Festival tickets for 2025 are available now online at filmfest.scad.edu, by phone at 912.525.5050, or in person at the SCAD Box Office (scadboxoffice.com) at 216 E. Broughton St. in Savannah.
