Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD) has been named one of MovieMaker’s 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee in 2023, celebrating festivals that serve moviemakers and audiences in some of the best destinations in the world.

The SCAD Savannah Film Festival is the largest university-run film festival in the world. The eight-day festival celebrates cinematic creativity from both award-winning professionals and emerging student filmmakers. Each year, more than 63,000 people attend the eight-day festival, which hosts a wide variety of feature-length and short-form competition film screenings, special screenings, workshops, and panels. The 26th annual festival will be held October 21-28

"SCAD is one of the preeminent festivals in the country for its exquisite location, impeccable lineup of award-season contenders, and outstanding guest lists, year after year. But what we love most about it is how it gives SCAD students the chance to learn about independent film and big Hollywood productions directly from some of the sharpest people in the industry, who always use their time in Savannah to stop, take stock, and impart what they've learned with humility and common-sense cool. This is a festival about learning and loving films, not just Oscar campaigns. And we love the enthusiastic turnout from the Savannah community,” said MovieMaker editor-in-chief Tim Molloy.

MovieMaker, a leading film magazine and website based in Los Angeles, compiles its annual list based on surveys, filmmaker testimonials, and visits to festivals, among other factors. Key considerations include how much assistance a festival provides to traveling filmmakers; recent premieres at the festival; opportunities to meet distributors, fans, fellow filmmakers and press; and whether festivals are Academy-qualifying.

“With the film world in a state of constant change in recent years, festivals are more important than ever to help audiences and distributors find new films, and to remind all of us why we devote so much of our lives to making and loving movies,” said Molloy. “The festivals on this list work incredibly hard to make it feel effortless.”