The SCAD Savannah Film Festival 2026 Guide: Eight Days of Film, One Place to Come Back To
When the 2026 SCAD Savannah Film Festival opens on October 24 and runs through October 31, the marquee at Trustees Theater starts working overtime, and the lines outside the theater doors grow, shrink and reform all day. The first thing to sort out isn’t what to watch; it’s where the festival happens, whether the public can attend, and what it costs. Below, the answers come first, then how to spend the week from The Ann Savannah on Ann Street.
Where is the SCAD Savannah Film Festival held?
The SCAD Savannah Film Festival is held at venues around Savannah run by the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), including Trustees Theater at 216 E. Broughton St. (opened in 1946) and Lucas Theatre for the Arts at 32 Abercorn St. (home to an original 1925 Wurlitzer pipe organ). The SCAD Museum of Art, which incorporates an 1853 Central of Georgia Railway depot, is part of the map too. In 2026, the festival returns October 24 through 31, marking its 29th year.
Can anyone attend the SCAD Savannah Film Festival?
Yes, the public can attend. A Daytime Pass covers screenings and panels before 6 p.m., and a Spotlight Pass adds the Opening Night and Closing Night gala screenings, but Spotlight passholders still need tickets for other evening events. Only the Marquee Pass covers all screenings and panels. The festival’s tickets and passes page and FAQ spell out what each level includes.
How much do SCAD Savannah Film Festival tickets and passes cost, and how do you attend?
A 2026 pass costs $200 to $600, depending on access: the Savannah Daytime Pass is $200 (priority entry to screenings and panels before 6 p.m.), the Spotlight Pass is $350, and the Marquee Pass is $600. Passes are nontransferable and nonrefundable, and they don’t guarantee a seat, so even passholders line up early. Pick yours up from Wednesday, October 21 at Festival HQ, inside Press café on East Broughton Street. Passes sell out quickly, but individual tickets are available.
You attend with either a pass or tickets to individual events. Individual event tickets are also available via the SCAD Box Office (216 E. Broughton Street).
Plan to arrive at least 30 minutes before start time, since doors typically open 30 to 45 minutes ahead. A sold-out screening isn’t necessarily closed: it becomes standby only, and 15 minutes before start time, staff count the empty seats and sell rush tickets to the standby line. It’s worth trying, though never a guarantee. For specific needs or questions, the festival asks you to email [email protected]. For the full 2026 schedule and current pricing, go straight to filmfest.scad.edu.
Where should you stay for the SCAD Savannah Film Festival?
The Ann sits at 110 Ann Street, on the western edge of the Historic District, two blocks from SCAD’s main campus. One of the festival’s own venues, the SCAD Museum of Art, is a 7-minute walk away, and River Street is about eight.
Picture a late screening letting out on Broughton Street. The walk back to Ann Street is short, and if it’s before 10 p.m., Little James, The Ann’s ground-floor café and cocktail bar, named for General James Oglethorpe, is still open for a debrief over a drink. The next morning, there’s coffee in the suite’s full kitchen, or at the same Little James counter, which opens at 7 a.m., before the first showing.
Eight days is long enough that where you sleep starts to matter. The Ann’s apartment-style suites have a full kitchen and in-suite laundry, so the week never turns into living out of a suitcase. A four-bedroom suite (sleeping up to eight) lets friends or colleagues each keep their own room around one shared table for arguing about the lineup, and The Ann is dog-friendly too.
What does eight days of the festival look like from the Historic District?
The festival opens on Saturday, October 24, with a screening of A Talent for Murder followed by a moderated Q&A with Helen Mirren, who will accept the festival’s Legend of Entertainment Award, according to SCAD’s announcement. From there, it runs through Saturday, October 31, with a program that mixes competition films, features, documentaries, shorts, and animated films with panels and workshops, in daytime and evening showings. The day-by-day lineup and any guest changes are on the festival’s site, and it’s worth sketching your week from it before you arrive.
Around the screenings, the days can settle into a rhythm of your own making. Start at Little James for coffee before a showing and come back for a debrief after. On an open midday, walk toward Chippewa Square, the square where the bench scenes in Forrest Gump were filmed, or to Forsyth Park, about a 22-minute walk from Ann Street. The festival’s eight days include two Saturdays (October 24 and 31), and the Forsyth Farmers’ Market runs at the park’s south end from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m., worth building a slow morning around. Save an evening for the Savannah waterfront along River Street (about eight minutes from The Ann), then head back on foot.
Come for the Films
The SCAD Savannah Film Festival is worth attending on its own terms, and Ann Street happens to put you close enough to walk to much of it. Get your tickets at filmfest.scad.edu, then come for the week and make it your place in the city. Little James is open whether or not you’re staying, and the walk back from the last screening is one you’ll know by heart by day eight.