Anyone who has attended the annual SCAD Savannah Film Festival in the coastal Georgia city can vouch for the event’s tremendous support shown to fledgling filmmakers. The film festival is the largest university-run film festival in the U.S. SCAD stands for the Savannah College of Art and Design, and the university has been integral to the festival’s success – as well as the impact the fest has on current SCAD students. We haven’t missed a celebration in over a decade, getting the chance to speak with filmmakers like Ron Howard or exciting performers such as Daniel Kaluuya. But today, SCAD Savannah Film Festival and Amazon Studios revealed the creation of a brand new SAVFF LGBTQ+ Short Film Competition, which will premiere during this year’s event, scheduled for October 21–28.
The collaboration, according to a release, will create “a platform for emerging queer filmmakers to share their stories and gain mentorship and exposure, while onsite programming will offer networking and educational opportunities and drive conversation around equitable filmmaking.” Amazon Studios already boasts a thorough Inclusion Policy and Playbook, and is one of the leading studios for inclusion thanks to its DEIA (diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility) effort behind its content greenlight process. They include a Show Me More Pride section of LGBTQ+ projects that’s available to people with an Amazon Prime subscription. The studio, which frequently recruits writers for original projects, also invests in programs to grow talent from historically excluded communities at all stages of the career pathway.
