Savannah Film Festival announces the programme for its 29th edition: Martin McDonagh’s “Wild Horse Nine” closes it, “A Talent for Murder” opens it

The 29th edition of the SCAD Savannah Film Festival, to be held from 24 to 31 October 2026, has announced this year’s full programme, as VIMooZ reports. The festival, organised by the Savannah College of Art and Design and described as the largest university film festival in the United States, raises its curtain with Anton Corbijn’s “A Talent for Murder”, distributed by Bleecker Street and LD Entertainment.

The centrepiece gala will be Jesse Eisenberg’s musical comedy “The Debut”, distributed by A24, while closing night has been entrusted to Martin McDonagh’s new spy comedy “Wild Horse Nine”, produced by Searchlight Pictures, starring John Malkovich, Sam Rockwell and Steve Buscemi.

Alongside the films, the festival also revealed its second wave of honourees, according to AwardsRadar. On 2 October it was announced that Keanu Reeves will receive the Legend of Cinema award during a special screening of “The Matrix”, where he will also take part in a panel dedicated to his comic BRZRKR; Gemma Chan will be honoured with the Lumiere Award for her role in “Josephine”; John Cho and Carrie Coon will receive the Luminary Award; Rosalind Eleazar and Anthony Ippolito will receive the Breakthrough Award; Jordan Firstman will be honoured as Rising Star Director for “Club Kid”; James Gray will receive the Auteur Award for “Paper Tiger”; Kane Parsons will receive the Next Gen Award for “Backrooms”; Billie Piper will receive the Marquee Award for “Elsinore”; Seth Rogen will receive the Spotlight Award for “The Invite”; while the cast of “The Mosquito Bowl” will be honoured with the Ensemble Award.

They join the honourees announced earlier: Helen Mirren (Legend of Entertainment), Julianne Moore (Icon Award), Paul Bettany, Meghann Fahy, Ethan Hawke and Sterlin Harjo, Emmy Rossum, Guitarricadelafuente and production designer Patrice Vermette.

The festival’s executive director, Christina Routhier, said this year’s programme brings together “some of the world’s most distinctive talents” with new voices in cinema, adding that students will take part in masterclasses and conversations with the guest artists, as VIMooZ reports.