The 2013 Savannah Film Festival marked its 16th year, and a sweet 16 it was!  The festival opened with Alexander Payne’s Nebraska, with Bruce Dern (himself a 2006 honoree) in attendance to present Payne with his Outstanding Achievement in Cinema Award.  Both Dern and Payne offered interviews and master classes during their time at the festival, sharing their unique perspectives  on the art of cinema.  Jeremy Irons was honored with the Lifetime Achievement Award.  Mr. Irons chose to screen his film Lolita (1997, dir. Adrian Lyne), and offered an engaging post-show discussion of the film, in addition to a master class on acting and a presentation to the department of historic preservation on the renovation of his 15th Century Irish castle.  Other festival honorees included Discovery Award recipients Natalie Dormer and Abigail Breslin.  The Cinema Studies department was delighted to host two guest scholars this year:  esteemed cinephile and blogger Girish Shambu (Canisius College), and author/scholar Caryl Flinn (University of Michigan).  Dr. Shambu and Dr. Flinn met with Cinema Studies students and joined the department’s yearly panel “A Critical Eye on Film,” featured in its entirety below.  The student film competition was especially vital this year, and The Cine-Files is delighted to report that the award-winning short film Dirt  (Best SCAD Student Competition Award, Filmmaker Magazine Award) was produced and written by Jae Matthews (contributor and student editor of The Cine-Files) and edited by Anna Swenson (contributor and student editor of The Cine-Files).

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Panel:  “A Critical Eye on Film”

featuring guest scholars Caryl Flinn and Girish Shambu

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“The Whole Industry’s Gotten Gutless”:  The Films of Alexander Payne

by Scotty Barnhart

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Film Reviews

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August: Osage County

Nebraska

Bride of Frankenstein

Lolita

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How I Live Now

Mandela

The Book Thief

The Spectacular Now

[/wpcol_1third] [wpcol_1third_end id=”” class=”” style=””]The Cine-Files wishes to extend a sincere thank you to the employees of the Savannah Film Festival and Savannah College of Art and Design who made possible our coverage of the festival:  Holly Elliot, Aaron Pompei, Danny Filson, Len Cripe, Sheila Bolda, and Christine Routhier.[/wpcol_1third_end]