He’s one of the best cinematographers in the business: Hoyte van Hoytema. He has been Christopher Nolan’s go-to guy since 2014’s Interstellar, but has also collaborated as a director of photography with David O. Russell (The Fighter), Spike Jonze (Her), Sam Mendes on a James Bond movie (Spectre) and Jordan Peele (Nope). And now that the fall film festival is underway, Van Hoytema will be receiving his “flowers” from industry specialists, collecting awards and recognitions for his previous work, as well as the current Nolan movie that’s still cleaning up at the box office: the magnificent Oppenheimer.
It has been announced that Hoyte Van Hoytema will be honored with Variety’s Creative Impact Award at the 26th annual SCAD Savannah Film Festival. This year’s SCAD Savannah Film Festival will run from Oct. 21 through Oct. 28, but the ceremony honoring Van Hoytema will be held on Sunday, October 22. The full festival line-up will be announced on Oct. 6, and now I’m genuinely curious if a screening of Oppenheimer might be part of this year’s programming.
Oppenheimer has been one of the most encouraging stories of the year with in regards to the push for bringing audiences back to movie theaters. Coupled with Greta Gerwig’s Barbie, the marketing sensation known collectively as “Barbenheimer” led to massive box office receipts, packed theaters, and reams of critical praise for both films – which likely will help both movies as they enter into the ongoing awards race that dominates the back half of every calendar year.
And that’s what makes the SCAD Savannah Film Festival such an important stop on the annual awards train. It’s prime placement in October makes it an ideal showcase festival between the Labor Day weekend trio of Telluride, Toronto, and Venice. And in years past, movies that have sparked some buzz at those festivals have turned up their heat by playing at the SCAD Savannah Film Festival, which last year played host to Martin McDonagh’s The Banshees of Inisherin, Rian Johnson’s delightful sequel Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, the dark comedy The Menu, Sarah Polley’s Women Talking, and Darren Aronofsky’s The Whale, which eventually earned Brendan Fraser his Oscar.
Maybe that means that Hoyte Van Hoytema can collect his first Oscar for cinematography, after being nominated for Chris Nolan’s Dunkirk but losing out to Roger Deakins and his work on the incredible Blade Runner 2049. If you are going to lose to anyone, might as well lose to a legend.
For additional information and tickets on the upcoming SCAD Savannah Film Festival, visit filmfest.scad.edu. We plan on attending the festival once again this year to see which crowd-pleasing awards hopefuls fill the picturesque downtown Savannah area. Look for the full slate of programming when it arrives online beginning on October 6.
