Directors of 10 Top Documentaries Set for 'THR's Docs to Watch' Panel at SCAD Savannah Film Festival

Directors of 'American Doctor,' 'Avedon,' 'Cookie Queens,' 'Everest: The Other Side,' 'The Last First: Winter K2,' 'My Undesirable Friends: Part II — Exile,' 'Once Upon a Time in Harlem,' 'One in a Million,' 'The Trial of Alec Baldwin,' and 'You Can See Everything' to join THR panel

SAVANNAH, GEORGIA (Sept. 29, 2026) — The SCAD Savannah Film Festival and The Hollywood Reporter have announced the 10 standout 2026 documentaries that will be represented by their directors during the 13th annual edition of THR's Docs to Watch, the festival's screening series and panel that has become an important stop on the road to the Academy Awards for nonfiction films.

The 2026 panel will take place Wednesday, Oct. 28, at 5 p.m. at SCAD's historic Lucas Theatre for the Arts. The panel will be moderated by Scott Feinberg, The Hollywood Reporter's executive editor of awards. This year's panel will include the directors:

Poh Si Teng, American Doctor (Watermelon)
Ron Howard, Avedon (Netflix)
Alysa Nahmias, Cookie Queens (Roadside)
Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi, Everest: The Other Side (Nat Geo)
Amir Bar-Lev, The Last First: Winter K2 (Apple)
Julia Loktev, My Undesirable Friends: Part II — Exile (Mubi)
David Greaves, Once Upon a Time in Harlem (Neon)
Jack MacInnes, One in a Million (Frontline)
Rory Kennedy, The Trial of Alec Baldwin (Abramorama)
Nathan Fielder, You Can See Everything (A24)

"This year's Docs to Watch selections reflect a range of films that take us somewhere we didn't expect to go, whether that's into a hidden chapter of history, the life of an extraordinary individual, or a story unfolding in front of us right now," said Christina Routhier, senior executive director of SCAD theaters and festivals. "We're excited to partner with Scott Feinberg and The Hollywood Reporter to bring these filmmakers and their films to Savannah and give our students and audiences the chance to experience the work, meet the artists behind it, and be part of the conversation."

Over the past 12 years, 27 films that were represented on the panel went on to receive an Oscar nomination for Best Documentary Feature, and eight ultimately won that award: 2015's Amy, 2016's O.J.: Made in America, 2017's Icarus, 2018's Free Solo, 2019's American Factory, 2021's Summer of Soul, 2022's Navalny, and 2023's 20 Days in Mariupol.

The 2026's Docs to Watch films are:

• American Doctor, a film independently financed and directed by a Malaysian-born American journalist, follows three American physicians — one Jewish, one Palestinian, and one Zoroastrian — as they volunteer at a hospital in Gaza amid the ongoing war.
• Avedon, from Oscar-winning director Ron Howard, explores the life, work and legacy of the American portrait photographer Richard Avedon, drawing upon unprecedented access to his personal archives and including never-before-seen stills and behind-the-lens footage.
• Cookie Queens, the year's highest-grossing non-celebrity documentary, is a heartwarming chronicle of four young girls' efforts, in the face of varying forms of adversity, to meet their sales goals during Girl Scouts cookie-selling season.
• Everest: The Other Side, from the Oscar-winning directors of Free Solo, is another film about extreme outdoor athletes, in this case a man and a woman who fall in love and share a dream of climbing and then skiing down the north face of Mount Everest.
• The Last First: Winter K2 follows a team of mountaineers as they strive to achieve something never previously accomplished: climbing K2, the second-highest mountain in the world after Mount Everest, in winter.
• My Undesirable Friends: Part II — Exile is the six-hour second installment — following a five-hour first — and an epic portrait of independent Russian journalists whose coverage amid Vladimir Putin's authoritarian crackdown forces them to flee their homeland.
• Once Upon a Time in Harlem is a miraculous achievement, featuring remarkable footage of a gathering of Harlem Renaissance luminaries that was shot by one filmmaker in 1972 but not turned into a film until that filmmaker's son completed it more than a half-century later.
• One in a Million, the winner of the Sundance Film Festival's Audience Award, chronicles a tumultuous decade in the life of a young Syrian girl who, along with her family, flees her war-torn country and seeks refuge in Europe.
• The Trial of Alec Baldwin is the result of exclusive access to the titular star following a 2021 accidental shooting during the making of the film Rust, and includes powerful footage from the set, from Baldwin's police interrogation and from the legal proceedings that followed.
• You Can See Everything, a film unlike any other, follows The Rehearsal's Nathan Fielder as he is welcomed into the home of Theranos' Elizabeth Holmes over the 34 days before she begins serving a prison sentence, and tries to figure out what she's really about.

The 29th SCAD Savannah Film Festival will take place Oct. 24–31. Presented by the Savannah College of Art and Design, it is the largest university-run film festival in the world. Each year, more than 74,000 people attend the eight-day event, which attracts some of the biggest names in Hollywood and world cinema, and features exclusive screenings, panel discussions, and workshops. Tickets for this year's festival are now on sale.

ABOUT THE SCAD SAVANNAH FILM FESTIVAL

Presented by the Savannah College of Art and Design (SCAD), the SCAD Savannah Film Festival is filled with cinematic creativity from award-winning professionals and emerging student filmmakers. Each year, more than 74,000 people attend the eight-day festival. The festival has become a distinguished stop on the road to the Academy Awards, hosting exclusive screenings, competition films, feature films, documentaries, shorts, animated films, panel discussions, and workshops at SCAD's historic theaters and industry-leading studio spaces. Presented in Savannah, a premier film hub in the Southeast, the festival promotes quality movies produced by independent and studio filmmakers.

Follow the festival on Facebook, Instagram, Letterboxd, and TikTok @savfilmfest. For additional information and tickets, visit filmfest.scad.edu.
 

SCAD: THE UNIVERSITY FOR CREATIVE CAREERS

SCAD is a private, nonprofit, accredited university, offering more than 100 graduate and undergraduate degree programs across locations in Atlanta and Savannah, Georgia; Lacoste, France; and online via SCADnow. SCAD enrolls more than 17,000 undergraduate and graduate students from more than 100 countries. The future-minded SCAD curriculum engages professional-level technology and myriad advanced learning resources, affording students opportunities for internships, professional certifications, and real-world assignments with corporate partners through SCADpro, the university's renowned research lab and prototype generator. SCAD has earned top rankings for degree programs in interior design, architecture, film, fashion, digital media, and more. Career success is woven into every fiber of the university, resulting in a superior alumni employment rate. A 2026 study found that 99% of recent SCAD graduates were employed, pursuing further education, or both within 12 months of graduation. SCAD provides students and alumni with ongoing career support through personal coaching, alumni programs, a professional presentation studio, and more.
 

ABOUT THE SCAD SCHOOL OF FILM AND ACTING

With resources that rival Hollywood studios and Broadway theaters, award-winning faculty, professionally run casting offices, and renowned film and television festivals, the SCAD School of Film and Acting prepares students for impactful careers in film, television, and live performance. Students in acting, cinematography, editing, film and television, production design, sound design, and the school's new music production and vocal performance degree programs work across disciplines on professional-caliber film and TV shoots and stage performances, gaining hands-on experience, production credits, and valuable industry connections before graduation.

The heart of the SCAD School of Film and Acting is the newly completed 11-acre SCAD Film Studios in Savannah, the largest and most comprehensive university film studio complex in higher education. Designed for professional and student productions, the complex includes purpose-built soundstages and an expansive Hollywood-style backlot with more than 50 façades and practical interiors that can be transformed for different locations and eras. Filmmakers in Savannah also have access to a leading-edge LED volume stage, as well as virtual production, postproduction, and extensive production and costume design facilities. Together with SCAD Film Studios in Atlanta — with its own state-of-the-art spaces, such as an LED volume stage, broadcast studios, and editing facilities — located amid one of the nation's leading film and television production markets, these resources position students on the same sets and spaces they will lead throughout their careers. At SCAD, every set, stage, and studio is a classroom.

Each fall, the SCAD Savannah Film Festival welcomes celebrated filmmakers, actors, producers, and other industry leaders to Savannah, bringing national and international attention to filmmaking throughout the region and Georgia. During the festival's weeklong lineup of screenings and panels, SCAD students enjoy myriad opportunities to connect with major stars in front of and behind the camera, including exclusive master classes and Q&A sessions.
 

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