John Leguizamo and John Papsidera to Receive Honors for ‘The Odyssey’ at SCAD Film Festival
SAVANNAH, GEORGIA (Oct. 2, 2026) — The SCAD Savannah Film Festival will present John Leguizamo with the Distinguished Performance Award and casting director John Papsidera with the Outstanding Achievement in Casting Award. The awards will be presented at a screening of Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey and include a conversation moderated by Gold Derby editor-in-chief Debra Birnbaum. The festival runs Oct. 24–31 at historic university venues in Savannah.
“John Leguizamo and John Papsidera represent two distinct but equally vital sides of the filmmaking process — the art of performance and the artistry of casting,” said SCAD School of Film and Acting dean Andra Reeve-Rabb. “John Leguizamo’s extraordinary career across film, television, Broadway, comedy and drama is a testament to the power of a singular creative voice, while John Papsidera’s remarkable body of work demonstrates the artistry and instinct behind bringing the right performers together to realize a filmmaker’s vision. We’re thrilled to honor both Johns at the SCAD Savannah Film Festival and, most importantly, to give our students the opportunity to learn from and engage with two artists who have made such a lasting impact on our industry.”
John Leguizamo is an award-winning Colombian-American actor, comedian, playwright and author celebrated for his dynamic range across film, television and stage, appearing in more than 100 films and countless television projects. Leguizamo can currently be seen in Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, portraying Eumaeus, the loyal friend of Odysseus. His acclaimed film career includes Brian De Palma’s Carlito’s Way and Casualties of War, Baz Luhrmann’s Romeo + Juliet and Moulin Rouge!, Sidney Lumet’s Night Falls on Manhattan, Spike Lee’s Summer of Sam and Chad Stahelski’s John Wick. He also voices Sid the Sloth in the beloved Ice Age franchise. His additional recent credits include Disney’s Encanto, Apple TV’s Smoke and Disney+’s The Mandalorian. Leguizamo recently released the children’s book Kiki and the Can through Scholastic, featuring artwork by acclaimed Latino graffiti artist John “Crash” Matos. His upcoming projects include Audible’s original sci-fi thriller Exoplanet, 20th Century Animation’s Ice Age: Boiling Point, Mike Flanagan’s The Exorcist: Martyrs, David Baram’s Bullet Catch and the upcoming film from Everything Everywhere All at Once directors Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert, known as the Daniels. His work on stage has earned him a Special Tony Award, a Primetime Emmy Award for Freak, and multiple Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards. He has also received Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild Award nominations.
John Papsidera is an Emmy Award and Artios Award-winning casting director whose career spans more than three decades and more than 250 film and television projects. He began his professional career as a casting assistant at Los Angeles’ Mark Taper Forum before moving into feature film casting. In 1997, he established his own casting company. His extensive film credits include Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery, Memento, Batman Begins, The Prestige, The Dark Knight, Inception, The Dark Knight Rises, Interstellar, Dunkirk, Tenet, The Suicide Squad, Ghostbusters: Afterlife, Twisters, Oppenheimer, Superman, and The Odyssey. His television credits include Carnivàle, Ray Donovan, Westworld, Yellowstone, 1883, 1923, The Flight Attendant, The Offer, Lioness, Landman, Wednesday, The Night Agent, and Fallout. His work has earned 35 Artios Award nominations and six wins, as well as six Emmy nominations and two wins. In 2025, he received the Hoyt Bowers Award for excellence in casting and outstanding contributions to the casting profession.
SCAD offers a casting minor as part of its School of Film and Acting and is the only university that has on-site, professionally run casting offices. With locations in Savannah and Atlanta, the SCAD Casting Office has connected more than 1,000 SCAD students to projects in the powerhouse film and television production areas of Georgia, New York, Los Angeles, and other global markets. Led by Andra Reeve-Rabb, dean of the SCAD School of Film and Acting and former director of CBS primetime casting in New York, the SCAD Casting Office also places students in internships with major networks and the industry’s leading casting directors. The office has helped cast more than 600 SCAD student films, providing invaluable hands-on training to SCAD students minoring in casting that prepares them to step into the world of professional casting.
John Leguizamo and John Papsidera join previously announced honorees for this year’s festival, including Helen Mirren (Legend of Entertainment Award), Julianne Moore (Icon Award), and Patrice Vermette (Variety Creative Impact in Production Design Award).
Festival passes for 2026 are available now. Individual event tickets go on sale Friday, Oct. 2, and will be available online at filmfest.scad.edu, by phone at 912.525.5050, or in person at the SCAD Box Office (scadboxoffice.com) at 216 E. Broughton St. in Savannah.
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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