SCAD Savannah Film Festival Outstanding Doc Lineup Includes ‘Good Night Oppy,’ ‘Last Flight Home’

Awards Daily’s Megan McLachlan takes a look at the outstanding documentary lineup at the SCAD Savannah Film Festival, including those curated for Scott Feinberg’s Docs to Watch Directors Roundtable.

Besides being the largest university-run film festival in the United States, a hallmark of the SCAD Savannah Film Festival is its expansive documentary lineup. Each year, everyone waits in anticipation to see what The Hollywood Reporter‘s Scott Feinberg has come up with as some of the best documentaries of the year (in the 9 years that he’s been doing this, 6 films from his list have gone on to win Best Documentary at the Oscars) when he gathers 10 directors to discuss their work.

As a total documentary nerd, I had already seen some on the list (Fire of Love at Sundance and Navalny on HBO Max), but it was great to catch up on some I missed (Moonage Daydream, Last Flight Home) as well as some that have yet to come out this season (Good Night Oppy).

Moonage Daydream 

Brett Morgen’s stream-of-consciousness doc reminds us of what a once-in-a-lifetime artist David Bowie was, and it also left me fairly convinced that Bowie was a celestial being sent down to us from a higher power. Following Bowie from his Ziggy Stardust era into the early ’90s, Moonage fuses concert footage, interviews, and otherworldly imagery to capture Bowie at a crossroads in his life and career (who knew like most thirtysomethings, Bowie questioned whether he was meant to settle down or not?). While the film lacks a through-line or anything fresh to focus on in giving us a glimpse behind the rock star, diehard fans will appreciate seeing him alive on stage again and hearing him talk about his craft (he also was an amazing artist).

In the Docs to Watch Q&A, Morgen remarked that when he first met Bowie, the icon told him he liked Morgen’s Robert Evans doc The Kid Stays in the Picture—but hated everything about his other film, Chicago 10. When someone in that room with Bowie asked Morgen what his favorite song of Bowie’s was, Morgen said he didn’t really like anything beyond Bowie’s “Modern Love” era, to which Bowie threw his finger up and said, “Touche!” Apparently, Morgen’s honesty was one of the reasons why Bowie approved him for the film project years before his death.

Good Night Oppy

Imagine if Wall-E were a live-action true story. Amazon’s Good Night Oppy, directed by Ryan White, follows the NASA team behind Mars rovers Opportunity and Spirit, two robots designed to live 90 days that ended up surprising everyone. While a lot of the doc relies on archival footage, it also utilizes new stunning imagery from Industrial Light & Magic in order to really take the audience into the perspective of the rovers.

“Ryan’s vision was to be able to take a photo reel of Mars,” said Oppy producer Jessica Hargraves in a post-screening Q&A, “and [Industrial Light & Magic] said, ‘We’ve made Mars before,’ but usually they started by filming in Utah, and that was not what we wanted to do. We wanted to use what we had—the data, the photos—to create a more authentic Mars. It was a challenge, but they were up for it.”

Just as the NASA team becomes attached to rovers Oppy and Spirit, audiences will, too. Good Night Oppy is a beautiful exploration of science and the human spirit.

Last Flight Home

Doc director Ondi Timoner didn’t mean for Last Flight Home to become a movie; she was simply documenting the last two weeks of her father’s life. But when she went to turn the footage into a memorial video, she realized there was something there.

“I have always wanted to tell the story of my father,” said Timoner in a Q&A following the screening. “The reason I set up cameras is because I can’t remember him from before his stroke [in 1982]. I just didn’t want to forget him when he was desperate to die.”

Last Flight Home is an intense, intimate portrait of a family but also of a human being’s final days. You’re literally with Eli Timoner when he takes his last breath. What Ondi Timoner does is very tricky as a filmmaker, in that she’s filming something very personal without ever making it feel sensationalized or exploitative. You feel like you are a fly on the wall for this experience, and this film is an absolute privilege to be a part of as an audience member.

The Return of Tanya Tucker with Brandi Carlisle

Documentary filmmaker Kathlyn Horan recommends to always answer a text from Brandi Carlisle’s wife, Catherine. It just might give you your next film project.

“I got a text one Sunday morning from [Brandi’s] wife that said, ‘You wanna hear something crazy?’,” said Horan in a post-screening Q&A. “So naturally, I did, and we got on the phone and she told me about this opportunity to go in the studio with Tanya [Tucker], that Brandi and Shooter Jennings were going to produce her first album in the better part of 17 years.”

So she quickly got a film crew together (shooting started the next day) and documented the creative process of Tanya Tucker’s first album in over a decade, 2019’s While I’m Livin.’ Horan captures immense vulnerability from two icons (it’s somehow comforting to hear that someone as talented as Carlisle gets nervous before big gigs). Tucker is rarely spoken in the same breath as the likes of Dolly Parton, but her influence resonates on much of music today (she tried to crossover into mainstream music when it wasn’t allowed—you’re welcome, Taylor Swift).

The Return of Tanya Tucker with Brandi Carlisle introduces new audiences to a legend and reminds others of why there’s no one else like her. Horan’s seamless direction makes you feel like you’re in the room for every conversation and note. Even if you’re not a Tucker fan, you will be by the end of the film. Just don’t call it a comeback (Tucker hates that word). It’s a relaunch.