Pamela Anderson (‘The Last Showgirl’) to receive SCAD Savannah Film Festival Marquee Award

The 2024 SCAD Savannah Film Festival announced in a press release they will honor Pamela Anderson with the Marquee Award this Saturday, November 2. The actress will be recognized for her starring role in Gia Coppola’s “The Last Showgirl.” Anderson will receive the award before the film’s Southeast premiere and she will join Coppola for a Q&A. The 2024 SCAD Savannah Film Festival is scheduled taking place October 26–November 2.

“We are excited to have Pamela Anderson join us for the last day of the festival for a special screening of ‘The Last Showgirl,’” said Christina Routhier, executive director of the SCAD Savannah Film Festival. “Pamela gives a captivating performance in ‘The Last Showgirl,’ and we are so honored to celebrate her remarkable achievements and career with the Marquee Award.”

Anderson, most recently nominated for Best Lead Performance by the Gotham Awards, stars as a seasoned showgirl who must plan for her future when her show abruptly closes after a 30-year run. As a dancer in her fifties, she struggles with what to do next. As a mother, she strives to repair a strained relationship with her daughter, who often took a backseat to her showgirl family. The film will open nationwide January 10, 2025.

“The Last Showgirl” premiered to rave reviews at the Toronto International Film Festival. Early reviews from Deadline and BBC called Anderson “a revelation,” while The Hollywood Reporter called her transformative performance “undeniably affecting.” The film also screened at the San Sebastian Film Festival, where it won the Special Jury Award, and the Zurich Film Festival, at which Anderson received the Golden Eye Award.

Anderson will next appear opposite Liam Neeson in the upcoming “Naked Gun” film revival, which will premiere in July 2025. Among other recent acting work, Anderson made her Broadway debut in 2022 as Roxy Hart in “Chicago,” for which she received critical acclaim across the board and a Playbill award. In 2023, Anderson released her New York Times-bestselling memoir, Love, Pamela, and her Emmy Award-nominated Netflix documentary “Pamela, a Love Story.” This month, Anderson released her first cookbook, I Love You: Recipes from the Heart, which also became a New York Times bestseller.

Anderson joins previous honorees for this year’s festival, including Colleen Atwood (Variety Creative Impact in Costume Design Award), Jerry Bruckheimer (Legend of Entertainment Award), Colman Domingo (Spotlight Award), Karla Sofia Gascón (Distinguished Performance Award), Jharrel Jerome (Lumiere Award), Richard Linklater (Lifetime Achievement in Screenwriting Award), Mikey Madison (Breakthrough Award), Isabela Merced (Rising Star Award), Demi Moore (Icon Award), Steve McQueen (Outstanding Achievement in Directing Award), Lupita Nyong’o (Virtuoso Award), Margaret Qualley (Luminary Award), Daisy Ridley (Lumiere Award), Zoe Saldaña (Vanguard Award), and Sebastian Stan (Maverick Award).

Each year, more than 63,000 people attend the eight-day SCAD Savannah Film Festival festival. A distinguished stop on the road to the Academy Awards, the annual festival kicks off with a gala opening night screening, while the rest of the week features scheduled competition films, premiere screenings, workshops, lectures, and panels. Other programming highlights at the festival include The Hollywood Reporter’s Docs to Watch, Amazon MGM Studios’ LGBTQIA+ Shorts Competition, and the Behind Her Lens series, which includes panels with influential female directors, producers, and artisans, who will discuss the importance of staying true to their vision and empowering the industry forward with profound stories. These events take place at SCAD’s historic theaters and industry-leading studio spaces throughout the historic city of Savannah.