SAVANNAH, Ga. (WSAV) — Scott Feinberg, The Hollywood Reporter‘s executive editor of awards and host of the “Awards Chatter” podcast, is bringing the Docs To Watch roundtable back to the SCAD Savannah Film Festival (SCAD SAVFF) for the 12th year.

“I’m excited to return to one of the best film festivals in the world. SCAD is not only a film school, for one week every fall the students meet and learn from Hollywood insiders. And the filmmakers tell me it’s a unique experience that they get as much from as the students. Many of them were in film school not too long ago themselves.”

Feinberg is looking forward to bringing ten directors and their documentary films to SCAD SAVFF. “Every year the caliber of films continues to delight audiences. While the topics vary dramatically, each filmmaker’s dedication to telling truthful stories is a constant.”

This year’s documentary topics once again run the gamut of topics and the filmmakers tell their stories in different ways too.

Perhaps the most famous face you’ll see on this year’s panel is actress Mariska Hargitay, the star of the long-running police procedural, “Law & Order: SVU.” Hargitay’s first doc — which she produced, — “I Am Evidence,” was screened at SAVFF a few years ago. This year she directed “My Mom Jayne,” about her actress mother, Jayne Mansfield. Feinberg says her story of discovering who her mother was is as personal as a documentary can get. [EDITOR’S NOTE: Mansfield died in a car accident when Hargitay was only 3.] Hargitay interviews family members and those who knew her mother best. The result is a profile of a family torn apart by tragedy and coming together on the other side.

One of the most popular movies screening on Netflix now, “The Perfect Neighbor,” is generating a lot of buzz. Director Geeta Gandbhir tells the story of a neighborhood feud that ends in gunfire. Gandbhir strings together a narrative using mostly police bodycam footage and some news and courtroom footage. The effect is no less dramatic than a narrative film.

Andrew Jarecki, who may be best known for eliciting a taped confession from killer Robert Durst in “The Jinx: The Life and Deaths of Robert Durst,” will screen “The Alabama Solution.” The film helped expose a cover-up in one of the United States’ deadliest prison systems. It is receiving accolades for turning the camera on a story that might otherwise have never been told.

Feinberg says the commitment to telling the truth is what makes documentaries so important. Many of the films Feinberg has brought to SCAD SAVFF over the last 12 years have been political, telling the stories that could send the filmmakers to jail…or worse.

One of the films screening this year is “2000 Meters to Andriivka. Some of the reviews are calling it heartbreaking, powerful and award-worthy. Director Mstyslav Chernov embedded with a Ukrainian platoon as they traveled across a heavily fortified area to liberate a village from Russian forces. Feinberg says Charnov was in physical danger every day while making the movie. “But that’s the amazing thing about documentaries: they tell stories that need to be told.”

And sometimes those stories are very niche. “Natchez,” is described as “a sharp look at the American South’s unreconciled history through a Mississippi town that mixes antebellum tourism with a community deeply divided over its past.” Feinberg says it’s a topic he knew nothing about but was enthralled from start to finish. He hopes others will be too.

“Documentaries are the rare form of storytelling that can expose people to something they never knew they would be interested in. A few years ago, we screened a movie called “The Truffle Hunters.” It was about a group of elderly men in Italy who search for a rare edible delicacy. I knew very little about truffles going into the movie. I came away wanting to spend time with the gentlemen hunting for them!”

Feinberg will moderate the Docs To Watch roundtable at the 28th SCAD Savannah Film Festival Wednesday, Oct. 29 at the Lucas Theatre for the Arts.

Panelists:

Amy Berg, “It’s Never Over, Jeff Buckley”
Mstyslav Chernov, “2000 Meters to Andriivka”
Petra Costa, “Apocalypse in the Tropics”
Geeta Gandbhir, “The Perfect Neighbor”
Mariska Hargitay, “My Mom Jayne”
Suzannah Herbert, “Natchez”
Andrew Jarecki, “The Alabama Solution”
Tamara Kotevska, “The Tale of Silyan”
Andres Veiel, “Riefenstahl”
Ryan White, “Come See Me in the Good Light”

For a complete festival schedule, click here.

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