Savanah Leaf
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position
Director
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website
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when
Thursday 8 October 11:50
12:40
Savanah Leaf has transitioned from a 2012 Olympian to an award-winning filmmaker. Her debut feature EARTH MAMA premiered at Sundance to critical acclaim with a theatrical release by A24 and Focus Features. Savanah won the BAFTA Award for Outstanding Debut Winner, a BIFA for Debut Filmmaker, and is on the National Board of Review list for best debut films of 2023. Savanah is also a recipient of the BFI x Chanel Filmmaker Award. Previously, Savanah directed the short documentary, The Heart Still Hums (2020), which won Best Documentary Short at the Palm Springs International ShortFest, BlackStar Film Festival and Nashville Film Festival and was released with Fox Searchlight Shorts. Savanah’s distinct and emotive approach has led to work with Nike, Zalando, Beats and many more, as well as her receiving a Grammy nomination in 2020 for her music video for Gary Clark Jr. Her NFL commercial I Am Somebody was ranked as one of the best ads at the Super Bowl 2025 by AdAge, and her Super Bowl 2026 spot for Dove was ranked second in the New York Times annual round up of Super Bowl spots.
2026 Speakersspeaking at
So Help Me God brings together three artists at the height of their craft: director Savanah Leaf, musician and artist Kelsey Lu, and actress Garance Marillier.
Created as part of Lu’s new album of the same name, the 17-minute narrative film uses music from across the record to tell a visceral story of attraction, obsession and transformation. More than a film inspired by an album, the work explores what becomes possible when music and cinema are conceived as parts of the same world — each making the other richer, stranger and more emotionally powerful.