13th Annual Beaufort International Film Festival
Goodfellas Meets Broadway With a Bit of Opera.
This year is “Lucky 13” for the Beaufort International Film Festival (BIFF). Not only are they adding in an entire extra day to accommodate their record breaking number of entries, they are extremely pleased to be honoring actor extraordinaire Paul Sorvino and industry safety activist /cinema hairstylist Joyce Gilliard. Ron Tucker, President Beaufort Film Society and Co-Film Festival Director with Vice President Rebecca Tucker, says “the big news this year is that we have extended the festival one day and will have our Opening Night Ceremony on Tuesday, February 19. Another first is we gave the Opening Ceremony the theme of “Goodfellas Meets Broadway with a Bit of Opera.” We chose that as a tip of the hat to our esteemed guest Paul Sorvino’s many celebrated roles as a Mafia Don, and we thought it would a fun way to kick off the festival. We encourage attendees to come in costume, gangster era 1920s, 30s, 40s from the flapper headband and feather, to fedora, pinstripes and suspenders- but no toy guns, props that look guns or other weapons. Otherwise, anything goes!” Better & Better Ron and Rebecca Tucker have spent thirteen years fine tuning and adapting the BIFF. He says this year is their best year yet for the number of entries, which enabled them to double the number of movies screened. Ron says, “by adding an extra day we were able to expand our number of screenings to almost sixty. We have many more short films and five feature films this year. All five feature films will be shown in the evening, giving folks who aren’t able to be here during the day the opportunity to experience the film festival.” More films means more filmmakers. Ron says, “we will have seventy filmmakers in attendance, which really sets us apart from many other film festivals. Every filmmaker is afforded the opportunity for an audience Q and A, the film may only be a few minutes long and they will still have time to interact with the audience.” The filmmakers are coming from all corners of the globe. Ron says, “we have filmmakers coming from Tokyo, Japan, the Cayman Islands, Mexico, Canada and the United Kingdom. We have been attracting and encouraging international entries from the beginning, it is another facet that sets us apart and brings the festival to a whole different level. Every year we have more international entries and filmmakers attending, as the word continues to get out.” Speaking of getting the word out, both Ron and Rebecca agree social media has been a big influential factor. Rebecca says, “we use Twitter, Instagram and Facebook to continually support our filmmakers and of course the festival.“ Ron says, “our filmmakers do too, all of them are very smart and savvy in their use of social media, all which helps promotion of their films.”
It Takes a Town It all comes together the week of the festival and the proof is in the numbers. Ron says 14,000 people attended the festival last year, slightly more than the actual population of the city of Beaufort. He says, “that’s something when your attendance exceeds the number of people who live here!” Ron and Rebecca attribute a large part of this success to the community’s involvement in the gala week. When asked what keeps them going Ron says, “we are passionate about the film festival and when everyone else gets excited it keeps us excited too. When the whole town turns out, from hotels, inns and restaurants, it makes all the difference. We couldn’t do it and certainly not in this style, without their support every year. As long as we continue to love what we are doing we will keep on doing it, and as long as the town stays behind us we will keep getting better and better.” Ron continues, “knowing you are showing Beaufort to an international attendance is an added bonus. The feedback we get from filmmakers is phenomenal. In fact we have been told repeatedly that Hollywood is very aware of the Beaufort International Film Festival. We are the little festival that started at the Lady’s Island movie theater in 2007 with a total attendance of around 500 people and we just keep growing. It’s a labor of love.”
About the BIFF Awardees Paul Sorvino, multi faceted actor, author, opera singer and sculptor is being honored for Career Achievement in Film and Television and will be presented with the prestigious “Pat Conroy Lifetime Achievement Award” at the 13th annual Beaufort International Film Festival. The award is named for bestselling author and Academy Award nominated screenwriter Pat Conroy, a long time resident of Beaufort, SC. Paul Sorvino’s resume includes over one hundred eighty movies and television shows, two operas, three Broadway plays, several musicals on Broadway and at major theaters across the country. He has starred in such films as Goodfellas, Nixon, Reds, Money Talks, See Spot Run, The Brinks Job, Bullworth, Dick Tracy, The Bronx Bull and many others. For the Broadway production of That Championship Season, Sorvino won several prominent awards including the New York Drama Critics Award for Best Actor, and a Tony nomination. Sorvino’s numerous television credits include The Oldest Rookie, Law and Order, That’s Life, as well as the lead role in Dummy, the Peabody award-winning drama in which he played Lowell Myers, the ground-breaking deaf trial lawyer. He is an internationally known operatic tenor, with several albums and a Public Television production entitled “Paul Sorvino Sings.” Sorvino is currently filming the American Crime Drama Television Series, The Godfather of Harlem set to debut in 2019. Joyce Gilliard will be presented the esteemed “Behind-the-Scenes” Award. Gilliard is the founder of the SC Hair & Makeup Network and the non-profit, iSAFE! TV & FiLM, LLC. Her career as a hairstylist in film and television was launched in Charleston, SC when she was hired as a background artist on the hit television series Army Wives. She eventually became one of the show’s hairstylists and became the first African American hairstylist in South Carolina to be accepted Into the IATSE Local 798 Hair and Makeup Union. Joyce went on to work on over 75 films, television programs and commercials. Her credits include The Hunger Games, Paper Towns, Banshee, Goosebumps 2 and Sleepy Hollow. On February 20, 2014, Joyce was working on location for the film Midnight Rider when a train came through the set. Tragically, camera assistant Sarah Jones was killed and Joyce was severely injured. After reconstructive surgery on her left arm Joyce was told she would be unable to continue her career as a hairstylist. But with determination, physical rehab, and a strong religious faith, Joyce recovered sufficiently to return to the work she loves. To bring safety awareness to film sets Joyce founded iSAFE! TV & FiLM. (The acronym is Industry Safety Awareness For Everyone). The mission for iSAFE! TV & FiLM is to promote safety awareness on television and film production sets through education, trainings, awareness, accountability and visibility. Joyce will be the feature panelist on Wednesday, February 20th when a “Safety on the Set” Panel discussion will be shown worldwide via Facebook Live. All of the awards will be presented on Sunday, February 24 at the Red Carpet Reception and Awards Gala, held at the University of South Carolina, Beaufort, Center for the Arts. The Awards Ceremony Cocktail Hour is at 6pm, and the Awards Presentations begin at 7pm. Single Ticket $50 (BFS Members) $60 (Non members) (included in All Events Pass) Catering by Debbi Covington (Champagne included)
