17th Annual Beaufort International Film Festival
February 21-26, 2023
story and photos courtesy of RON TUCKER, BEAUFORT FILM SOCIETY
The 17th Annual Beaufort International Film Festival (BIFF) will welcome filmmakers and film lovers worldwide from February 21–26, 2023. A record number of submissions were received from over 30 countries, resulting in the selection of 58 films and five screenplays.
During the six-day festival, film screenings will be presented in the categories of Feature Films, Documentaries, Short Films, Student Films, and Animation. For the first time in BIFF history, there will be an Opening Day Matinee to kick off the Festival with a special screening of the soon-to-be-released Romantic Comedy Stars Fell Again. The film is the sequel to the hit comedy Stars Fell on Alabama, which was shot primarily in Beaufort County in 2019. All film screenings will occur at the University of South Carolina, Beaufort, Center for the Arts. Filmmakers VW Scheich and Uyen Le are scheduled to attend the screening.
PAT CONROY LIFETIME ACHIEVEMENT AWARD
The Beaufort Film Society will present the Pat Conroy Lifetime Achievement Award to John Bailey, former president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), and his wife, Carol Littleton, past member of the AMPAS Board of Governors. They will be the first-ever co-honorees of the award.
Cinematographer John Bailey has a vast body of work that includes films such as The Big Chill, American Gigolo, As Good As It Gets, Silverado, The Accidental Tourist, Country Strong, In The Line of Fire, and Groundhog Day. He has served on the Board of Governors of the American Society of Cinematographers (ASC) and the Library of Congress’ National Film Preservation Board. He was previously honored with a special artistic achievement award from the Cannes Film Festival in 1985 for the Japanese film Mishima and the Lifetime Achievement Award by the ASC in 2016. He was made an officer of Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the French government at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival. In 2019, he received both the Lifetime Achievement Award from the Gianni Di Venanzo Festival in Teramo, Italy, and the Lifetime Achievement Award of the Camerimage International Film Festival in Toruń, Poland.
Carol Littleton is an Oscar-nominated editor with a similarly impressive resume of 38 films, including The Big Chill, E.T., Silverado, Beloved, Grand Canyon, Benny & Joon, Body Heat, Wyatt Earp, The Accidental Tourist, and The Manchurian Candidate. Carol won an Emmy for Tuesdays with Morrie, and she received a Career Achievement Award in 2016 from American Cinema Editors. Her Oscar nomination was for E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial. Carol served as an Academy Governor of the Film Editors branch for 12 years and is currently on its executive committee.
SANTINI PATRIOT SPIRIT AWARD
The Santini Patriot Spirit Award will be given for only the fourth time in the Festival’s history. The recipient of this year’s Santini Award will be a military veteran and writer/producer/director David C. Kniess Jr., for his powerful documentary The Gift.
The Gift tells the powerful story of Corporal Jason Dunham, who posthumously was awarded the Medal of Honor for his heroic actions during the Iraq War. The Santini Award is given to a filmmaker whose work portraying American active-duty military, veterans, or their families in a feature film, documentary, or short reflects the highest standards of service and sacrifice for the good of others. The award is named after Marine Corps Colonel Donald “The Great Santini” Conroy, father of Academy Award® nominated screenwriter and best-selling author Pat Conroy.
BEHIND THE SCENES AWARD
The recipient of the Behind the Scenes Award will be Dan Rogers, who is the Senior Project Manager with the South Carolina Film Commission. With his dad in the Air Force, he lived in seven states, one unincorporated U.S. territory, and two countries before he turned 12. His family ended up in South Carolina when his father was named Base Commander at Shaw Air Force Base in Sumter. Dan attended the University of South Carolina and obtained a degree in Media Arts with a concentration in film. He parlayed an internship with the Film Commission into a full-time job in 1988 and has been there ever since, helping to recruit more than 175 projects, including The Prince of Tides, The Abyss, The Patriot, Dear John, Forrest Gump, The Notebook, and the TV series Army Wives and Outer Banks.
For more information about the 17th Annual Beaufort International Film Festival, please visit beaufortfilmfestival.com.
