10,000 visitors expected in Beaufort. Here’s what’s drawing them to the Lowcountry
The Beaufort International Film Festival (BIFF), in its 16th year, kicks off Tuesday, and it’s expected to draw some 10,000 people over its six-day run including film fans and filmmakers from around the country who will see a record number of world premiers.
Among the compelling films on the schedule is a documentary, the festival’s headlining film, about the renowned principal trumpet of the Dallas Symphony Orchestra and his battle with cancer. An aspiring journalist’s epic journey by horseback from Canada to South America is featured in another documentary.
The daughter of a great musician that most every American knows is the focus of one film, but it’s guaranteed you don’t know this story. Women flying into Vietnam war zones in powder blue dresses? Check it out.
Two South Carolina residents also will share the spotlight when they are honored for their work in blockbuster films and TV shows during what’s billed as the fastest growing film festival in the southeast and among the top 100 in the world.
Ron and Rebecca Tucker launched BIFF in 2007 to highlight the work of aspiring filmmakers of all genres — and as a way to lure filmmakers to Beaufort, which has been the backdrop to 20 films including “Forrest Gump,” “The Prince of Tides” and “G.I. Jane.”
“It seems to be working because we have some scouts in town right now,” Ron Tucker told the Beaufort Gazette and Island Packet Friday. ‘It’s a nice industry to have and I think people would like to see more of it.
Here’s five things to know about the 2022 festival, sponsored by the Beaufort Film Society, which returns in full force after visitor numbers were reduced in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Here’s how to see the films
Films will be screened from 9 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. from Wednesday through Saturday at the Center for the Arts at the University of South Carolina-Beaufort. Tickets can be purchased online or the Beaufort Visitors Center, 713 Craven St. Blocks of films are available for $15. A block includes more than one film, short, animation or documentary. A daily film pass is $50.
There will be 15 world premieres this year, compared to the usual 5 or 6. “A lot of that may be do to Covid and the industry being halted for a while and the film couldn’t get finished,” Tucker said.
What are some of the films
The world premier of “Song for Hope” by director Chris Haigh, the festival’s closing and headlining film, is an 80-minute documentary that follows 42-year-old Ryan Anthony, a trumpet virtuoso, after he was diagnosed with terminal cancer. Anthony climbed Mt. Fuji with his oncologist and started a charity called CancerBlows.
“The Long Rider,” a 10-year documentary directed by Sean Cisterna that follows Filipe Leite’s 1,500-mile journey from a Calgary, Alberta rodeo in Canada to a rodeo in Brazil — entirely on horseback.
John Alexander’s “Little Satchmo,” a documentary about Sharon, the daughter of musical genius Louis Armstrong. The public did not know Sharon —until now.
“Donut Dollies,” from director Norman Anderson, which chronicles the experience of two best friends who joined an elite team called the Donut Dollies with a mission of improving troop morale in Vietnam. A Sun City woman who also served in the Red Cross group may attend the festival.
SC stars will be honored
Simeon Daise, a Beaufort native, will be presented the inaugural Rising Star Award. As a child, Daise starred in Nickelodeon’s hit television show “Gullah Gullah Island” alongside his family. Since then, he has become a fixture in television and has made appearances in hits such as Tyler Perry’s “The Haves and the Have Nots,” BET’s “The Bobby Brown Story” and “American Soul.” He is currently portraying the role of Jabari on The CW’s “All American.”
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Casting agent Tona B. Dahlquist will receive The Behind the Scenes Award. Dahlquist, of Columbia, has cast extras for TV shows such as HBO’s “Righteous Gemstones,” “Homeland,” and “Vice-Principals” and for motion pictures such as “Forrest Gump,” “Iron Man 3” and “Halloween.”
Another South Carolina connection to the festival is acting coach Warner Loughlin, who splits time between Beaufort and Los Angeles. Loughlin is one of the jurors who will be judging the films. Her clients include actors such as Rachel Weisz, Amy Adams, Ryan Reynolds, Emma Roberts and Kyra Sedgwick.
Pat Conroy loved the festival
Pat Conroy, the Beaufort author who wrote “The Water is Wide,” “The Lords of Discipline,” “The Prince of Tides” and “The Great Santini,” once called BIFF “the quintessential cultural event in South Carolina and the Lowcountry.” Two BIFF awards are named after Conroy — the Pat Conroy Lifetime Achievement Award and the Santini Patriot Spirit Award.
Here’s who usually attends
Film lovers from the area and all over the country attend the festival. Tucker says more than 100 directors have committed to attending. The audience trends older, with about 60% being 55 or older, and they tend to have higher levels of education, Tucker says. “It’s a pretty sophisticated audience,” he says. “They love film.”
In 2020, the average attendance at screenings was 411 people. “We’ve had filmmakers come and tell us, year after year after year, they have never seen anything like this at a film festival,” Tucker says. “So filmmakers are our best advertisement. We try to make the indie filmmaker the star.”
The 2020 festival was one of the last to be held in person before COVID-19 hit. Officially, 17,000 tickets were issued, but attendance probably was about half that because some people are counted a second time if they go more than once, said Tucker, who says attendance could approach 10,000 this year.
This story was originally published February 18, 2022 at 3:05 PM.
