Actress Andie MacDowell highlights Beaufort International Film Festival
It's not just the Greeks that need gods and goddesses, best-selling author Pat Conroy told a packed auditorium at the Beaufort International Film Festival awards ceremony on Saturday.
The "goddess" in the room that evening, Conroy continued, was model, actress and Gaffney native Andie MacDowell.
"I fall in love with her every time I see one of her films," he said.
Conroy was presenting MacDowell with the inaugural Spirit & Pride of South Carolina Award, which honors South Carolinians for career achievement in film, television or music.
Now in its ninth year, the Beaufort International Film Festival screened documentaries, features, short films, student films and animations Thursday through Saturday, with entries from nearby Columbia to as far away as Los Angeles, Hawaii, London and Rome.
Awards were given in each film category as well as for best screenplay, best comedy, best actor, best actress, best director and audience choice.
While presenting MacDowell with the inaugural Spirit & Pride award, Conroy said he felt jealous of Tarzan in "Greystroke" and of Bill Murray in "Groundhog Day," because they got to share the screen with MacDowell.
"I went with two gay friends to see 'Four Weddings and a Funeral,' and as they fell in love with Hugh Grant..." Conroy went on, as the audience chuckled.
MacDowell humbly accepted the award and spoke of the hospitality she encountered in Beaufort and the "surreal" moment of getting to meet Conroy. She also spoke of her simple beginnings in Gaffney.
"I'm a redneck girl" who "used to run around with no shoes on," she said. "No one every really thought I was that special. I got an award my senior year (of high school) for missing the most Mondays."
The atmosphere at the awards ceremony was festive and jovial, and overall was a celebration of small-budget films and films that brought attention to the state.
Steve Rhea, a location manager who received the Behind the Scenes Award, spoke about graduating from the University of South Carolina and then setting out "to prove that great films could be made in South Carolina, about South Carolina and for South Carolinians."
The specialness of Beaufort was also a focal point of the festival. Before the awards were announced, a short slideshow played the top 10 reasons Beaufort is unique from other film festivals, as the emcee for the night narrated, "We may not be the biggest film festival, and we may not be the oldest, ... but the Beaufort International Film Festival is something special."
Follow reporter Erin Shaw at twitter.com/IPBG_ErinShaw.
Nominees
ANIMATION
Blue; Directed by: Katelyn Bianchini, Asia Lancaster, Rena Cheng; Orange, Calif.
Green Acres; Directed by: James Beck; Orange, Ca.
Grounded; Directed by: Monica Stefanelli; Orange, Ca.
Light Me Up; Directed by: Derek Dolechek, Ryan Walton; Orange, Ca.
My Light Has Gone; Directed by: Jason Kummerfeldt; Orange, Ca.
DOCUMENTARY
You Belong to Me; Directed by: John Cork; Carmel, Ca.
Cotton Road; Directed by: Laura Kissel; Columbia, S.C.
In An Ideal World; Directed by: Noel Schwerin; San Francisco
Not Anymore: A Story of Revolution; Directed by: Matthew VanDyke; Baltimore
Something You Can Call Home; Directed by: Rebecca Keynon; London
The Civilian-Military Divide: Bridging the Gap; Directed by: Robert Roy; Toronto
FEATURE
Cinema Purgatorio; Chris White
Dig Two Graves; Directed by: Hunter Adams; Los Angeles
The Lengths; Directed by: Tim Driscoll; Jacksonville, Fla.
Suck It Up Buttercup; Directed: Malindi Fickle; Honolulu
The Frontier; Directed by: Matt Rabinowitz; West Hollywood, Ca.
SHORT
A Great Personality is Just Skin Deep; Directed by: John Schwab; London
Counter; Directed by: Nicholas Bouler; Los Angeles
Last Night at the Ellington; Directed by: Geoffrey Gunn; Greenville, S.C.
Love Sick Lonnie; Directed by: Chad Matthews; Austin
Nostalgic; Directed by: Ronald Eltanal; Wilmette, Ill.
The Quota; Directed by: Jim Cushinery; Los Angeles
Times Like Dying; Directed by: Evan Vetter; Wilmington, N.C.
Uncomfortable Silence; Directed by: Gabriele Altobelli; Rome
Wrong Side Up; Directed by: Henry McComas; Englewood, Colo.
STUDENT FILM
Combustabilly; Directed by: Jake Bellew; University of North Carolina School of the Arts
Into the Silent Sea; Directed by: Andrej Landin; Dodge College
Roses for Margaret; Directed by: Christine Hurley; University of North Carolina School of the Arts
Sea Odyssey; Directed by: Adam Nelson; Savannah College of Art & Design
The Bright Side; Directed by: Sarah Thacker; Dodge College
The Collection; Directed by: Ian Gullett; University of North Carolina School of the Arts
BEST COMEDY
A Great Personality is Only Skin Deep
CombustaBILLY
Love Sick Lonnie
Cinema Purgatorio
The Quota
Last Night at the Ellington
The Lengths
BEST SCREENPLAY
A Clash of Iron; Richard Reed of Riverside, Ca.
Club Bong Song; Tom Bixby of St. Helena Island
Hell and Hallelujah!; co-written by Margaret Ford Rogers and Shaytee Gadson of Charleston
Lost Cause; David Schroeder of Miami
Mint Conditions; Gary Weeks of Roswell, Ga.
Sandbox Coordinates; co-written by Sheila and Tony Watson of Johns Island
The Life Shift; Marcia Chandler Rhea of Charleston
BEST ACTOR
Daniel R. Jones (Last Night at the Ellington)
Max Gail (The Frontier)
Ted Levine (Dig Two Graves)
Mike Nussbaum (Nostalgic)
Chris White (Cinema Purgatorio)
BEST ACTRESS
Traysie Amick (Cinema Purgatoria)
Katharyn Grant (Wrong Side Up)
Lacey Marie Myer (Suck It Up Buttercup)
Susan Ruttan (The Quota)
Corsica Wilson (The Lengths)
BEST DIRECTOR
Hunter Adams (Dig Two Graves)
Malindi Fickle (Suck It Up Buttercup)
Geoffrey Gunn (Last Night at the Ellington)
Henry Danoe McComas (Wrong Side Up)
Evan Vetter (Times Like Dying)
RELATED:
- Andie MacDowell to return to SC for Beaufort film festival Saturday, Feb. 11, 2015
- Actress, model Andie MacDowell to be honored at Beaufort film festival, Oct. 30, 2014
- Finalists for Beaufort International Film Festival announced, Dec. 15, 2
This story was originally published February 14, 2015 at 11:19 PM with the headline "Actress Andie MacDowell highlights Beaufort International Film Festival."