By Lolita Huckaby
BEAUFORT
The 20th anniversary edition of the Beaufort International Film Festival has come and gone, leaving those who sat through the four days of films and movie talk with something to talk about.
Festival organizers Ron and Rebecca Tucker are probably already on their post-festival vacation break BUT left with plans for the 2027 festival in the works, beginning with the acceptance of entrees for next year.
The growing popularity of BIFF, in a time when more and more communities are organizing film festivals to draw visitors to a community, can be confirmed by the record 544 submissions in preparation for this year’s schedule which allowed time for 52 entries.
It was somewhat bitter-sweet irony that the festival opening was dampened by news a few days earlier that actor Robert Duvall had died at the age of 95 in his Virginia home.
It was Duvall who spent time in 1979 in Beaufort as a lead actor in the “Great Santini,” along with his fellow actors Blythe Danner and Michael O’Keefe, charmed local officials as well as citizens to stimulate a love for making movies that captivated Beaufort and the surrounding areas.
The interest and economic impact support for ORION’s adaptation of “local boy” Pat Conroy’s novel was not lost on the Beaufort Regional Chamber of Commerce and entrepreneurs like Tucker, who already had a history in film production through his military experiences in the Marine Corps.
The film festival was an idea sprung from the Chamber’s Beaufort Regional Film Commission and the rest, as they say, was history.
Indeed there have been other movies made in Beaufort – a number of them in fact like “Something to Talk About” in 1995, which also included Duvall; “The Big Chill” in 1982 which used the same Point neighborhood residence, Tidalholm; “Forrest Gump” in 1994; and “The Stars Fell on Alabama” in 2021.
But it was “Great Santini” with Duvall, Danner and O’Keefe that started the buzz and got the proverbial ball rolling for Beaufort and the Lowcountry.
Major movie production in Beaufort has slowed down considerably. Productions like HBO and Netflix’s the “Murdaugh Murders” reflect changes to the industry while smaller productions somehow make it to the big screen like Hilton Head Islander Walter Czura’s “The Final Run,” released in 2023, loosely based on the Lowcountry marijuana drug-smuggling Operation Jackpot of the 1980’s.
But the love for movies, and the production of such, is very much in the blood of the Lowcountry. And again, ironically, Beaufort is a town without a movie theater, the Plaza Theater being demolished in 2019 after 44 years in business to make way for the Publix parking lot at Beaufort Plaza.
The nearest theater, the Cinemark in Bluffton, is 40 minutes away, depending on the US 170/278 traffic.
USCB’s Center for the Performing Arts has renewed its movie showings, on a very limited schedule, and there’s still the Hwy. 21 Drive-In, one of three drive-in theaters remaining in the Palmetto State.
Plans for Pigeon Point, dingy dock repairs occupy City Council
BEAUFORT — From movies that feature the Lowcountry’s wonderful waterways, the Beaufort City Council spent two hours last week getting updates on their water access points.
Most of the quarterly meeting focused on renovation plans for the Pigeon Point boat landing which suffered considerable dock damage during the swipe this part of the Lowcountry received from Hurricane Helene in September 2024.
What started out as a plan to repair the popular landing has morphed into a project somewhat larger than what had been there, to the consternation of neighbors who don’t want to see the facility, in the middle of a residential area, “bigger and (supposedly) better.”
Temporary improvements were made last year to reopen the landing and floating dock. But city staff and engineers are also moving forward to secure federal and state permits for an enlarged boat landing that “maximized property use” and was elevated to provide sustainability against future sea level rise.
Approved price tag for this project is $319,000.
City Council members have assured concerned residents the plans can still be revised, once the permits are in hand but it was pretty clear, those concerned neighbors will be monitoring the progress.
The repair process is also moving forward for repairs to the downtown “dingy dock” which was also damaged by Helene’s winds in 2024. City officials are soliciting proposals for the job and hope it can be completed … well … pretty soon.
A new hitch in that project is manatee season. Apparently federal law prohibits waterfront construction between May 1 and Oct. 31, which means a successful contractor must be prepared to work fast. Estimated price tag on this job is $200,000.
The proverbial elephant in the room, future of the Henry C. Chambers Waterfront Park, came last but certainly foremost in the minds of the elected officials who unanimously agreed it was the “No. 1 priority” on the lengthy capital improvements list.
They’ve established a waterfront task force which has met seven times since organizing in September. (Not to be confused with the newly established Downtown Advisory board, which considers if downtown visitors can walk around with a beer or wine in their hand.)
The waterfront group has been reviewing citizens’ surveys on how the park renovations should look. At their last meeting, businessman Dick Stewart offered to finance a temporary, upgraded fence currently blocking off parts of the waterfront park.
The advisory task force has not yet debated the offer nor sent it to the City Council for consideration.
FYI: A good way to keep up with the city’s major capital projects is on the website: cityofbeaufort.org. Go to Capital Improvement Program and click on CAPITAL PROJECTS. It really is pretty informative for not just boat landings and the waterfront park but other parks as well as the various drainage improvement projects going on.
County Council ‘chat’ focuses on human services cuts, boat landings
BEAUFORT — Beaufort County Council members, at least three of them, had one of their quarterly “community chats” last week in the Scott Street library and boat landing issues was one of their topics.
The chats are designed to allow citizens an opportunity to “chat” informally with council members about areas of concern.
Of the 20 folks that showed up, the council’s proposed changes to regulations outlining uses at the 25 public boat landings in the county was on the mind of one constituent who showed up to protest how, at a recent Public Facilities Committee meeting, the discussion was handled.
Since last September, when the ordinance drafts were first presented to the Council committee, concerned small business owners of kayak rental companies, fishing guides and tour boat operators have been in attendance, watching the change proposed by marina operators who felt the growth in these largely tourism-oriented activities was hurting their business.
At the Feb. 17 meeting of the committee, a brand-new draft proposing all Hilton Head Island boat landings be removed from the regulation was introduced and those that had been watching the process, were caught off guard. And that’s what the lone speaker told Council Chairwoman Alice Howard, Vice Chair Tab Tabernik and Councilman Tom Reitz, the only three members in attendance.
The three assured the speaker there were more discussions on the proposed regulations to be had.
The majority of speakers present for the “chat” chose to address the county administration’s decision to eliminate the five-member Human Services Department as a cost-saving measure.
Administrator Michael Moore and Finance Director Pinky Harriott have proposed shifting the work of the department over to the Nexus Care department (formerly Beaufort County Alcohol and Drug Abuse). Nexus Care will take over responsibility for administering the Human Services grant program which last year saw $398,000 tax dollars distributed to 36 nonprofit agencies including HELP of Beaufort, Memory Matters, Lowcountry Legal Aid, and Family Promise, to name a few.
Christina Wilson, executive director of Child Abuse Prevention Association (CAPA), explained the interactive services and collaboration of local nonprofit human services agencies provided by the Human Services department. Other speakers stressed the value of the department’s programs in helping less fortunate citizens not necessarily those experiencing alcohol or drug abuse issues.
The county administration’s response to these concerns has been “no patient care would be affected.”
Lolita Huckaby Watson is a community volunteer and newspaper columnist. In her former role as a reporter with The Beaufort Gazette, The Savannah Morning News, Bluffton Today and Beaufort Today, she prided herself in trying to stay neutral and unbiased. As a columnist, these are her opinions. The Rowland, N.C. native’s goal is to be factual but opinionated, based on her own observations. Feel free to contact her at bftbay@gmail.com.
