Beaufort International Film Festival raises the bar in film selections
By Delayna Earley
The Island News
In a whirlwind of films, movie stars, concerts, directors, old friends and new, the 18th annual Beaufort International Film Festival (BIFF) has come to an end.
The annual film festival was held at USCB’s Center For The Arts in downtown Beaufort beginning on Feb. 20, 2024, with the opening night reception and concert featuring Marlena Smalls and the Hallelujah Singers and concluded on Feb. 25 with the Awards Presentation.
While every year has been special, according to Ron Tucker, President of the Beaufort Film Society and co-director of BIFF, this year was by far the best festival that they have had.
Tucker said that roughly 12,000 people came to the various events and screenings during the festival.
“Every single screening was sold out,” said Anneliza Itkor, one of the jurors for the festival.
With more than 500 submissions to the festival from filmmakers all over the world, they narrowed it down to just more than 50 to be shown during the festival.
While the films were special this year, Tucker and Itkor both agreed that what made this year so much better than previous years was the presence of actor and musician Gary Sinise.
Sinise, who is on the BIFF Board of Advisors, received the Pat Conroy Lifetime Achievement Award this year at the Beaufort International Film Festival.
“That’s a wonderful thing,” said Sinise about receiving the award. “It’s nice to be honored, but I don’t go look for that kind of thing.”
While Sinise was honored for career in film on Saturday night, Sunday night was when the awards for the film festival entries were announced.
This year’s winners were:
Screenplay Award – Just in Time by Robbie Robertson
Animation Award – Dandelion
Student Film Award – Slobopoly
Short Film Award – Hedgehog
Documentary Feature Award – An Open Door: Temple Grandin
Documentary Short Award – The Volunteer
Feature Film Award – Long December
Best Actor Award – Mathew Modine, The Martini Shot
Best Actress Award – Vivian Kerr, Scrap
Best Director Award – Thomas Torrey, Long December
Best Comedy – Back to Bridgewood
Best Ensemble Cast – The Martini Shot
Best Musical Score – Long December
Behind the Scenes Award – Linda Lee
Audience Choice Award – Long December
Volunteer of the Year 2024 – Jodi Stefanick
“The filmmakers said it was the best selection of films,” Turner said. “Not just the filmmakers, but also from audience members who have been coming here since the very first year. They talked about how we have raised the bar of what made it into this festival.”
While this year’s festivities have come to an end, festival goers can go ahead and pencil in the dates of next year’s festival, which according to Turner, will take place from Feb. 18 through 23, 2025.
Delayna Earley formerly worked as a photojournalist for The Island Packet/The Beaufort Gazette, as well as newspapers in Indiana and Virginia. She can be reached at delayna.theislandnews@gmail.com.
