The Beaufort Film Society recently announced the Official Selections for the 2023 Beaufort International Film Festival (BIFF), which takes place Feb. 21-26, 2023 in Beaufort, S.C. Judges selected more than 50 entries from filmmakers represented from all over the world, as well as films that span subject matter and genres, including everything from comedies to documentaries.
“We’re looking forward to showcasing this year’s incredibly diverse group of films at BIFF,” said Ron Tucker, president of the Beaufort Film Society, which produces the festival. “The talented individuals behind all these films demonstrate the bright future that lies ahead for our industry. We are honored to have that talent on display in Beaufort.”
In addition to the below-displayed lineup, several tributes will take place during the festival.
The Beaufort Film Society will present the Pat Conroy Lifetime Achievement Award to both John Bailey, former President of the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts & 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 on the Library of Congress’s 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, the Lifetime Achievement Award by the ASC in 2016, and was made an Officier des Ordre des Arts et 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 Torun, 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 (ACE). Her Oscar nomination was for E.T. Extra Terrestrial. Carol served as an Academy Governor of the Film Editors branch for 12 years and is currently on its executive committee.
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 military veteran and writer/producer/director David Kniess, 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.
The recipient of the Behind the Scenes award will be Dan Rogers, who is the Senior Project Manager with the South Carolina Film Commission. His dad was in the Air Force and he lived in seven different 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, the TV series Army Wives and Outer Banks.
Here is your full lineup for the 17th Annual Beaufort International Film Festival:
FEATURE FILMS
- Bobcat Moretti
Directed by Rob Margolies, West Hollywood, CA - Everybody Wants to Be Loved,
Directed by Katharina Woll, Berlin, Germany - Publish or Perish
Directed by David Liban, Centennial, CO - The Year of the Dog
Directed by Andrew McGinn, Michael Peterson, Robert Grabow
DOCUMENTARY (FEATURE)
- Mississippi Messiah
Directed by Clay Haskell, Dylan Nelson, Colorado Springs, CO - Storming Caesar’s Palace
Directed by Hazel Gurland-Pooler - Fred Chappell: I Am One of You Forever
Directed by Michael Frierson
DOCUMENTARY (SHORT)
- Bendix: Site Unseen
Directed by Anthony Scalia, Loki, NJ - Changes in the Wind
Directed by Gerret Warner, Wilson, NC - In the Bubble With Jaime
Directed by Emily Harrold, New York, NY - Kambana
Directed by Samul Pastor, Alicante, Spain - The Colours of Life
Directed by Daniel Stanislawski, Wroclaw, Poland - Veterans Journey Home: Kalani’s Story
Directed by Frederick Marx - Waniyetu Wowapi: Winter Count
Directed by Richard Steinberger, Beaufort, SC
ANIMATION
- Ed’s Last Will
Directed by Lisa Wen Dou, John Xiaoliang, Beijing China - Family Tree
Directed by Zin Yan, Sarasota FL - Processing Magic
Directed by Vale Stanley, Jo Knorpp, Winston-Salem, NC - Sonata
Directed by Madison Crisp, Abby Davenport, Fern Singleton, Vic Sosa, Winston-Salem, NC
STUDENT FILMS
- An Ideal of Liberty
Directed by Noel Paganotti, Salt Lake City, UT (University of Utah) - Bad Hombrewood
Directed by Guillermo Casarin, Burbank, CA (University of Southern California) - Bombay Beach
Directed by Starsi Howell, West Hollywood, CA (Chapman University) - Double Take
Directed by Eli Canter, Brookline, MA (Boston University) - Sacrificios
Directed by Larissa Salazar, Orange, CA (Chapman University) - Someone You Loved
Directed by Elly Sitong Shou, Beijing, China (Beijing Normal University-Hong Kong Baptist University) - Suga Brown
Directed by Clarke Phillips, Winston-Salem, NC (University of North Carolina, School of the Arts) - The Tale of Captain Fortyhands
Directed by Kyle Farmer, Placentia, CA (Chapman University) - Toy Phone
Directed by Gabe Braden, Orange, CA (Chapman University) - Wei-Lai
Directed by Robin Wang, Los Angeles, CA (University of Southern California)
SHORT FILMS
- A Best Man
Directed by Dylan Tuccillo, New York, NY - Aaron With Two A’s
Directed by Michael Goldburg, West New York, NJ - Bound
Directed by Jaye Pniewski, Woodstock, GA - Captive
Directed by Preston Peterson, Jason Boesch, Colorado Springs, CO - Crumb Cake
Directed by Anthony Robert Grasso, Nutley, NJ - Dancing With Shadows
Directed by Deborah LaVine, Santa Barbara, CA - Florida Moves
Directed by Damon Maulucci, Sarasota, FL - Ghosted
Directed by Sam Milman, Peter Vass, Pasadena, CA - Hitbaby
Directed by Abigail Breslin, North Hollywood, CA - Ivalu
Directed Anders Walter, Charlottenlund, Denmark - Kyle Vs. Karen
Directed by Jim Morrison, Long Island, NY - Ms. Rossi: Ms. Rossi Takes The Cake
Directed by Pat Battistini, Santa Clarita, CA - Murder Tongue
Directed by Ali Sohail Jaura, Karachi, Pakistan - My Over There
Directed by Bob Celli, New York, NY - Naptime
Directed by Robert Postrozny, Los Angeles, CA - Overdue
Directed by Melissa Skirboll, Long Island, NY - Past Prologue
Directed by Brian Russel, Fairfield, CT - Points
Directed by Tony Glynn, Forest Hills, NY - Sharps
Directed by Chris Sexton Fletcher, Bradenton, FL - Strangers
Directed by Scott Morris, Hamilton, Ontario Canada - The Call
Directed by Tom Balsamides, Montvale, NJ - The Errand
Directed by Amanda Renee Knox, Los Angeles, CA - The Principal’s Assembly
Directed by Jordan Ancel, Rehoboth, MA - The Son, The Father
Directed by Lukas Hassel, New York, NY - The Voicemail
Directed by Maurice Simmons, - Uncommon Negotiator
Directed by Brian Glasford, Murfreesboro, TN - Wheel
Directed by Honora Talbott, Los Angeles, CA - Wicked Image
Directed by Caitlin Scherer, Maplewood, NJ - Wicked Plans
Directed by Lee Chambers, Regina, Saskatchewan, Canada
SCREENPLAYS
- Cat Island
Written by Millie West, Columbia, SC - Emmett of Exendia
Written by Michael Andrew Blomquist, Toluca Lake, CA - Lupe Q and the Galactic Earworms
Written by Javier Badillo, Nat Marshik, Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada - Orson
Written by Jaret Egol, Winter Park, FL - Saint Dorothea
Written by Chris King, Roseville, CA
BEST ACTOR NOMINATIONS
- Mike Baez, Hitbaby (Short Film)
- Rob Grabow, The Year of the Dog (Feature)
- Timothy McCracken, Publish or Perish (Feature)
- Josh Mikel, Florida Moves (Short Film)
- Tim Realbuto, Bobcat Moretti (Feature)
BEST ACTRESS NOMINATIONS
- Barbara Bain, Dancing With Shadows (Short Film)
- Jeanine Bartel, Overdue (Short Film)
- Anne Ratte-Polle, Everybody Wants to be Loved (Feature)
- Vivica A. Fox, Bobcat Moretti (Feature)
- Karen Pittman, Toy Phone (Student Film)
BEST DIRECTOR NOMINATIONS
- Abigail Breslin, Hitbaby (Short Film)
- Hazel Gurland-Pooler, Storming Caesar’s Palace (Documentary Feature)
- David Liban, Publish or Perish (Feature)
- Rob Margolies, Bobcat Moretti (Feature)
- Katherine Woll, Everybody Wants To Be Loved (Feature)
BEST ENSEMBLE CAST NOMINATIONS
- Captive (Short Film)
- Crumb Cake (Short Film)
- Ghosted (Short Film)
- Ms. Rossi 2: Ms. Rossi Takes the Cake (Short Film)
- Wicked Image (Short Film)
BEST MUSICAL SCORE
- Chris Gabriel, Ghosted (Short Film)
- Wendell Hanes, Storming Caesar’s Palace (Documentary Feature)
- Spencer Hauck, The Tale of Captain Fortyhands (Student Film)
- Chris Kalafus, Past Prologue (Short Film)
- Ilan Rubin, Bobcat Moretti (Feature)
BEST COMEDY NOMINATION
- Aaron with Two A’s (Short Film)
- A Best Man (Short Film)
- Double Take (Student Film)
- Ghosted (Short Film)
- Hitbaby (Short Film)
- Kyle Vs. Karen (Short Film)
- Ms. Rossi 2: Ms. Rossi Takes The Cake (Short Film)
- Naptime ( Short Film)
- Points (Short Film)
- Publish or Perish (Feature)
- Sharps (Short Film)
- Wei-Lai (Student Film)
- Wheel (Short Film)
- Wicked Image (Short Film)
- Wicked Plans (Short Film)
