Story and Photos by Mark Shaffer I recently had a series of conversations with friends who mentioned that for one reason or another an actual summer vacation just wasn’t in the books this year. This got me thinking about the original concept for this column, essentially a local behaving like a tourist and doing things most natives and residents take for granted or simply ignore.
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South Carolina Oyster Restoration and Enhancement proves habitat forming Story & Photos by Mark Shaffer It’s a perfectly beautiful June morning on the edge of Hunting Island’s Russ Point. A steady stream of boaters stream by from the nearby landing to get a look at this curious group of people working in a line that stretches from the road to a strip of mud and sand at the shoreline. These volunteers – about 50 in all – heave sacks of recycled oyster shells out of a trailer and down the line where experts from the Department of Natural Resources’ SCORE program put them in place.
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Story & Photos by Mark Shaffer Every time I walk into Luther’s I half expect to find Norm Peterson and Cliff Clavin at the bar arguing over “Final Jeopardy.” Every time. It’s no accident that Luther’s has a serious Cheers vibe to it. But instead of a dingy subterranean grotto, here patrons get a panoramic view of the waterfront park and the river.
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Why a tiny, cutting edge urban farm could be the biggest thing to hit Beaufort in decades “The definitive relationships in the universe are… not competitive but interdependent. We can build one system only within another. We can have agriculture only within nature, and culture only within agriculture. At certain critical points these systems have to conform with one another or destroy one another.” – Wendell Berry, The Unsettling of America: Culture and Agriculture
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The 9th Beaufort International Film Festival Shatters Expectations By Mark Shaffer THE BIFF BUZZ “A true gem on the festival circuit. I can only see it continuing to grow.” – Geoffrey Gunn, Best Director nominee, Last Night at the Ellington “This film festival is legendary” – Melindi Fickle, Director Best Feature Nominee, “Suck it up, Buttercup”
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Exclusive to Lowcountry Weekly By Mark Shaffer Four of us – VW Scheick, his wife and producing partner Uyen Le, Beaufort Film Society cofounder Ron Tucker, and myself – convene in the Lowcountry Weekly offices. Virtual Gary Weeks appears via a tablet screen on a corner table. Actual Gary Weeks sits in his car in Atlanta near a recording studio where he’s dubbing dialogue for a film he recently completed (Jurassic World perhaps?).
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The Old Bull Shakes Up the BIFF Cocktail Each year the Beaufort Film Society commissions an official cocktail to help toast the film festival. This year festival runners Ron & Rebecca Tucker pay homage to Gaffney native and 2015 BIFF honoree, Andie MacDowell.
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This documentary about sex, race and murder in the South is getting big BIFF buzz. When three friends set out to find the truth behind a “true crime” tale set in 1950s Jim Crow Florida, they had no idea how difficult their task would prove . . . or how long it would take. Billed as a story of “Sex, Race and Murder in the South,” You Belong to Me is finally finished, and it’s getting big BIFF buzz.
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By Mark Shaffer Each year we reach out to a group of filmmakers via email to get the story behind their films and find out why the Beaufort International Film Festival is such an important stop. This year a trio of directors in the Feature Film Category responded. Malindi Fickle’s Suck it up, Buttercup comes to Beaufort by way of Hawaii with a trail of film festival success in its wake while Tim Driscoll’s The Lengths barely made it out of the editing room in time for the submission deadline. Making the cut was especially sweet for Greenville, SC filmmaker Chris White.
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A Conversation with BIFF honoree Andie MacDowell By Mark Shaffer The Beaufort International Film Festival pays special tribute this year to Palmetto State native, Andie MacDowell. The former Elite model and long time face of L’Oreal grew up in Gaffney. MacDowell’s breakout performance in Steven Soderbergh’s debut feature, Sex, Lies and Videotape earned widespread critical acclaim and a slew of awards. The film helped to redefine American independent cinema. She is best known for films like Groundhog Day, Four Weddings and a Funeral, Michael and Short Cuts. She’s shared the screen with an A-list of leading men including Bruce Willis, John Travolta, Liam Neeson, Michael Keaton and Bill Murray.
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