Author: Mark Shaffer

By Mark Shaffer“You can dress it up, but it comes down to the fact that a movie is only as good as its script.” — Curtis Hanson, Academy Award-winning Screenwriter, L.A. Confidential

The Class of ’17 Hits a Highwater Mark for Diversity and Talent By Mark Shaffer “If my film makes one more person miserable, I’ve done my job.” – Woody Allen It’s a Lowcountry Weekly film festival traditon to reach out to a group of attending filmmakers, get the story behind their films and find out why the Beaufort International Film Festival is such a draw. It’s also a pretty good way to take the pulse of the fest before a single frame of film hits the screen. The class of 2017 may be the most diverse so far. They’re represented here by a half dozen filmmakers, all of whom will personally present the South Carolina premier of their work at BIFF.

What Women Want (or “The Sound of Breaking Glass,” metaphorically speaking) By Mark Shaffer “If there’s specific resistance to women making movies, I just choose to ignore that as an obstacle for two reasons: I can’t change my gender, and I refuse to stop making movies.” – Kathryn Bigelow, Academy Award Winning Director, The Hurt Locker When Kathryn Bigelow accepted the Oscar for Best Director at the 82nd Academy Awards for The Hurt Locker she smashed one hell of a glass ceiling. No woman had ever won in that category. In 81 years.

By Margaret Evans, Editor Remember about a year ago, when everybody was talking about the “gender gap” in Hollywood? No? Well, that’s probably because you live in Beaufort, SC – not Hollywood – and you have a job and a life and such. And possibly because you’re not obsessed with movies, like I am.

The 11th Beaufort International Film Festival enters a new dimension with a groundbreaking partnership with USCB With each iteration, the Beaufort International Film Festival seems to expand its scope and refine its mission. Festival runners, Ron and Rebecca Tucker, have long sought to integrate an academic aspect into the festival, more so since BIFF moved into the USCB Center for the Arts.

The Beaufort International Film Festival Celebrates Its 11th Season With Expanded ScheduleBy Mark Shaffer “That’s part of your problem. You haven’t seen enough movies. All of life’s riddles are answered in the movies.” – Steve Martin as ‘Davis’ in Grand Canyon I first began writing for this publication nearly nine years ago – in February, 2008. We were freshly relocated from the Pacific Northwest where I wrote for a Seattle Times-owned website. Theater and film figured prominently and my colleagues and I spent most of a month each year covering the Seattle International Film Festival.

Twenty-five years ago, filmmaker Julie Dash broke through racial and gender boundaries with her Sundance award-winning film (Best Cinematography) Daughters of the Dust, and she became the first African American woman to have a wide theatrical release of her feature film.