Tag Archives: film festival

The Beaufort International Film Festival has been named a Southeast Tourism Society (STS) Top 20 Event in the Southeast for February 2018.

 This year’s film festival will take place February 21 – 25, 2018 in historic downtown Beaufort and will welcome thousands of filmmakers from around the world for the 12^th annual event. The STS Top 20 Festival and Event Awards have highlighted programs around the Southeast since 1985.

“We’re thrilled that the Beaufort International Film Festival is being recognized for bringing filmmakers around the world together and showcasing a ‘films first’ mentality in Beaufort,” said Robb Wells, VP of travel and tourism for Beaufort, SC. “The film festival is truly a catalyst in showcasing the strength and commitment to arts and culture that Beaufort exhibits and the team deserves this recognition. They’re a prime example of true hospitality and class.”

Travel industry experts select 20 events per month, and STS publicizes them throughout the United States. The complete list of honorees can be found on the STS website.

 “The Southeast is home to unique and memorable events throughout the year. In spotlighting the Top 20 festivals and events each month, STS is not only giving these events the recognition they deserve but we’re also creating a quick reference guide to some of the best festivals in the Southeast,” said Bill Hardman, president and CEO of the Southeast Tourism Society.  “These events are important to the economic vitality of our communities and this is a way for us to acknowledge the time and resources organizers have tirelessly spent to create memories for their attendees.”

 Events considered for the STS Top 20 recognition must be at least three years old and have attendance of at least 1,000.

 STS, founded in 1983 and headquartered in Atlanta, Ga., is a non-profit organization dedicated to promoting tourism to and within 12 states – Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Tennessee, Virginia and West Virginia.

Charleston, SC based Set Decorator Missy Ricker will be honored for her more than 20 years of career achievements at the 12th Annual Beaufort International Film Festival.

The Beaufort Film Society is pleased to announce that Missy Ricker will be presented the prestigious “Behind the Scenes” Award at the 12th Annual Beaufort International Film Festival in Beaufort, SC. The festival dates are February 21-25, 2018 with the Red Carpet Reception and Awards Gala taking place on Sunday, February 25th at the University of South Carolina, Beaufort, Center for the Arts.

“The “Behind the Scenes Award” is presented to a South Carolina film or television professional who very often works quietly off camera but whose efforts are vital to the success of team production efforts. Those many unheralded moments sometimes spanning an entire career are recognized with this award,” stated Ron Tucker, President, Beaufort Film Society.

Missy Ricker is an East Coast Set Decorator for the Film and Television Industry, based in Charleston, SC where she shares her home with husband and fellow Crew Member, Joey Ricker. Originally from Virginia, Missy began her career in Theater and gradually moved into the Film Industry as a Set Dresser and ultimately as a Set Decorator. She earned her MFA in Photography and Filmmaking from VCU in Richmond, VA in 1994, and is currently an appointee to the Film Production Academic Advisory Committee at Trident Technical College, a Member of the Board of Directors for the ‘Carolina Film Alliance’, and a proud Member of the International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees (IATSE) Local 491 Studio Mechanics Union.

“We’re excited for Missy and applaud her more than two decades of dedication to her craft. Also, Missy will be our first female recipient of this award. We’re very excited about that,” said Co-Festival Director Rebecca Tucker.

Immediately following graduate school in 1994, Missy stayed very busy teaching Photography as an Adjunct Assistant Professor at both Old Dominion University and Thomas Nelson Community College, working as a Stagehand for the Virginia Opera and various Concert Venues in the Tidewater area, and dabbling in a variety of Crafts in the Film and Television industry including working as an Art Director for several Commercials and for the Television Series The New Detectives on the Discovery Channel in 1996. Missy’s first Major Studio Feature Film experience as a Set Dresser was on The Shadow Conspiracy starring Donald Sutherland, Charlie Sheen, and Linda Hamilton, released in 1997. This experience of “dressing” the sets under the established, award-winning Set Decorator Anne McCulley inspired Missy to set out on a path to learn and perfect her own skills in the Craft of Set Decoration.

While continuing to work on various productions, Missy was offered her first official position as a Set Decorator on a Feature Film called Asunder, starring Blair Underwood and Debbie Morgan, and then on a T.V. Series for Showtime called Linc’s starring Pam Grier and Steven Washington in 1998. She worked directly under the Production Designer, John D. Kretschmer. While several more Feature Films immediately followed this experience, Missy was then drawn back to her Fine Art background and set out to open an Independent Art School in Norfolk, VA called, ‘The Ghent Studio of Fine Art’ (S.O.F.A.) in 1999. While Owning and Operating S.O.F.A. successfully for the next six years, her calling was once again to return to the Film and Television Industry.

In 2006 Missy reunited with Production Designer John D. Kretschmer to Decorate several Feature Films including The List starring Malcom McDowell, Chuck Carrington and Hillarie Burton, released in 2007, and The Strangers starring Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman, released in 2008, to name a few. It was at this time that Missy was reminded of her love of the Craft of Set Decoration, and from this point forward became fully re-dedicated to her career as a Set Decorator in the Industry.

In 2008 Missy was offered the Set Decorator position on Lifetime’s Hit Series Army Wives, starring Catherine Bell, Kim Delaney, Brian McNamara, Terry Serpico, Wendy Davis, Drew Fuller, Sally Pressman and Sterling K. Brown, which was filming in Charleston. This is where she met her husband Joey, a Charleston native and fellow Crew Member working in the Transportation Department on the show. Their shared love of Film and Music is what brought them together, and they both enjoyed six wonderful Seasons, and over 100 Episodes, as part of the Army Wives Family. They both continue to work in Film and Television today and are proud to call Charleston home.

Missy’s most recent credits include the Pilot for the Television Series The Sinner starring Jessica Biel, Christopher Abbot and Bill Pullman, The Inspectors Television Series, Seasons 2 and 3, on CBS Saturday mornings starring Jessica Lundy, Brett Green and Terry Serpico, and the latest Feature Film in the Halloween Franchise starring Jamie Lee Curtis.

The Behind the Scenes Award is sponsored by Edie Smith and Eugene Rugala.

For more information about the 12th Annual Beaufort International Film Festival, visit beaufortfilmfestival.com. The festival is produced by the Beaufort Film Society.

The Beaufort Film Society is a nonprofit, 501 (c) 3, member-supported organization, dedicated to providing the highest levels of entertainment and education to the public from all areas of the film industry.

The Beaufort Film Society Award Honors that filmmaker whose body of work has served as a “catalyst for groundbreaking discoveries and societal change”

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. In 2004, The Library of Congress placed Daughters of the Dust in the National Film Registry where it joins a select group of American films preserved and protected as national treasures; Dash is the only African American woman with a feature film that has been inducted into the National Film Registry. The film was shot in and around Beaufort, SC.

On Sunday, February 19, 2017, the Beaufort Film Society will present Julie Dash with the inaugural Robert Smalls Merit & Achievement Award at the 11th annual Beaufort International Film Festival. “This award has been created to be presented to that filmmaker whose body of work has served as a catalyst for groundbreaking discoveries and societal change. Julie Dash’s accomplishments during the last quarter century certainly meets these criteria,” stated Ron Tucker, president of the Beaufort Film Society.  The award has been named after Beaufort native and Civil War hero Robert Smalls, who rose from a slave to a United States Congressman.

The Cohen Media Group recently announced the 25th anniversary restoration of director Julie Dash’s landmark film “Daughters of the Dust.”  Casting a long legacy, “Daughters of the Dust” still resonates today, most recently as a major influence on Beyonce’s video album “Lemonade.” Restored (in conjunction with UCLA) for the first time with proper color grading overseen by cinematographer AJ Jafa, audiences will finally see the film exactly as Julie Dash intended. The restored film with be screened at the Beaufort International Film Festival on Saturday, February 18th. The screening will be followed by a panel discussion with Julie Dash and others.

Julie Dash is the Distinguished Professor of Cinema, Television and Emerging Media (CTEMS) at Morehouse College. From 2013-2015 she was a Visiting Assistant Professor at the College of Charleston, in the department of African American Studies, and with the Avery Research Center for African American Studies; in 2013 she held the Bob Allison Chair in Media at Wayne State University. Dash has written and directed for CBS, BET, ENCORE STARZ, SHOWTIME, MTV Movies and HBO, directing, the NAACP Image Award winning, Emmy and DGA nominated, The Rosa Parks Story, Incognito, Funny Valentines, Love Song, and Subway Stories: Tales From the Underground. Her work as a film director includes theme park, Disney’s Imagineering, and museum design Brothers of the Borderland for The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center Museum. Her work includes music videos, documentary, PSA’s, industrial documentary films, and commercial spots for fortune 500 brands, i.e., Coca Cola and GMC.

In 2015, Dash was a part of the Trailblazing Women franchise on Turner Classic Movies (TCM), and co-hosted one evening with Illeana Douglas.

Julie Dash is currently in production on a feature length documentary about Vertamae Smart Grosvenor, a world-renowned author, performer, and chef from rural South Carolina who led a remarkably unique and complex life. The film is based upon Grosvenor’s bestselling work, Vibration Cooking: or the Travel Notes of a Geechee Girl.

Dash earned her MFA in Film & Television production at UCLA; received her BA in Film Production from CCNY, and she was a Producing and Writing Conservatory Fellow at the American Film Institute’s Center for Advanced Film Studies. When not working on her projects Ms. Dash is a frequent lecturer at many of the leading Universities in the United States.

Presenting the award  will be Michael Boulware Moore, the great, great grandson of Robert Smalls and the president and CEO of the International African-American Museum which is planned to be opened in Charleston, SC in 2018.

For more information about the 11th Annual Beaufort International Film Festival, visit beaufortfilmfestival.com. The festival is produced by the Beaufort Film Society.

The Beaufort Film Society is a nonprofit, 501 (c) 3, member-supported organization, dedicated to providing the highest levels of entertainment and education to the public from all areas of the film industry.