S.C. film festival honors Dogwood’s Pat Conroy

Published 11:18 am Thursday, August 27, 2009

South Carolina native son and bestselling author Pat Conroy was named this week as the 2010 “Jean Ribaut Award Winner” for “Outstanding and Inspiring Original Material for Film.”

The award will be presented to him at the Beaufort International Film Festival’s Awards Ceremony on Feb. 20.

Conroy visited Dowagiac in May 2000 as a Dogwood Fine Arts Festival visiting author.
Four of his novels have been made into films: Conrack (based on The Water is Wide), Lords of Discipline, Prince of Tides and The Great Santini, all set in the Lowcountry of South Carolina.  The Beaufort International Film Festival will be in its fourth year in 2010.

Last year it received more than 122 submissions from 22 countries and had more than 2,000 people attend its sold-out screenings on Lady’s Island.

Ron Tucker, president, said Wednesday that he has already received more than 100 entrees from as near as Savannah, Ga., to as far away as the Republic of Georgia in the former Soviet Union.