Power is still out, but someone made a call, and local hardware store Grayco promptly sent over a generator. I had heard a generator was coming, and thought it might take some time. But, no, it's here, running outside, and they're hooking everything up. Which means we're still off schedule here, but only about 35 minutes.

I imagine Good Mother will start back soon, and then we'll be back. The power is still out on Lady's Island though, at least part of it.

Hmm, as I was about to send this, the generator went off. So maybe my optimism was unfounded.

Let me vamp by mentioning the biggest addition to this year's festival: Last year, the concession stand was open at least most of the fest, if my memory serves. Lady's Island Cinema was a working theater then, not a church (when did that happen, by the way?). Anyway, people complained about the refreshments and lack of coffee. So this year they brought in Hwy 21 Drive in to sell popcorn and candy and soda and hot dogs and Caffino to sell coffee and sandwiches and muffins. I've had two straight days of blueberry muffins, and while my blood sugar isn't happy, the rest of my body is. It was a great idea to bring in outside partners.

OK, I need to send this and log off, because my battery is dying quickly, it might have to last me the rest of the day. So, to recap, there's a generator here, but at the moment, it's not generating. I'm not sure if that is a temporary hiccup or a larger one. When I was in the hall earlier, they were trying to find extensions and plugs for the sound equipment, so maybe they just shut it off until they had it completely hooked up.

So, I imagine things will be running again. Shortly. Let's hope.

Last update: The power just came back on. Whew. Back in a few hours for some more updates, when things calm down.

Someone commented earlier here about how well things went at the BFF yesterday. This is karma's payback, because, thanks to the high winds, they've had a myriad of delays at the fest this morning. The power is on, but it keeps flickering, and every time it flickers the digital projection system resets, which takes a minute to come back up, and then the movie has to be restarted.

Which means if you're watching a 10-minute short, and the power goes out twice at the 7 minute mark, you have to watch that 7 minutes again, twice, just to get to the final three. The first student film, The Golf War (which, I didn't like in general, but I really don't like it since I saw the beginning five times) was cut off four or five times.

None of this is the fault of the BFF, of course. It's nature and wind and the rise of digital projectors. (A threaded reel would start back up where it left off. Of course, if it wasn't for digital video, most of these movies would never get made in the first place, so it's a catch 22.)

Anyway, the decision was made to crank up the generator. So while there's a hum equal to a mid-size lawnmower in the halls, at least we have power (until the gas runs out). The fest is about an hour and a half off schedule, but it could be worse.

I'm going to make it through the student films and the first documentary, and then come back here later for more.

They just finished the second documentary of the fest, which I don't know the name of, and I'm in the lobby at the moment due to poor signal in the theater, so I can't check to see what it is named. It was about the three guys who run Knights Bridge and do humanitarian work around the globe. Really good documentary, although extremely depressing.

It brings some sobering reality to our little power situation here. A few hours without a grid is better than living anywhere in Afghanistan, I wager.

Anyway, from what I understand, the power has been out for quite some time. My wife said Lady's Island was blocked off for an hour or so. That's not good for potential audience members trying to get here.

In fact, as I was typing this, the power just now came back on. The Festival, however, except for the previous hiccup, goes on, thanks to a generator and gasoline. As chairman Ron Tucker put it earlier, it's lucky that Marines are involved in this operation, because today they've needed a lot of improvisation.

Two more docs to go and then the big party at Habersham tonight. Even though I live in Habersham, I doubt I will "report" on it. After two days in a movie theater, I need some rest.

I forgot to mention the student shorts that played earlier. To gems, for me at least. One called the Hench about a super hero henchman and another, the name escapes me, but also about a super hero, ala the 1940s serials. Great work.

OK, back later for a final wrapup. Two more docs to go and we're about hour and a half behind.

One more to go. Just finished Celebration of Flight. Who's Got the Power is next. We're an hour and a half off pace, but all things considered, that's not too bad.

If I were the organizers of the festival, I would consider breaking up the documentaries and the features over the two days. The crowds today have been smaller. This is partly because it's beautiful outside. And because of the problem we had earlier with the power and the shut down of the intersection. But this is also because there is less of an audience for documentaries and student films.

Last year, the Saturday worked fine because the big draw was the doc about military families. This being Beaufort, a huge crowd turned out. If you don't have that tentpole, I think you have to move one or two of the features over to try and attract people. But that's just what I think.

I think I'm going to save my big recap for my Sunday column that comes out next Sunday. But I will say that, if I were handing out the awards, Tanner Welch would easily win best feature. I'd give the doc award to, well, I haven't loved any of them, to be honest, but Beyond the Call was pretty good. I liked The Great Detective in the student film category and either China or The Street Cleaner in short film. Oh, and I miss the short documentary category from last year.

OK, that's it. I've really enjoyed the last two days. Smoothly run. Good crowds. Some really good movies.

Hats off to the organizers who put this together; today especially took lots of improv skills.