Locally produced movie was represented at Cannes Film Festival

Hilton Head Island filmmaker Walter Czura’s motion picture “The Final Run” was represented in May at the 78th Cannes Film Festival on the French Riviera.

The Cannes Film Festival is internationally recognized as one of the world’s most prestigious film festivals, if not the most prestigious. Each May, it hosts thousands of leading business figures and luminaries in the motion film industry, as well as other celebrities.

Walter Czura, who is also the founder and CEO of Marlin Outdoor Advertising, said, “I was very honored to have our film represented at the international Cannes Festival by Level 33 Entertainment, a Los Angeles-based film distribution company, and Sublimity Entertainment, a firm that specializes in licensing global media rights.”

“The Final Run” was filmed locally in and around the city of Beaufort. It’s inspired by actual events that unfolded both in Beaufort and Hilton Head Island almost 50 years ago that triggered “Operation Jackpot,” America’s first major marijuana smuggling crackdown in the 1980s initiated by President Ronald Reagan’s “War on Drugs.”

Czura’s film delivers an emotionally charged crime drama in today’s setting where the fictionalized main character, Pierce Butler, a college-educated, former U.S. Marine and reformed smuggler from that earlier era, finds himself forced to organize one last run, not for greed, but to pay for his wife’s life-saving, advanced experimental cancer treatment.

The full-length movie explores themes of redemption, love, and family loyalty. It also echoes the real-life exploits of those young and daring smugglers who lived life on the edge during that period, turning Lowcountry inlets into marijuana-running goldmines – until Operation Jackpot brought them down.

Standout performances by award-winning film industry veterans Jeff Fahey, Judd Nelson, and Drew Waters, plus breakthrough actress Maddie Henderson, make “The Final Run” appeal to fans who enjoy tense, character-driven drama, true crime, and Southern noir.

It is storytelling born from facts, but elevated from the heart by Czura, a former attorney, who was caught, tried, and imprisoned as part of the Operation Jackpot smuggling ring.

“I’ve been deeply touched by the positive reception and interest in our film and the events of that era it portrays,” said Czura, who is hopeful that North American streaming distribution rights will soon be secured because he is currently working on writing the script for a sequel.

Czura said Sublimity has secured distribution licenses for “The Final Run” to appear in theatres, streaming services, pay-per-view, cable, and other formats in more than 120 nations and territories in Europe, Africa, the Middle East, South America, Central America, and the Caribbean Islands.