On Saturday, the Lowcountry will have its first opportunity to see Paige Goldberg Tolmach’s film, What Haunts Us. For many attending the documentary at the Terrace Charleston Film Festival, the source material will be all too familiar — the child sex abuse scandal that rocked Porter-Gaud school when it came to light in the late 1990s.
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From 1973 to 1982, teacher Eddie Fischer sexually abused over a dozen boys at Porter-Gaud. The scandal received national attention in the late ’90s when Fischer was sent to prison for 20 years on 13 sexual abuse charges. The convicted pedophile would later confess to molesting 39 boys.
As Terrace Theatre owner Paul Brown told us, he’s as nervous as he is excited to share this important film with audiences. The Terrace has already sold out the opening night which will take over four theaters and host around 400 guests, including many Porter-Gaud alumni.
Following the film, all those interested in attending will convene in the Terrace’s largest theater for a Q&A that will include the private school’s head of school DuBose Egleston who has called the scandal a cautionary tale.
For those who did not get tickets to opening night, What Haunts Us will also screen on Sun. March 18 at 2:30 p.m. Tickets are $15.
Five dollars from every ticket sold to both showings will be donated to Darkness to Light, a nonprofit advocacy group began in 1997, the same year Fischer’s crimes were exposed, in order to prevent child sexual abuse.
For more information on the film and the festival, visit terracetheatre.com/terrace-charleston-film-festival.
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