Hamptons Film Festival presents top contenders for awards season

Don't expect drive-in screenings, virtual screenings, mask mandates or rooms at reduced capacity at the 30th edition of the Hamptons International Airport. Film festival. This year's edition will resemble that of 2019.

The Long Island-based festival, which runs October 7-16, will screen 69 feature films and 51 short films at 54% directed by women and representing 34 countries around the world.

Also back at HIFF, a host of whimsical cocktail hours and the festival's Rowdy Talks series , which will include a conversation with director, writer and producer Chris Columbus.

New this year? The festival will take place over 10 days.

"Last year we were seven days instead of the usual five", explains the artistic director from HIFF, David Nugent. "We did this to see if people would be interested in coming to see movies mid-week and they were, so we decided to expand."

One ​​thing that won't be different this year is the core of the festival - its content and how the award for the most popular film of the season.

HIFF 2022 will give audiences a sneak peek at some of the most anticipated titles of the year up to present, including "The Whale" by Darren Aronofsky, "Women Talking" by Sarah Polley, "Empire of Light" by Sam Mendes, "My Policeman" by Michael Grandage, "All the Beauty and the Bloodshed" by Laura Poitras, " Glass Onion” by Rian Johnson: A Knives Out Mystery”, “The Son” and “Decision to Leave” by Florian Zeller were directed by Park Chan-wook.

Nugent has a knack for picking movies that strike a chord. A HIFF screener has won the Best Picture Oscar in 11 of the past 12 years. "We try to screen what we think are the strongest movies every year, and to our delight, often they've won the Best Picture Oscar," says Nugent, who admits studios and filmmakers see HIFF as a milestone in the rewards campaign.

"The fact that we are in a part of the United States which is really an enclave for a unique group of very influential people, whether it's publishers, editors, curators, but also many members of the Academy, is attractive," he says. "I think it's the one of the reasons many filmmakers, studios and distributors want us to play their film here."

While Nugent acknowledges that HIFF is not known as a place to find movies, several movies are making world premieres at the festival, including Austin and Meredith Bragg's "Pinball: The Man Who Saved the Game," "Who Invited Charlie?" by Xavier Manrique, "January 6th" by Jules and Gédéon Naudet, "A Radical Life" by Ricki Stern, Robert S. Bader "Groucho & Cavett" and "The Volcano: Rescue From Whakaari" by Rory Kennedy.

Kennedy has appeared in the Hamptons Film Festival's annual SummerDocs series three times but has never attended at HIFF with a movie.

"The Hamptons team has cultivated an audience of documentary enthusiasts who come out for all types of great stories and movies," says Kennedy. "We couldn't be more thrilled to continue our longstanding relationship with the festival for the world premiere of 'The Volcano: Rescue From Whakaari'."

In addition to screening films, HIFF will honor actress Mariska Hargitay with the Artistic Champion Award Dick Cavett 2022, and host a panel discussion with non-fiction filmmakers on documenting democracy. Additionally, there will be a screening of the Apple TV+ documentary series “Gutsy,” followed by a “A Conversation With…” discussion with the show's host and executive producer, Chelsea Clinton (Hillary Clinton co-hosts the series with his daughter).< /p>

While HIFF has previously included TV series and documentaries in its lineup, Nugent says it's rare.

"We thought 'Gutsy' would be of interest to our audience, but its inclusion is not suggestive of a movement towards the creation of a series section", he says.