Five Hamptons Doc Fest Films Named to Oscar Documentary Shortlists

On December 7 at the Sag Harbor Cinema, Hamptons Doc Fest executive director Jacqui Lofaro presented the HDF Veritas Award to Mark Obenhaus, co-director of “Cover Up,” which was just named to the Oscars Shortlist for Documentary Feature Film. I Photo Credit: Jim Lennon

Hamptons Doc Fest executive director Jacqui Lofaro and artistic director Karen Arikian announced that three of the documentary feature films and one documentary short film screened at this year’s 18^th annual Hamptons Doc Fest, December 5-11, and one screened last year were named in December to the Oscars Shortlist of 15 films in the Documentary Feature Film category and the Documentary Short Film category by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

They are “Cover Up,” “Cutting through Rocks,” “Holding Liat,” and last year’s “Mistress Dispeller,” plus the short “All the Empty Rooms.”

“Cover Up,” whose directors Laura Poitras and Mark Obenhaus received this year’s new Hamptons Doc Fest Veritas Award, was screened on December 7 at the Sag Harbor Cinema, co-presented with New York Women in Film and Television (NYWIFT). The film, which premiered at this year’s Venice International Film Festival, covers the career of Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Seymour Hersh, who uncovered Viet Nam and Iraqi atrocities. Cynthia Lopez, NYWIFT’s executive director, led the post-film Q&A with Obenhaus, who importantly happens to be a Springs/East Hampton resident.

“Cutting through Rocks,” which screened December 10 at Bay Street Theater, is the documentary feature debut of the husband-and-wife team of Iranian-American directors Sara Khaki and Mohammadreza Eyni. They appeared in a pre-recorded Zoom Q&A with HDF Advisory Board member Roger Sherman. The film, which is about Sara Shahverdi, the first elected councilwoman in her conservative Iranian village who tries to challenge traditional female roles, premiered at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival, where it won the World Cinema Grand Jury Prize.

“Holding Liat,” follows the emotional journey of the Israeli-American family of American citizen Liat Atzili, who was kidnapped from her kibbutz in the October 7, 2023 Hamas raid. It played December 9 at Bay Street Theater, followed by a pre-recorded Q&A with director Brandon Kramer and his brother, producer Lance Kramer. The film had won the Best Documentary Award at the 2025 Berlin International Film Festival.

“Mistress Dispeller,” directed by Elizabeth Lo, was screened at Sag Harbor Cinema last year in December 2024 as part of the 17^th annual Hamptons Doc Fest. It’s about a Chinese industry devoted to helping couples stay married in the face of infidelity, using a “mistress dispeller” to break up affairs.

“All the Empty Rooms,” directed by Joshua Seftel, was screened at this year’s “Shorts & Breakfast Bites” program on December 6 at Bay Street Theater. It followed correspondent Steve Hartman and photographer Lou Bopp as they made a cross-country journey, filming some of the memorialized empty bedrooms of hundreds of students killed in school shootings in the United States.

On January 22, the list of five “nominees” in each Oscar category will be announced, with the ultimate winner receiving the Oscar at the 98^th Academy Award ceremony on Sunday, March 15.