The Hamptons International Film Festival has become one of the most highly anticipated events of the fall season on the East End. Returning for the 32nd year, the festival will run from October 4th -14th with approximately 174 screenings of feature films. The HIFF began as a way to bring attention to up-and-coming filmmakers and garner interest in the Hamptons during the off-season, and it continues to successfully achieve this mission year after year with a spectacular lineup of films, artist talks, and community.
Artistic Director, David Nugent, spoke about the history of the festival and what goes into putting it on, why he is so devoted to bringing such a special event to the Hamptons, and what he is looking forward to for this year.
A former teacher of film history at several renowned universities including The New School, Harvard, MIT, and BU, David joined the Hamptons International Film Festival ranks as Artistic Director in 2007, the festival’s 15th year.
David says, “The Hamptons is a very special place with a number of wonderful people that live here either part time or year-round. When the festival was started thirty-two years ago, the idea was to bring people here at another time of year, and what those of us who spend a lot of time out here realize is really the most beautiful time of year here, which is the fall.”
The Hamptons International Film Festival brings in some of the most influential people in the film world each year, just as they have always done since the first year it ran. The very first festival featured an unforgettable interview between Steven Spielberg and Martin Scorsese. This year there will be talks with Andrew Garfield, Alex Baldwin, Demi Moore, Liev Schreiber, and many other creatives.
David says, “We have a really long history of having incredibly talented members in the film world come here and talk about the work they do, and in a beautiful setting. Some of them are familiar with the community and have houses out here, and then for others they aren’t as familiar and get to come here and experience it at the most beautiful time of year.”
David runs a Screenwriters Lab that was started back in 2000. It’s one of a number of initiatives to focus on the next generation of filmmakers. There is a competition section of the festival that is only open to emerging filmmakers. He explained, “The Screenwriters Lab is a way to bring up-and-coming writers and writer/directors who are working on projects of their own and to pair them with established writers and writer/directors who have already achieved success in the industry, and we spend a weekend together with those established mentors helping advise the younger writers on their projects. That’s been a great program. We’ve had a ton of wonderful films that have gone through, and filmmakers who have gone onto great success.”
David is looking forward to opening night for this year’s festival on October 4th when he will be sitting down with documentary filmmaker R.J. Cutler from Long Island and Martha Stewart to discuss featured documentary, Martha, which is one of the many anticipated films for the year. David says, “My colleagues and I have been working on putting this lineup together since January, so now we get a chance to share these films and have people come see them.”
He spoke about a few of his most anticipated films for this year, and says he is especially looking forward to the screening of Zurawski v Texas on October 5th, the first Saturday of the festival. This is about a woman’s reproductive rights being denied in Texas and what happened to her as a result. The film is a production by Hillary and Chelsea Clinton’s company, and Chelsea will be in attendance to discuss the film, along with other special guests. David says, “This is a really important and moving film.”
One of the other films he highlighted for this year’s lineup is the documentary Grand Theft Hamlet, which is about out-of-work actors during the pandemic who stage a production of Hamlet in the online world of Grand Theft Auto. David says, “It’s such a wild and inventive film, so as much as I’m looking forward to the bigger anticipated films we have, I’m also looking forward to sharing films like this with our audience.”
The Hamptons International Film Festival opens for submissions in February each year. Any filmmaker worldwide can send in their film to be considered, and every film is watched by the programming team and screening committee. David and his colleagues travel to other festivals around the world, and they also are familiar with many filmmakers and several companies who send in their films for consideration. There are about 25 people total involved in the curation of films for the festival, and they work from January on to choose the selection. David says, “It is a long, long process.”
David also expressed how much work goes into putting on the festival each year beyond his department, which is the programming department, from sponsorships to theater operations to guest services, and so much more. He says, “We work all year round on the festival, and this year will be our longest with it being eleven days long.”
The Hamptons International Film Festival is truly unique, not only because of the area and the beautiful time of year it takes place in, but because of the audience themselves. David says, “There are uniquely influential people that make up the constituencies.” With a mixture of year-rounders and part-timers, over the span of two weekends, with the second weekend being a holiday weekend, the viewership at the festival will be vast. David added, “I think we have a very culturally rich area and a literate community that is into the arts. So for filmmakers and distributors it’s a really great audience to have their films out here. It’s a great chance to see films and hear from the creative people that make the films.”
There are about 90 feature films being shown at the festival with about 174 screenings. At these 174 screenings, about 125 of them will have filmmakers in attendance. David says, “This is a lot. Three quarters of the screenings are going to have the creative people that are behind the production of the films there to talk about them. People in the audience are always interested in which films they can attend where they can hear from the creators afterward.”
David loves being able to bring this experience to the Hamptons. Though there are some great first-run films at the Hamptons cinemas during the rest of the year, he says, “There’s not a ton of chances to see a wide variety of films out here. For this eleven-day stretch, we really get what we think are some of the best films from around the world and many of the creative people that put them together come here.” He added, “In the best possible way, it really feels like film kind of takes over the community for the stretch of the festival.”
There have been many favorite films for both David and the rest of the community that have come out of the festival in the past. He spoke about how exciting it was when they had the first screening on the east coast of Black Swan and how much anticipation surrounded the film. He says, “It was really thrilling to see it. Madonna had even snuck in the back door to come see it, and it was filled with so many people and excitement and buzz.”
The HIFF screened Spotlight in 2015 where it later went on to win Best Picture. Many of the directors, writers, and actors were in attendance for an extended Q&A. David reminisced on this experience, saying, “That was really special, I’ll never forget that one.”
When asked what he hopes viewers take away from the festival, David said, “Every year, I hope viewers take away a snapshot of where the film world is at a particular moment. There have been a lot of changes in the world and in the film world and I think it’s valuable to see what films are resonating throughout our culture and with our audiences, and to hear from the people who made these films. So, I’m hoping people get that chance and embrace it.”
There is such a wide variety of films screened every year, and this year will be no different. There is something for everyone whether it be a time-tested formula that’s approached from a new angle, or films that are so relevant right now like topics dealing with reproductive rights, the war in Ukraine, child separation policies, and everything in between.
David encourages people to use the rush line at the festival. He mentioned that there are a certain number of advance ticket sales, however, just because there are no more advance tickets available, there are often tickets for sale at the door. He says that if people come about a half hour to an hour before the film that they are able to get people in off the rush line about 95% of the time, and just because advance tickets are no longer on sale that doesn’t necessarily mean they won’t get into the film.
It’s time for the Hamptons community to get ready to embrace the amazing world of film right here on the East End from October 4th – 14th. For more information about the films, programs, schedule, and tickets click here.
