Timothy Greenfield-Sanders’ “Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am” To Open Hamptons Doc Fest’s Fall Season

Hamptons Doc Fest will present a screening of Timothy Greenfield-Sanders’ Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am on Sunday, September 22 at Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor. Greenfield-Sanders, the film’s director and producer and a longtime friend of the late Toni Morrison, will be in attendance and take part in a post-film Q&A.

“The Morrison film seemed like a perfect way to begin our fall season and pay tribute to her life,” Hamptons Doc Fest founder and executive director Jacqui Lofaro explained. “Toni Morrison’s voice was raw, beautiful and eloquently honest. Her authentic words jolted us out of complacency, starting with her earliest work, The Bluest Eye.“

Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am provides an intimate look at the life and works of the Pulitzer and Nobel Prize winner, starting with her childhood in the steel town of Lorain, Ohio. The documentary covers Morrison’s studies at Howard University, marriage and motherhood, her time at Random House, the publication of her critically acclaimed works The Bluest Eye, Sula, Song of Solomon, and Beloved, teaching at Princeton University, the ceremony where she was bestowed the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama, and more. The film includes interviews with long-time editor Robert Gottlieb, Angela Davis, Fran Lebowitz, Hilton Als, Walter Mosley, Farah Griffin, Sonia Sanchez, and Oprah Winfrey, who turned Beloved into a feature film.

“This documentary of her life, made by longtime friend Timothy Greenfield-Sanders, brings her back to us in wonderful ways. Morrison was, and remains, a natural treasure of American literature,” Lofaro added.

Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am made its world premiere at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival.

“Look for this one to be front and center in its category come Oscar time,” Los Angeles Times film critic Gary Goldstein said of the film.

Later on in the year, Hamptons Doc Fest will present its 12th annual documentary film festival, offering five full days of documentaries from Thursday, December 5 through Monday, December 9.

“Our screening committee spends countless hours reviewing the entered films, to find those that challenge, enlighten and delight our audiences. We never stop looking for well-told stories. And simply put, a good documentary is a well-told story,” Lofaro said.

Tickets to the Toni Morrison: The Pieces I Am Hamptons Doc Fest screening are $20. The film will begin at 5 p.m.

Bay Street is located at 1 Bay Street in Sag Harbor. For more information, visit www.hamptonsdocfest.com.