HamptonsFilm Hosting Retrospective Mondays, Scary Wednesdays, And First-Run Fridays Drive-In Movie Series At Hayground School

This July, HamptonsFilm will be entertaining East End audiences with their new drive-in film series.

“We’re delighted to partner with the Hayground School to be able to offer 11 screenings through July – mostly on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays,” HamptonsFilm Executive Director Anne Chaisson told Hamptons.com. “We’re only announcing the films’ a week in advance, every Tuesday. It’s Retrospective Mondays, Scary Wednesdays and First-Run Fridays, which means a new film or a film you can’t stream yet.”

Opening Night of HamptonsFilm Drive-In will feature a beloved classic – Victor Fleming’s The Wizard of Oz (1939, USA, 102 minutes, English) on July 6. The following two screenings will have ties to the Hamptons. The inaugural Scary Wednesdays on July 8 will feature Natalie Erika James’ Relic (2020, Australia | USA, 89 minutes, English), while First-Run Fridays on July 10 will feature SummerDocs presented by Alec Baldwin: Assassins (2020, USA, 104 minutes). The first First-Run Fridays will also include a post-screening (virtual) conversation with Assassins Director Ryan White, hosted by HamptonsFilm Board of Directors Co-Chair Alec Baldwin and Artistic Director David Nugent.

“We’re really excited about Relic. It screened during the 2020 Sundance – back when we were still having in person film festivals. Emily Mortimer, who has a house in Amagansett, is the star,” she shared.

As for what the rest of screenings will showcase, Chaisson told us they will include something that will appeal to all ages. “With programming in general for films, it’s such a subjective process. Everybody’s tastes are different, but, for us, it was more about making sure that we touched on every age and stay true to what we typically do, which we do show retrospectives, we do show documentaries and sneak peek features that are about to come out or about stream,” she noted. “The scary portion is a little bit not in our purview, but we’ve certainly screened some of them as a retrospective. We wanted to make sure that it was good for families, good for our regular audience who comes to see everything we do all year, as well as good for the teens age. There’s a lot of teens to college aged out here in the summer, but they’ve been out here basically since March or April. We thought scary movies might be a great thing that they’d be interested to do together now that they can potentially get in cars together and go do something.”

HamptonsFilm is also offering a very unique opportunity this year with their latest endeavor. “We bought a drive-in business, which had multiple projectors with different screen sizes. We’re able to offer that while we’re doing our own 30-foot screen right there at Hayground School. We have a 20-foot and a 16-foot and a 10-foot screen and multiple projectors of different lumens that could fit in a backyard, any parking lot, wherever people would like to do something outdoors.”

She continued, “Who knows what the rest of the summer will bring, I think we can potentially begin to gather in larger groups and when that happens, then I’m sure that’s more outdoors. We’re really thrilled that we’re able to offer entertainment, as we always do, but in these very special and specific times. So, we decided to make take the leap.”

While the future of events remains up in the air, the fall will definitely include the Hamptons International Film Festival. “For the summer, we’re focusing on the Drive-In. The Film Festival is definitely still happening on our regular timeframe,” Chaisson shared. “We don’t know exactly what that will look like yet, because we’re moving through the phases here in New York State, but I’m sure it will be some kind of a hybrid of sorts, in terms of virtual as well as some onsite specific kinds of screenings. But the weather plays into that, as well as how many people can gather. So we may either still be in cars or we won’t be.”

HamptonsFilm Drive-In screenings begin at sunset. Tickets are $50 to $75 per car.

Hayground School is located at 151 Mitchell Lane in Bridgehampton. For more information, visit hamptonsfilmfest.org.