by Evelyn J. Mocbeichel
Buckle up and get ready for another fantastic, exciting line up of films, classes, special presentations and guests at this year’s Hampton International Film Festival! (HIFF) Now extended to ten full days of events, running October 4-14, 2024, this is because of the long list of films being featured at the 32nd Annual Festival. It is a gorgeous time of year to be out East and combined with viewing great films, meeting the writers, filmmakers, and actors makes the HIFF the cultural event of the autumn season. Film makers, writers, producers, directors, actors and celebrities arrive from all over the country and around the world to be part of this event! If you love films, want to see them before they are commercially released this festival is for you!
The Festival announced actor Clarence Maclin, star of this year’s SING SING, a film inspired by his own life story, will receive the festival’s Breakthrough Performer Award. This HIFF edition will feature a lineup of films that are 45% female-directed and represent 50 countries from around the world. The festival will screen 86 features and 61 shorts with 8 World Premieres, 5 North American Premieres, 11 US Premieres, 9 East Coast Premieres, and 20 New York Premieres. The Festival is committed to exhibiting films that express fresh voices and differing global perspectives, with the hope that these programs will enlighten audiences, provide invaluable exposure for filmmakers and present inspired entertainment for all. Ardent followers and movie buffs will once again be treated to outstanding films, many which will go on to become Oscar nominations and winners! In the past, Slumdog Millionaire, The Artist, Still Alice, Black Swan, The King’s Speech, Toy Story 3 and Waiting for Superman were a few to mention that have gone on to become critically acclaimed and commercially successful.
At last year’s HIFF we saw a film, Fresh Kills, written, directed, produced and co-starring the talented Jennifer Esposito. She has acted over 25 years, appearing in television productions and over 60 films. Jennifer has earned Screen Actors Guild, Critics Choice and Foreign Press Awards. Most recently Fresh Kills was favorably reviewed by People Magazine’s, Tom Gliatto for her “telling detail of her coming of age film of a kid on Staten Island that thinks her dad may be a gangster.” We had the pleasure of meeting the warm, friendly, personable Ms. Esposito at last year’s HIFF before her film’s screening and again during the New York Women in Film & Television (NYWIFT) annual HIFF brunch the next day. This September she was the keynote speaker at a NYWIFT FinanceHER Institute one day conference in New York City that was a collaboration with The New School’s Media Management Graduate Program/School of Media Students and the university-wide Impact Entrepreneurship Initiative and Fellowship serving graduate students from both The New School and Parsons. To learn more about NYWIFT and their programs, visit www.nywift.org
Spotlights: Over the years the selection committee that accepts films to this prestigious film festival has chosen ones that have gone on to be commercial successes. Under the category of Spotlight selections, these are films that seem to be destined to go on to become box office hits. Films added this year include BIRD, BLITZ, CONCLAVE, EMILIA PÉREZ, EXHIBITING FORGIVENESS, THE END, THE FRIEND, HARD TRUTHS, LILLY, MARIA, THE ORDER, PRESENCE, THE ROOM NEXT DOOR, SATURDAY NIGHT, and SMALL THINGS LIKE THESE. In The Narrative Competition films include ARMAND, THE KINGDOM, GAZER, WE STRANGERS and VERMIGLIO. Under the heading, Documentary Films, topics such as Conflict and Resolution, Air, Land and Sea, Compassion, Justice and Animal Rights, and World Cinema are the subjects to be shown.
Celebrity Bios: The festival will open on October 4 with the East Coast Premiere of R.J. Cutler’s documentary feature MARTHA, profiling American businesswoman and lifestyle personality Martha Stewart. This documentary on Martha Stewart is told by the icon herself. From her early start on Wall Street to the launch of the lifestyle empire that made her the original influencer. Another Spotlight film is A Man with Sole: The Impact of Kenneth Cole, the fashion icon. “More than just a global fashion icon, footwear designer Kenneth Cole has put cause before commerce for 40 years, driven by heart and ‘sole.”’ For a look into the life of a musical talent, Bruce David Klein’s LIZA: A TRULY TERRIFIC ABSOLUTELY TRUE STORY, focuses on the dazzling but complex period of Liza Minnelli’s life in the 1970s after the tragic death of her mother, Judy Garland. The film features “heartwarming and insightful interviews from the icon herself, and celebrates her influence on fashion, nightlife, art, and culture—cementing her status as an undeniable living legend.”
Shorts: We are always impressed by talented writers of “shorts” that manage to tell a story, evoke a feeling or spark an interest in a subject, within the span of a film that consists of anywhere from 15 to 40 minutes in length. This year HIFF also announced 11 programs of short films including Narrative Competition; Documentary Competition; New York Women in Film & Television: Filmmakers Calling the Shots; University Short Films Showcase; Zoom! Shorts for All Ages; Sticky Situations; Between Here and There; Bodily Freedoms; Air, Land, and Sea; Conflict and Resolution; and the Views From Long Island, that has support from the Suffolk County Film Commission.
At the Hampton International Film Festival it is a chance to feel like part of the events often seen on television in Hollywood such as red carpet walks, celebrity interviews and world film premieres. Autumn colors start to peak, temperatures are still comfortable, seasonal produce appears on menus and lodging establishments are still warmly entertaining their guests. What better time to visit the East End than during these ten days featuring award winning films produced by acclaimed talents in the industry? If you have never attended this film festival, don’t miss it! HIFF thanks this year’s festival sponsors: new Presenting Sponsor Regina K. Scully’s Artemis Rising Foundation; returning sponsors Premier Sponsor Audi; Signature Sponsors UBS, Naturopathica, and King & Spalding; official Media Partners WNBC, The Atlantic, The East Hampton Star, The Purist, and Variety; Contributing Sponsors Direct TV, Silvercup Studios, E11even Vodka, Netflix, Assemble Media, Wolffer Estate, Sotheby’s, il Buco, and Dragon Hemp; and foundation supporters New York State Council on the Arts and Suffolk County Film Commission. For more information about the festival, a full list and description of all the films and events or to purchase tickets, please visit www.hamptonsfilmfest.org
