Festival Going International
Fourteen-hour days have been the norm lately at the Hamptons International Film Festival office, which is tucked up on the second floor above the Newtown Mews alley in the Village of East Hampton. The fifth annual festival will begin on Oct. 15.
Even with the film lineup - which includes 27 world premieres and 18 United States premieres - completed and a press conference to announce it held at the Water Club in Manhattan last night, what remains to be done is no small task.
"This is an extreme sport. It's not a job," Bruce Feinberg, the festival's new executive director, said Tuesday afternoon, while taking a few moments away from fielding phone calls, media requests, and staffers' questions.
Fashions, Too
Many of the details that remained unclear as The Star went to press will be settled shortly, festival organizers said. In addition, Carter Etherington, this year's special events coordinator, said the events would be a little different this year, invoking "the glamour that goes with the Hamptons." To this end, a fashion show by one of the festival sponsors, the high-end couture house Escada, is being scheduled.
This year's opening and closing night parties will see a change of venue: They will be held in a bigger tent down the road a bit from Nick and Toni's restaurant on North Main Street, where the tent was last year, on the grounds of the Cagramar Farm near the intersection of Springs-Fireplace and Three Mile Harbor Roads. The tent will also be used for other festival events.
International Emphasis
According to Mr. Feinberg, the festival is stressing the word "international" in its name this year, with the opening night feature a French film making its U.S. premiere.
Its title translates to "Will It Snow for Christmas?" Directed by Sandrine Veysset, it is described as "a sensitive, authentic, almost documentary film about the harsh country life of a single mother struggling to raise her seven illegitimate children in Southern France."
It will be preceded by a short American film, "Sound of Peace," which will be making its world premiere. Directed by Barry J. Hershey, "Sound of Peace" uses "the deep resonance" of an Australian aboriginal instrument, the didgeridoo, "to create a synthesis of viscerally engaging sounds and images."
From Henry James
Closing night will bring the third film directed by the British filmmaker Iain Softley, "The Wings of a Dove," based on the novel by Henry James. Starring Helena Bonham Carter and Charlotte Rampling, it is described as "lush." Mr. Softley has brought viewers "Back Beat" and "Hackers."
"This one really caps the festival off with a bang," said Steve Gallagher, the festival's program director.
A short film, the world premiere of the American "Forever Is a Long Time," will precede the closing night film as well. Starring Kris Kristofferson and Sweet Pea Atkinson, it is about "a Detroit gambler and shameless womanizer who runs up a string of trouble," only to turn to the comfort of a local opium den.
Made At Home
In addition to the opening and closing night parties, closing night will include the presentation of juried and audience awards. At past festivals, awards were presented at a separate awards brunch.
One of the films in this year's Contemporary International cinema category was made largely in East Hampton. "Day at the Beach," Nick Veronis's low-budget directorial debut, revolves around an aspiring independent filmmaker who is also a New York ravioli factory worker and it includes a scene in the Barefoot Contessa on Newtown Lane where a character complains about the price of coleslaw.
Another film with a local connection is "Moon Over Broadway," by the Sag Harbor resident D.A. Pennebaker and his wife, Chris Hegedus.
It is making its U.S. premiere, and, although it a documentary, is said to have a strong theatrical value as it takes a "no-holds-barred look at the high-risk adventure of producing a Broadway hit," starring Carol Burnett.
Goldie Hawn's Debut
The Contemporary International Cinema segment of this year's festival includes 23 films in all, from France, Italy, the United Kingdom, the U.S., Hungary, China, Germany, Russia, Norway, and Africa.
Also in that category is Goldie Hawn's directorial debut, the world premiere of "Hope," a story of a teenaged girl in the segregation-era South who stands up to her bigoted neighbors.
The 23 are in addition to this year's new feature, 3X3, which is a tribute to three outstanding international directors. Three films at different stages in the careers of Alejandro Agresti of Argentina, Nicolas Philibert of France, and Julio Medem of Spain will be shown.
Spanish Films
Spain will receive added attention this year, as well, with "Viva Espanol: A Tribute to Sogetel," Spain's largest film production company. This segment will include six films, at least four of which are making their U.S. premieres.
Others in the Contemporary International Cinema category are Leonardo Pieraccioni's "The Cyclone," Italy's highest grossing film of all time; Attila Janisch's "Long Twilight," winner of the 1997 Hungarian Film Week, and Antonio Tibaldi's "Little Boy Blue," grand prize winner at Italy's Mayfest this year.
And, "Say It, Fight It, Cure It," directed by Lee Grant and featuring Rosie O'Donnell, a documentary about women dealing with breast cancer; "Somewhere In the City," directed by Ramin Niami and starring among others Sandra Bernhard; Berit Nesheim's "The Other Side of Sunday," which was nominated for an Academy Award for best foreign language film in 1996, and "Winter Guest," directed by Alan Rickman and starring Phyllida Law and Emma Thompson.
Top Competition
Competing for the Film Festival's top award, the Golden Starfish, are 10 American independents, including "Strong Island Boy," directed by a Long Island native, Mark Schiffer. A world premiere, it is a semi-autobiographical film that explores violence in suburban Long Island.
The others are "A Better Place" by Vincent Pereira; "Crossing Fields" by James Rosenow; "Destination Unknown" by Nestor Miranda; "Fakin' Da Funk" by Tim Chey; Maureen Foley's "Home Before Dark;" Mackenlay Polhemus's "The Scottish Tale;" "Sparkler," directed by Darren Stein; "Gir-Gir" by Yemane I. Demissie, and "Upstate," directed by Steven O'Connor.
This year's archival films segment will feature Norman Jewison's 1967 classic "In the Heat of the Night," which stars Sidney Poitier, Rod Steiger, Warren Oates, and Ms. Grant and will be presented with the help of the Artists Rights Foundation.
Archival Panel
The screening of a restored print of the film will be followed by a discussion with Mr. Jewison; Ms. Lee; Mr. Steiger; Haskell Wexler, the cinematographer; Walter Mirisch, the producer; Peter Hyams, the screenwriter; Alan and Marilyn Bergman, lyricists, and Michael Friend, an Academy of Motion Pictures archivist.
The second archival film, presented with Fox Lorber and Non Fiction Films, will be Costa-Gavras's "Z," a 1969 film being re-released this fall.
Another new feature this year, Subversive Cinema, will, as announced earlier, feature three films to be shown late at night. They include "Killer Condom," directed by Martin Walz, and "Preaching to the Perverted," directed by Stuart Urban.
Documentary Award
Nine documentaries from relatively new filmmakers will compete for a juried award, one German, one French, and the rest American. In addition, 10 short films will compete in their own juried category, and 10 student films, five undergraduate and five graduate, already selected by a student film panel, will be included in this year's festival.
Two programs of short films also are on tap, one called "Women's Work," which is being sponsored by Lifetime Television for Women, and another called "Real and Imagined Danger." Seven more shorts will be screened before feature-length shows.
Other new venues this year include the Sag Harbor Cinema and the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center, where screenings will be held in addition to those at the East Hampton Cinema, and a new combined box office, press office, and retail center, which will be at 87 Newtown Lane, the former Sotheby's office, the use of which was donated by the real estate company.
Last, Not Least
The Palm at the Huntting Inn on Main Street, East Hampton, will continue to serve as the festival's hospitality center, with more space than in the past since press operations are being moved elsewhere. The director's and filmmaker's lounge will again be above the Cigar Box in Parrish Mews, off Main Street.
Last, but not least, while the Film Festival's official closing night is Oct. 19, the event does not end until after the following day, when free screenings are offered for residents.
This is something unique to the Hamptons International Film Festival, Mr. Feinberg said this week, and something it is particularly proud of.