Muscle memory works in strange ways. Sometimes it might be easier to blow up a model and start from scratch rather than try to adapt what is familiar to current circumstances.
It might feel just that way for Anne Chaisson and David Nugent, who have brought the Hamptons International Film Festival back to theaters after more than a year of the virtual, the drive-in, and the lawn chair.
It started in January, when the executive director and artistic director, respectively, along with their board, had to envision what they wanted the festival to be this year. "We were hoping and praying that it was somewhat in person," Ms. Chaisson said, "not really knowing what the situation would be, but thinking about at least five or six versions of what we could be."
By June, when they had to make a decision, their SummerDocs screenings had already moved inside at Guild Hall. They committed to going back to in person, "whether it was 25, 50, or 75 percent in theaters, that's what we were going to do," she recalled.
This year's festival consists of about two-thirds of the typical 65 to 70 feature films it shows. Mr. Nugent said the current number was 43 with the recent addition of "Belfast," which Ms. Chaisson saw at the Telluride Film Festival earlier this month. Directed by Kenneth Branagh, it's about his upbringing in Northern Ireland and stars Judi Dench, Jamie Dornan, and Caitriona Balfe. "It won the people's choice award at the Toronto Film Festival, probably the biggest audience award of the year," Mr. Nugent said.
Submissions were about the same number as in a regular year. "A lot of people last year, when the pandemic hit, weren't sure what to do with their film, so they held off," he said. "Then this year, things dragged on longer than I think lots of people had anticipated. They didn't want to hold the movie they had been working on for so long indefinitely."
HIFF finds a balance of its films at other festivals, and those were curtailed by travel issues and how some went to a virtual model earlier this year, such as Sundance, South by Southwest, and Tribeca.
"I did go to the Cannes Film Festival, and I saw a lot of movies there and we're going to end up playing a lot of those," Mr. Nugent said, including a surprise screening on Saturday night. (They plan to announce the film a day or so before, but he said, "If one wants to play sleuth and they read the blurb carefully, there are a lot of hints.")
Although they are enthusiastic about every film in the program, two others he is particularly excited about are "Becoming Cousteau," a documentary on Jacques Cousteau directed by Liz Garbus, and "Introducing, Selma Blair," about an actress who has battled multiple sclerosis for many years. She will be at the screening with the director, Rachel Fleit, who lives in East Hampton, and the producer.
The Conversations With series is on hiatus this year, but there will be many introductions and talkbacks after screenings. After the shutdowns of productions because of Covid, "a lot of working actors, directors, producers, and staff who were off set for a while are all rushing to get back," Mr. Nugent said. In a regular year, "it's not difficult for someone to leave a production, go somewhere, and come back, but with Covid protocols, it's a lot harder."
This year's submissions were "really strong," with "definitely some that were informed by the pandemic in ways that you could see" directly or indirectly, he said. The opening night film by Matthew Heineman, "The First Wave," is about those on the front lines of care in New York City when the coronavirus first hit. Mr. Heineman directed a narrative film, "A Private War," with Mr. Dornan and Rosamund Pike, previously shown at HIFF, but he's also an Oscar-nominated documentary filmmaker.
The world premiere screening is one that both organizers are really excited about. "It's an incredible movie that is really, really moving," Mr. Nugent said, "and a testament to the selfless efforts of the frontline health care workers who were there at the beginning of everything."
Ms. Chiasson noted the risk in showing such a film now. "Some people are surely thinking, 'Covid? I'm in Covid. I don't want to see a film about Covid' . . . but it is so profound, really moving in a hopeful way that is so cathartic." She still gets the chills when she talks about it. They also have something special planned for the end of the screening that "I do think people will be talking about all over town. People will be really upset if they miss it, truly."
Although Covid has popped up in some films this year, often in comedic takes on the era of Zoom and life under lockdown, Mr. Nugent said his sense is that mainstream films, and even the more serious festival fodder, will be targeted more at escapism over the next few years. "I don't think there's going to be a ton of them but I imagine there will be some, as there should be. It's the most consequential thing that's happened in my life and a lot of other people's lives, so I expect and hope that artists will do what artists do." Meaning they will "try to help us make sense of the world and the human condition by exploring these subjects in art."
Ms. Chaisson agreed. Similar to how we continue to see movies about World War II, "that's still going to happen with this. There is an infinite amount of stories out there for people in their experience with this." As actors wear masks on television shows or scenes were shot differently because some cast members didn't want to be on set, "we're going to see it in a myriad of ways. It'll be about Covid, or just living with Covid and during Covid. Absolutely, we'll see things for decades.
This year's festival will show in fewer theaters, but over more days, beginning next Thursday and ending Oct. 13, a Wednesday. Those extra weekdays will help locals avoid the weekend crowds and offer a chance to see films like Celine Sciamma's "Petite Maman," which has its sole screening that Tuesday.
HIFF is using only Guild Hall and the Sag Harbor Cinema this year, with no East Hampton Cinema screenings. "We just really weren't sure how many people were willing to come back into theaters," she said. Although they know people are interested in buying tickets, the unknown factor is how many.
She said the East Hampton Cinema works wonderfully in typical years, but "we didn't want to pack those theaters and make people uncomfortable. And it would take a lot of people staff-wise to make that work, and we couldn't make that work this year." They also wanted to support Sag Cinema as a new and nonprofit venue. "In the film world, people help each other out."
Individual tickets went on sale Monday and are available through the Hamptons Film website and at the box office at Guild Hall from noon to 4 p.m. through Wednesday, and 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. next Thursday through Oct. 13.
