As Earth Day approaches its 53rd observance, Hamptons Doc Fest, in partnership with the Southampton Arts Center, has chosen "All in for the Aquifer" as the theme of this year's three-day Docs Equinox festival.
Starting Friday at the arts center, the weekend will include a keynote speaker, three documentary feature films, panel discussions following each film, two cocktail receptions, and a "Water Central" information hub staffed by five local environmental groups.
"None of us can live without water," said Jacqui Lofaro, the founder and executive director of Hamptons Doc Fest. "We are charged to protect and preserve the vital part of our ecosystem -- the water -- that surrounds us on Long Island, is positioned under where we live, work, and play, and provides the sole-source aquifer for our drinking water."
The festival will kick off Friday at 5:30 p.m. with the cocktail reception and information hub, which includes the Group for the East End, the Nature Conservancy, the Peconic Estuary Partnership, the Surfrider Foundation, and Peconic Baykeeper.
The keynote address will be given at 7 by Maya van Rossum, founder of the nonprofit Green Amendments for the Generations, which seeks to secure constitutional protection of environmental rights, including the water we drink. Her book "The Green Amendment" will be available for sale.
"Invisible Hand," an award-winning 2020 documentary directed by Joshua Pribanic and Melissa Troutman and executive-produced and narrated by the actor Mark Ruffalo, will be shown after the keynote. The film is the story of Grant Township, Pa., a small rural town that fought against a corporation and the state to protect its right to clean water.
The directors will discuss the film via Zoom after the screening.
"The Grab," set for Saturday at 7 after a 5:30 reception, follows the research of Nathan Halverson and his colleagues at the Center for Investigative Reporting into the 2013 purchase by a Chinese company of the pork supplier Smithfield Foods. Following the money trail, they uncovered covert actions by China and other nations to control land and water resources in this country.
The screening will be followed by a Zoom conversation with Mr. Halverson and Gabriela Cowperthwaite, the film's director.
The festival will conclude on Sunday afternoon at 2 with "Patrick and the Whale," a documentary by Mark Fletcher that sold out its screening in December's Hamptons Doc Fest. The film follows the marine videographer, diver, and whale lover Patrick Dykstra, who for 20 years dedicated his life to traveling the globe, swimming with and attempting to communicate with whales.
A live Zoom session with Mr. Fletcher and Mr. Dykstra will follow the film.
Tickets, available from the Doc Fest and arts center websites, are $15 for each day, $10 for members of the arts center and New York Women in Film and Television, and $5 for children and students.
