It might be the dog days of summer, but fall is on the horizon, and so is the 32nd Hamptons International Film Festival, which will launch its 11-day expanded schedule on Oct. 4 with the East Coast premiere of "Martha," a documentary on Martha Stewart set for release on Netflix.
Dubbed by the festival the "definitive" documentary about the businesswoman and lifestyle personality, it is directed by R. J. Cutler, an Emmy and Peabody Award-winner and Oscar nominee, who conducted a series of candid interviews with Ms. Stewart. Both she and the filmmaker are scheduled to attend the screening and participate in a conversation afterward.
The festival will also host the world premieres of Erik Nelson's "Daytime Revolution" and Dori Berinstein's "A Man With Sole: The Impact of Kenneth Cole." Authorized by Yoko Ono and Sean Lennon, "Daytime Revolution" documents the week in 1972 when John Lennon and Yoko Ono co-hosted the popular "Mike Douglas Show." The couple's guests ranged from Chuck Berry and George Carlin to Ralph Nader and Bobby Seale, chairman of the Black Panther Party.
As "A Man With Sole" documents, Mr. Cole is not only a fashion icon but also a social activist committed to human rights, social justice, and mental health, helping to shatter stigmas surrounding H.I.V./AIDS, homelessness, and L.G.B.T.Q.I.A.+ rights.
Other announced highlights include Daniel Robbins's "Bad Shabbos," in which an engaged interfaith couple is about to have their respective parents meet for the first time over Shabbat dinner when an accidental death gets in the way. It will be a Spotlight selection. The film stars Kyra Sedgwick, David Paymer, and Cliff (Method Man) Smith Jr.
The Air, Land, and Sea series will include "Nocturnes," a documentary by Anirban Dutta and Anupama Srinivasan that attempts to track and measure nocturnal hawk moths at various spots in an eastern Himalayan forest.
Michael Premo's documentary "Homegrown" will have its New York premiere in the festival's Films of Conflict and Resolution series. It follows three right-wing activists as they crisscross the country during the summer of 2020, campaigning for Donald Trump and building a movement they hope will outlast him.
Views From Long Island will include the North American premiere of "Christmas Eve in Miller's Point," a comedy-drama shot and set in Suffolk County, directed by Tyler Taormina and starring Michael Cera, Francesca Scorsese, Matilda Fleming, and Sawyer Spielberg. As a family gathers for what might be the last holiday in its ancestral home, generational tensions arise and one young girl sneaks out with her friends for an act of teenage rebellion.
The festival will take place from Oct. 4 through Oct. 14, with in-person screenings and events happening across the South Fork. Passes and packages will go on sale beginning Sept. 4 on the festival's website.
