Oscars Give Some Love to Films With South Fork Connections

While a number of films connected to the South Fork were nominated for Academy Awards in various categories this year, most did not take home the prizes on Sunday night.

One of the exceptions was "Spotlight," which won best picture for its producers and best original screenplay for Josh Singer and Tom McCarthy. The film featured performances by Liev Schreiber and John Slattery, who have houses in Amagansett. Mark Ruffalo and Rachel McAdams were nominated for Oscars for their supporting roles in the film. “Spotlight” was also nominated for film editing and best director. The film swept much of the Independent Spirit Awards on Saturday night, including the best ensemble, best feature, best director, and best screenplay categories. 

In a big surprise, the presumed favorite for best supporting actor, Sylvester Stallone, was passed over by the Academy in favor of Mark Rylance for “Bridge of Spies.” 

Directed by Steven Spielberg, who has a house in Georgica, “Bridge of Spies” was nominated for best picture, along with "Spotlight," “Room,” and “Brooklyn,” which were shown at the Hamptons International Film Festival as well. Those films each received nominations for their screenplays. In addition, “Bridge of Spies” was nominated for best production design and sound mixing.

Brie Larson, who starred in the film “Room,” a festival selection and its audience award winner, won the best actress Oscar.

“Son of Saul,” from Hungary, won the award for foreign language film. It was nominated along with its fellow HIFF pick “Embrace of the Serpent,” from Colombia.

“The Big Short,” which contained a brief performance by Melissa Leo as a representative from a securities ratings agency, was also up for best picture. Ms. Leo is the daughter of Arnold Leo of Springs. It won for best adapted screenplay.

“Carol,” produced in part by Christine Vachon, who heads the Stony Brook Southampton graduate film program, was nominated for best adapted screenplay, cinematography, costume design, supporting actress for Rooney Mara, and lead actress for Cate Blanchett. Carter Burwell of Amagansett received his first Oscar nomination for best score. The film, shown at the film festival in October, came home empty-handed.

Other key nominations of HIFF films were Lenny Abrahamson for direction of “Room." “Anomalisa,” for which Mr. Burwell also wrote the music, was nominated as best animated feature. Saoirse Ronan of “Brooklyn” received a best actress nomimation. “Simple Song #3” from “Youth” was nominated for best song. 

“Body Team,” “Claude Lanzmann: Spectres of the Shoah,” and “Last Day of Freedom” were in the running for best documentary short film; none of them won the award. “Sanjay’s Super Team” was up for best animated short, but lost to “Bear Story.”