The catalog seen here, with a cover design featuring paintings by the celebrated artist Eric Fischl, who lives on North Haven, is from the first annual Hamptons International Film Festival, which ran from Oct. 20 to 24 in 1993. The film festival was the brainchild of Joyce Robinson, who moved to East Hampton after a 20-year career in the entertainment industry. She envisioned a festival in October, extending the summer season and benefiting from the area’s close ties to New York City and the large number of movie industry people who called the Hamptons home.
In August 1992, Ms. Robinson asked her friend Naomi Lazard for help with the project. A month later, the two began exploring ways to finance it. By the spring of 1993, Toni Ross, of Nick and Toni’s fame, signed on as chairwoman of the board of directors, and the festival secured corporate sponsorships, among them Time Warner and American Airlines. Additional inaugural board members included Tinka Topping, one of the founders of the Hampton Day School and the Hampton Classic Horse Show, and the author Steven Gaines.
The catalog provided festivalgoers with a schedule that laid out when and where each event would happen. The festival’s offerings included world premieres of international and domestic narrative films, documentaries, and short films shown at the United Artists Cinema in East Hampton, Guild Hall, and Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor. A student film showcase shared 10 jury-winning submissions from film students. Beyond screenings, the festival had panel discussions on low-budget moviemaking and the evolution of the portrayal of women in film, along with a program about film preservation efforts.
The 34th Hamptons International Film Festival will run from tomorrow to Oct. 12. You can check out this year’s schedule and buy tickets online at hamptonsfilmfest.org.
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Christina Pellegrino is a librarian and archivist in the Long Island Collection.
