Jon Batiste, Dan Rather pics among highlights of Hamptons Doc Fest
Musician Jon Batiste is the subject of “American Symphony.” Credit: Josh Heaps
The Hamptons Doc Fest is turning sweet 16 by expanding to a full week while featuring a lineup that will include the stories of veteran newsman Dan Rather and musician Jon Batiste and an interview with Oscar-winning director James Ivory.
The festival, which begin Thursday and runs through Dec. 6, will take place at two Sag Harbor locations: Bay Street Theater and Sag Harbor Cinema.
Kicking things off at 5:30 p.m. Thursday at Sag Harbor Cinema will be this year 's Art & Inspiration Award winner “Call Me Dancer” about Mumbai native Manish Chauhan and his journey to perform with the ballet. Leslie Shampaine, who directed the film with Pip Gilmour, who appear for a Q&A after the screening.
That will be followed by the opening night film, "In the Company of Rose" (8 p.m. at Sag Harbor Cinema) about Rose Styron, the widow of novelist William Styron. Director James Lapine will appear in person after film, while Ms. Styron will show up via Zoom for a Q&A.
One of the highlights of the festival will be the awards gala, which will take place Dec. 2 at 6:30 p.m. Filmmaker Matthew Heineman will receive the Pennebaker Career Achievement Award for “tackling difficult and often hard-to-access subjects while addressing great social truths," festival organizers said in a statement. His latest documentary, "American Symphony," which explores a year in the life of Batiste, who is best known as the bandleader on "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert," will also be shown.
Ivory, 96, will attend a screening of his latest movie "A Cooler Climate" (1 p.m. Dec. 2 at Sag Harbor Cinema) about his experiences in Afghanistan in the early 1960s. He will speak about the film and his career afterward.
Other films to be presented include "Obsessed With Light" (7:30 p.m. Dec. 1 at Sag Harbor Cinema) about innovative dancer Loie Fuller; "The Loving Story" (2 p.m. Dec. 3 at Sag Harbor Cinema) by Nancy Buirski, who will be honored with the festival's first posthumous Legacy Award; “26.2 to Life” (noon Dec. 4 at Bay Street) about three men incarcerated at San Quentin prison; Hamptons filmmaker Heather Dune Macadam's “999: The Forgotten Girls of the Holocaust” (8 p.m. Dec. 5); "Shari & Lamb Chop" (2 p.m. Dec. 6 at Bay Street) about ventriloquist Shari Lewis; and Enviromental Award recipient “Deep Rising” (4:30 p.m. Dec. 6 at Bay Street Theater), Matthew Rytz's study of geopolitical, scientific and corporate intrigue at the International Seabed Authority.
Closing out the festival will be "Rather" (7 p.m. Dec. 6 at Bay Street), in which Dan Rather reflects on his journalistic career covering everything from the Vietnam War to the fall of the Berlin Wall. It will be followed by a Zoom interview with the TV veteran's grandson Martin Rather.
For tickets and the full schedule, go to hamptonsdocfest.com.
