Hamptons International Film Festival adds buzzy movies, Oscar contenders to 2024 lineup

The Hamptons International Film Festival announced its full lineup Thursday, including several probable Oscar contenders from marquee directors starring A-list casts.

"Coming out of last year's strikes, I'm thrilled for the festival to return in full force for 11 days of dynamic‬ programming attended by prolific filmmakers and talent from around the world,” David Nugent, the festival’s artistic director, said in a statement. The 32nd festival runs Oct. 4 through 14 at venues across the East End.

The Hamptons festival has long prided itself as an important part of the yearly Oscar conversation, and this lineup intends to continue the tradition. Many titles have been curated from other world festivals and will screen as sneak peeks before their U.S. theatrical release. The festival also features several documentaries on fabulous folks, including “Martha,” about the lifestyle icon Martha Stewart, and “A Man with Sole: The Impact‬‭ of Kenneth Cole‬‭.”

One of the festival’s buzziest titles is “Emilia Pérez,” Jacques Audiard’s unlikely musical comedy-drama — based on his own opera libretto — about a Mexican cartel lord seeking gender confirmation surgery. Following the film’s premiere at Cannes, pundits began predicting that its star, Karla Sofía Gascón, could become the first openly transgender actor to win an Oscar. The film also features Zoe Saldaña and Selena Gomez.

“Blitz,” from writer-director Steve McQueen (“12 Years a Slave”), stars Saoirse Ronan as a mother searching for her missing child during the German bombings of London during World War II. The film’s premiere will be at the BFI London Film Festival on Oct. 9; it plays in the Hamptons Oct. 13 and 14.

“Conclave,” which premiered at Telluride, features Ralph Fiennes as Cardinal Lawrence, whose mission to help the Catholic Church choose a new Pope leads him to uncover a shocking conspiracy. In a highly positive review, The Guardian called it “a pulpy papal thriller.” After playing at the Hamptons, it arrives in theaters Nov. 1.

Spanish director Pedro Almodóvar marks his first English-language feature with “The Room Next Door,” a drama starring Tilda Swinton as a war correspondent and Julianne Moore as her resentful daughter. It earned the Golden Lion Award at the Venice Film Festival earlier this month and is scheduled for theatrical release Dec. 20.

Other titles include “The Order,” starring Jude Law as an FBI agent looking into a white-supremacist crime ring; "Saturday Night," Jason Reitman's fictionalized account of the very first episode of "Saturday Night Live"; and “The End,” a post-apocalypse drama (starring Swinton and Michael Shannon) that marks the feature-film debut of Joshua Oppenheimer, a MacArthur fellowship-winning documentary filmmaker (“The Act of Killing”).

The festival’s popular interview series, “A Conversation With…”, this year features three actors: Liev Schreiber (Netflix’s “A Perfect Couple”), Demi Moore (this year’s horror title “The Substance”) and Andrew Garfield (“We Live in Time,” a festival selection co-starring Florence Pugh).

Ticket packages are on sale; individual tickets will be available Sept. 23. To purchase tickets and for more information, call 631-324-4600 or go to hamptonsfilmfest.org.

By Rafer Guzmán

rafer.guzman@newsday.com@raferguzman