Oscar contenders with Angelina Jolie, Selena Gomez showcased at 2024 Hamptons International Film Festival; Martha Stewart doc also on tap
Angelina Jolie as Maria Callas in "Maria." Credit: Netflix/Pablo Larraín
Oscar contenders, critical favorites and sneak previews make up the 32nd Hamptons International Film Festival, which runs this year in an expanded, 11-day edition.
The festival takes place Oct. 4 through 14 at venues around the East End.
As always, the Hamptons acts as a sort of festival-of-festivals, with many titles cherry-picked from big marketplaces like Cannes and Venice. Three features were added at the last minute after David Nugent, artistic director of the Hamptons festival, saw them at last month’s Toronto International Film Festival: "Conclave," about a Catholic Church cardinal (Ralph Fiennes) who uncovers a dark conspiracy; "The Order," a crime drama starring Jude Law as an FBI agent investigating a white supremacist gang; and "Maria," featuring Angelina Jolie as the opera singer Maria Callas. That’s on top of other buzzy films such as "Emilia Pérez," a French musical that's spurring early Oscar talk, and "Blitz," a World War II drama from director Steve McQueen ("12 Years a Slave"). Those titles premiered at Cannes and the London BFI Film Festival, respectively.
Demi Moore, shown here at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, will be honored at this year's HIFF. Credit: Getty Images/Neilson Barnard
Outside of the movies will be special appearances from Demi Moore, Liev Schreiber and Andrew Garfield, each speaking as part of the festival’s popular live interview series, "A Conversation With ..." Moore will receive the Career Achievement in Acting Award, while Schreiber accepts the festival’s Dick Cavett Artistic Champion Award.
WHEN|WHERE The Hamptons International Film Festival runs Oct. 4 through 14 at venues on the East End. Individual tickets are $15-$40; passes and packages are $200-$2,000. To purchase tickets and for more information, call (631) 825-0050 or go to hamptonsfilmfest.org.
Here are several highlights from the Hamptons lineup:
MARTHA (Oct. 4 at 6:30 p.m. at East Hampton Middle School, 76 Newtown Ln.)
Martha Stewart gets the documentary treatment. Credit: Netflix
The opening-night selection is a documentary on the lifestyle icon Martha Stewart. Directed by R.J. Cutler, whose previous subjects have included Billie Eilish and Dick Cheney.
AMERICAN CATS: THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE CUDDLY (Oct. 5 at noon at Regal UA East Hampton, 30 Main St.) A documentary exposé on the practice of cat declawing, leavened by humor from comedian Amy Hoggart ("Full Frontal with Samantha Bee"), who wrote it.
THE FRIEND (Oct. 5 at 1:30 p.m. at Regal UA East Hampton) A New York City novelist (Naomi Watts) must untangle the literary legacy left behind by her recently deceased mentor (Bill Murray). Also with Carla Gugino, Constance Wu and Ann Dowd.
DAYTIME REVOLUTION (Oct. 5 at 2:15 p.m. at Regal UA East Hampton) Erik Nelson’s documentary revisits one of the oddest weeks in television, when John Lennon and Yoko Ono joined as cohosts of the massively popular "The Mike Douglas Show" and welcomed such iconic guests as Chuck Berry, George Carlin, Jerry Rubin, Bobby Seale and Ralph Nader.
THE PIANO LESSON (Oct. 5 at 2:30 p.m. at East Hampton Middle School)
John David Washington. left as Boy Willie and Skylar Smith as Maretha in "The Piano Lesson." Credit: Netflix
Two sons of Denzel Washington, actor John David Washington and debut director Malcolm Washington, team up for an adaptation of August Wilson’s play about siblings fighting over an heirloom piano. Malcolm Washington will be honored with the festival's Breakthrough Director Award.
MARIA (Oct. 5 at 8 p.m. at Regal UA East Hampton)
Angelina Jolie as Maria Callas in "Maria." Credit: Netflix/Pablo Larraín
Angelina Jolie plays the doomed opera singer Maria Callas in the latest biopic from director Pablo Larraín ("Jackie," "Spencer").
WE LIVE IN TIME (Oct. 5 at 8 p.m. at East Hampton Middle School)
Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield in "We Live in Time." Credit: A24 Films
Florence Pugh and Andrew Garfield star in a decade-spanning romance, told through snapshots that reveal a more complicated story than first appears. Directed by John Crowley ("Brooklyn").
EMILIA PÉREZ (Oct. 6 at 1:30 p.m. at East Hampton Middle School)
Selena Gomez as Jessi in "Emilia Pérez." Credit: Pathé Films/France 2 Cinéma/Why Not Productions/Page 114/Shanna Besson
This French musical about a Mexican cartel leader seeking gender confirmation surgery has some pundits predicting the first Oscar win for a transgender actress (Karla Sofía Gascón). Selena Gomez costars as Jessi, the wife of Gascón's character.
THE END (Oct. 6 at 5 p.m. at Regal UA East Hampton) Tilda Swinton and Michael Shannon star in a drama about one of the last families left on Earth. This is the first narrative feature from Joshua Oppenheimer, best known for his unsettling documentaries ("The Act of Killing").
HARD TRUTHS (Oct. 8 at 7:45 p.m. at Regal UA East Hampton) Writer-director Mike Leigh reteams with his "Secrets and Lies" star Marianne Jean-Baptiste for the story of a London woman who harbors an inexplicable rage at the world around her. It’s the 15th feature from the 81-year-old British filmmaker.
THE ORDER (Oct. 6 at 8:15 p.m. at Regal UA East Hampton)
Jude Law, left, Jurnee Smollett and Tye Sheridan in "The Order." Credit: Michelle Faye
An FBI agent (Jude Law) traces a series of daring bank robberies to a white-supremacist gang. Justin Kurzel’s drama is inspired by a real case from the 1980s. Also starring Nicholas Hoult and Jurnee Smollett.
NICKEL BOYS (Oct. 9 at 7:45 p.m. at Regal UA East Hampton)
In Jim Crow-era Florida, two Black teenagers (Ethan Herisse and Brandon Wilson) enter the juvenile reformatory system. Written and directed by Oscar nominee RaMell Ross ("Hale County This Morning, This Evening") from Colson Whitehead's novel.
THE ROOM NEXT DOOR (Oct. 11 at 2:15 p.m. at Guild Hall) Pedro Almodóvar’s first English-language feature stars Julianne Moore as a novelist and Tilda Swinton as a war correspondent who reconnect after years of estrangement. With John Turturro and Alessandro Nivola.
SATURDAY NIGHT (Oct. 11 at 5 p.m. at Guild Hall, 158 Main St., East Hampton).
Lorne Michaels (Gabriel LaBelle), Gilda Radner (Ella Hunt), John Belushi (Matt Wood) and Dan Aykroyd (Dylan O'Brien) in "Saturday Night." Credit: Sony Pictures/Hopper Stone
A peek behind the scenes of the first episode of "Saturday Night Live," featuring mostly unknown actors playing John Belushi, Chevy Chase and others. Director Jason Reitman will speak at this screening.
ANORA (Oct. 11 at 5:15 p.m. at Regal UA East Hampton)
Mark Eydelshtein and Mikey Madison in "Anora." Credit: NEON
An exotic dancer from Brighton Beach elopes with a young Russian playboy, much to the dismay of his wealthy parents. It's the latest sex-work dramedy from writer-director Sean Baker ("Tangerine," "Red Rocket"), and it won the Palme d'Or at Cannes. Starring Mikey Madison and Mark Eydelshteyn.
CONCLAVE (Oct. 12 at 11 a.m. at Guild Hall)
Ralph Fiennes stars as Cardinal Lawrence in "Conclave." Credit: Focus Features
Assigned by the Catholic Church to find a new Pope, Cardinal Lawrence (Ralph Fiennes) uncovers a shocking conspiracy. With Stanley Tucci, John Lithgow and Isabella Rossellini.
SEPTEMBER 5 (Oct. 12 at 9 p.m. at Regal UA East Hampton)
Peter Sarsgaard, John Magaro, Ben Chaplin, Leonie Benesch in "September 5." Credit: Hamptons International Film Festival
During the 1972 Olympics, ABC's sports team finds itself covering a hostage situation involving nine Israeli athletes. Peter Sarsgaard plays the legendary television exec Roone Arledge in this newsroom thriller from director Tim Fehlbaum.
BLITZ (Oct. 13 at 2 p.m. at Guild Hall) Saoirse Ronan plays a mother searching for her child during the German bombings of London during World War II. Directed by Steve McQueen.
NIGHTBITCH (Oct. 13 at 8 p.m. at Guild Hall) In the closing-night selection, Amy Adams plays an exhausted stay-at-home mother who begins turning into — wait for it — a dog. Scoot McNairy is her concerned husband. Marielle Heller ("Can You Ever Forgive Me?") directs.
THE LONG ISLAND ANGLE
Since launching in 2000, the Views from Long Island section of the Hamptons International Film Festival has served as a showcase for films with a local angle. Generally, the movies were either shot here, set here or made by someone with roots here. Often, that means mostly short films, with perhaps a feature title and an hour-length documentary or two.
This year, however, the series is unusually robust, with three full-length narrative features that fit the Long Island bill. It isn’t clear what’s driving this sudden burst of local creativity, but David Nugent, the festival’s artistic director, is happy to see it. When choosing movies with a fairly narrow criteria, he says, "You’re at the mercy of whatever’s been made that year. So there are certain years where there are more compelling films."
Here are the three big titles anchoring this year’s Views from Long Island section. The filmmakers, and likely some cast members, will appear in-person at all screenings.
BARRON’S COVE (Oct. 6 at 2 p.m. at Regal UA East Hampton) After his young son is murdered, a father (Garrett Hedlund) turns the tables by kidnapping the suspect’s son. Despite a title that echoes the Baron’s Cove resort in Sag Harbor, the movie isn’t set on Long Island, but writer-director Evan Ari Kelman, making his feature-film debut, was partly raised in Water Mill. Also starring Hamish Linklater.
CHRISTMAS EVE IN MILLER’S POINT (Oct. 6 at 6 p.m. at Regal UA East Hampton) A family gathers for the holidays in this comedy-drama from director Tyler Taormina and writer Eric Berger, both of Smithtown. The characters are inspired by the filmmakers’ friends and family members; the film was shot in their hometown last year. Among the stars are Michael Cera, Francesca Scorsese (daughter of Martin Scorsese) and Sawyer Spielberg (son of Steven Spielberg), but the movie has a homey, nostalgic feel according to The Hollywood Reporter’s early review out of Cannes. "It’s as Suffolk County as they come," Nugent says of the film, "in the best possible way."
THE PREMIERE (Oct. 10 at 8 p.m. at Guild Hall, 158 Main St., East Hampton) In this mockumentary comedy, another Water Mill filmmaker, Sam Pezzullo, casts himself as a theater director trying to mount a musical of the horror film "Scream" at Sag Harbor’s Bay Street Theater. The cast includes several real-life locals; Pezzullo's co-writer and co-director, Christopher Bouckoms, is based in Wainscott. This is the world premiere screening.
— Rafer Guzmán
Most Popular
Top Stories
