The 30th Anniversary Hamptons International Film Festival Concludes, Award Winners Announced

The 30th anniversary edition of the Hamptons International Film Festival has concluded. The festival, which was held from October 7 to 16, featured an expanded 10-day event.

There were “A Conversation With…” discussions with industry leaders including Mariska Hargitay (honored with the 2022 Dick Cavett Artistic Champion Award ), Stephanie Hsu (honored with the Breakthrough Artist Award), Chelsea Clinton, Hugh Jackman, and Martin McDonagh.

Films that screened at this year’s festival included Oliver Hermanus’ “Living” which opened the festival, “The Son,” directed by Florian Zeller, Tobias Lindholm’s “The Good Nurse,” Rian Johnson’s “Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery,” Rodrigo Garcia’s “Raymond & Ray,” “Who Invited Charlie?” directed by Xavier Manrique, “January 6th,” directed by ​​Jules and Gédéon Naudet, and more.

HamptonsFilm also announced the full list of feature and short film award winners for this year’s edition.

Davy Chou’s “Return to Seoul,” distributed by Sony Picture Classics won this year’s Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature. Christopher Sharp and Moses Bwayo’s “Bobi Wine: The People’s President,” won this year’s Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature. Kyle Thrash and Haley Elizabeth Anderson’s “The Sentence of Michael Thompson,” won the Audience Award for Best Short Film.

“We are so thankful to all of the artists who allowed us to share their films and incredible stories with our film-loving community,” said David Nugent, HamptonsFilm’s artistic director. “As our 30th anniversary edition of this year’s festival comes to an end, I would like to take a moment to congratulate the talented winners and all the filmmakers who made this year’s edition so special.”

24’s “Close,” directed by Lukas Dhont, won Best Narrative Feature at this year’s festival. “Pray for our Sinners,” directed by Sinéad O’Shea, won this year’s Best Documentary Feature. 

HIFF also announced the winners within the shorts program for this year’s festival, including “Snow in September,” directed by Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir, which won Best Narrative Short; and “When the LAPD Blows Up Your Neighborhood,” directed by Nathan Truesdell, which won Best Documentary Short. 

“It has been a privilege to screen such a robust and inspiring selection of films as we celebrate 30 years of sharing stories with audiences out East,” said Anne Chaisson, HamptonsFilm’s executive director. “We would like to take a moment to wholeheartedly thank all of our filmmakers, audience members, staff, sponsors, and volunteers for making this milestone edition of HIFF a great success.”

Masha Novikova’s “Glorious Revolution” was awarded the 2022 Peter Macgregor-Scott Memorial Award. Evgeny Afineevsky’s “Freedom on Fire: Ukraine’s Fight For Freedom” was awarded the 2022 Brizzolara Family Foundation Award to Films of Conflict & Resolution.

Volker Schlöndorff’s “The Forest Maker” was presented with the Victor Rabinowitz & Joanne Grant Award for Social Justice. Jerzy Skolimowski’s “EO” was awarded the Zelda Penzel “Giving Voice to the Voiceless” Award.

Pepi Ginsberg’s “The Pass” was awarded the Suffolk County Film Commission Next Exposure Grant. Laura Checkoway’s “The Cave of Adullam” and Ellie Foumbi’s “Our Father, The Devil” were awarded the New York Women in Film & Television Awards.

The festival also announced the recipients of the University Short Film Awards, highlighting the extraordinary talent and achievements of five exceptional students.  Awardees include “Berry Pickers,” directed by Agnes Skonare Karlsson, “Glorious Revolution,” directed by Masha Novikova, “Motherland,” directed by Christina Yoon, “Textures,” directed by Lindsay Opoku-Acheampong, and “Wet,” directed by Marianne Bergeonneu, Lauriane Montpert, Mélina Mandon, Cloé Peyrebrune, and Elvira Taussac.

Of the 69 feature films and 51 shorts screened as part of the 2022 Hamptons International Film Festival, 53 percent were female-directed and 38 percent were directed by filmmakers of color. 37 countries were represented at this year’s edition of HIFF.

Attendees of the 2022 festival included Alec and Hilaria Baldwin, Mariska Hargitay, Chelsea Clinton, Stephanie Hsu, Hugh Jackman, Kaitlyn Dever, Jordana Brewster, Bob Balaban, Adam Pally, Reid Scott, Keith Beauchamp, Crystal Reed, Martin McDonagh, Chris Columbus, Daniel Kwan, Daniel Scheinert, Peter Hedges, Rory Kennedy, Cristian Mungiu, Oliver Hermanus, Austin Bragg, Meredith Bragg, Judith Ivey, Sheila McCarthy, Christina Jackson, Cory Michael Smith, Todd Flaherty, Wyatt Fenner, Joey Taranto, Raúl Castillo, Davy Chou, Park Ji-min, Antonia Buresi, Laura Checkoway, Patricia E. Gillespie, Sadaf Foroughi, David Petersen, Robert S. Bader, Dick Cavett, Xavier Manrique, Mike Doyle, Moses Bwayo, Jules Naudet, Gedeon Naudet, Ellie Foumbi, Souléymane Sy Savané, Daniel Goldhaber, Sacha Jenkins, JD Dillard, Ricki Stern, Ryan White, Ben Klein, Violet Columbus, Karen Maine, Nancy Buirski, Matthew Heineman, Mia Hansen-Løve, Michael H. Weber, Carter Burwell, Joseph Cross, Misty Copeland, Steven Melendez, Rodrigo García, Krysty Wilson-Cairns, Amy Loughren, Lola Quivoron, Jordan Sjol, Roger Sharpe, Christine Choy, Justin Wilkes, Sara Bernstein, Cynthia Wade, Chris Hegedus, Volker Schlöndorff, Josh Seftel, Sinéad O’Shea, Evgeny Afineevsky, Chris Smith, Donna Karan, and more.