HamptonsFilm presents the 2024 edition of the Hamptons International Festival presented by Regina K. Scully’s Artemis Rising Foundation. The 32nd edition of the festival will feature a lineup of films that are 45 percent female-directed and represent 50 countries from around the world. The festival will screen 86 features and 61 shorts with eight World Premieres, five North American Premieres, 11 US Premieres, nine East Coast Premieres, and 20 New York Premieres. The festival will run from October 4 to 14.
The festival will open on October 4 with the East Coast Premiere of R.J. Cutler’s documentary feature “Martha,” profiling American businesswoman and lifestyle personality Martha Stewart. The festival will also host the East Coast Premiere of Netflix’s “The Piano Lesson” as this year’s Centerpiece Film, set to screen on October 5. Directed and co-written by Malcolm Washington and featuring an ensemble cast including honorary Academy Award winner Samuel L. Jackson, John David Washington, Danielle Deadwyler, and Ray Fisher, the film is an adaptation of August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name.
The East Coast Premiere of Searchlight Pictures’ “Nightbitch” will screen as the festival’s Closing Night presentation on October 13. From writer and director Marielle Heller and starring Academy Award nominee Amy Adams and Scoot McNairy, the film follows a woman who pauses her career to be a stay-at-home mom when her new domesticity takes a surreal turn. This year’s “A Conversation With…” series will feature discussions with Demi Moore, Liev Schreiber, and Andrew Garfield.
The festival is also set to host World Premieres that include Erik Nelson’s “Daytime Revolution,” Dori Berinstein’s “A Man With Sole: The Impact Of Kenneth Cole,” and Rachel Feldman’s “Lilly,” based on the remarkable life of fair pay activist Lilly Ledbetter and her long journey to justice after learning that for 20 years she’s been earning only half of what men with the same job are paid.
Clarence Maclin will receive this year’s Breakthrough Performer Award following a Special Screening of A24’s “Sing Sing” on October 13. Directed by Greg Kwedar, the film tells the powerful story of Divine G (Academy Award-nominee Colman Domingo), imprisoned at Sing Sing Maximum Security Prison for a crime he didn’t commit, who finds purpose by acting in a theatre crew with other inmates. When a wary outsider (Clarence Maclin) joins the group, the men decide to stage their first original comedy.
Additional Spotlight titles include “Mubi’s Bird,” directed by Andrea Arnold, which follows 12-year-old Bailey, who one day meets a stranger named Bird. This enigmatic and dreamlike character becomes a part of her everyday life. Apple Original Film’s “Blitz,” directed by Steve McQueen and set in London during World War II, where a defiant 9-year-old embarks on his perilous way home while his distraught mother desperately searches for her missing son as the bombing rages on.
The New York Premiere of Focus Features’ “Conclave,” directed by Edward Berger, follows the Cardinal tasked with running one of the world’s most secretive and ancient events – selecting the new Pope. Netflix’s “Emilia Perez,” directed by Jacques Audiard, follows a fearsome cartel leader, Emilia, who enlists an unappreciated lawyer to help her fake her own death and look after her wife and their children so Emilia can finally live authentically as her true self. Roadside Attractions’ “Exhibiting Forgiveness,” the directorial debut by renowned artist Titus Kaphar, is a multidimensional personal drama about an artist on the path to success who is derailed by an unexpected visit from his estranged father, desperate to reconcile.
The New York Premiere of Neon’s “The End,” directed by Joshua Oppenheimer, is a Golden Age musical about one of the last families on Earth, who, after the sudden arrival of a stranger, begin to question their seemingly perfect existence. Scott McGehee and David Siegel’s “The Friend” follows a New York writer in the aftermath of her lifelong mentor’s unexpected death. Bleecker Street’s “Hard Truths,” directed by Mike Leigh, is a tough but compassionate, intimate study of family life. Pablo Larraín’s “Maria” tells the tumultuous, beautiful, and tragic story of the life of the world’s greatest female opera singer, Maria Callas. The East Coast Premiere of Vertical’s “The Order,” directed by Justin Kurzel, follows an FBI agent and his team confronting the tangled world of white supremacists as they try to head off a violent uprising that could shatter the nation. The New York Premiere of Neon’s “Presence,” directed by Steven Soderbergh, chronicles a family who moves into a suburban house and becomes convinced they’re not alone.
Sony Pictures Classics’ “The Room Next Door,” directed by Pedro Almodóvar, follows two women who meet again after years of being out of touch in an extreme but strangely sweet situation. Sony Pictures’ “Saturday Night,” directed by Jason Reitman, is based on the true story behind the scenes in the 90 minutes leading up to the first broadcast of “Saturday Night Live.” The North American Premiere of Lionsgate and Roadside Attractions’ “Small Things Like These,” directed by Tim Mielants, follows a coal merchant who, after discovering disturbing secrets kept by the local convent, is forced to confront his past and the complicit silence of a small Irish town controlled by the Catholic Church.
Daniel Robbins’ narrative feature “Bad Shabbos” stars an ensemble cast featuring Kyra Sedgwick, David Paymer, and Cliff “Method Man” Smith, and tells the story of an engaged interfaith couple who are about to have their parents meet for the first time over Shabbat dinner when an accidental death gets in the way. The US Premiere of John Crowley’s “We Live In Time” will include lead Andrew Garfield attending the festival and participating in an “A Conversation With…” event. “A Real Pain,” directed by Academy Award nominee Jesse Eisenberg and starring Eisenberg and Emmy Award winner Kieran Culkin, sees mismatched cousins David (Eisenberg) and Benji (Culkin) reunite for a tour through Poland to honor their beloved grandmother. Culkin will attend and participate in a post-screening Q&A.
“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,” said HamptonsFilm Artistic Director David Nugent. “With a slate inclusive of multiple World, North American, and US Premiere screenings, our team has curated an exciting lineup for East End audiences to be amongst the first to preview some of this year’s most compelling and buzzed-about films.”
The Narrative Competition section of this year’s festival, sponsored by Silvercup Studios, will also include the North American Premiere of IFC Films’ “Armand,” directed by Halfdan Ullman Tøndel, following a defamed actress who is abruptly called into a parent-teacher meeting after hours and is presented with scathing allegations that trigger a tangled web of accusations. The New York Premiere of Metrograph Pictures’ “Gazer,” directed by Ryan J. Sloan, follows a young mother who takes a risky job from a mysterious woman to support her daughter, unaware of the dark consequences that await. The North American Premiere of Metrograph Pictures’ “The Kingdom,” directed by Julien Colonna, chronicles a teenage girl’s relationship with her father as she reckons with his role in a mob war that erupts in 1995 Corsica. The US Premiere of Sideshow and Janus Films’ “Vermiglio,” directed by Maura Delpero, follows a local teacher’s family in a high mountain village of the Italian Alps whose dynamic is disrupted by the arrival of a refugee soldier. The New York Premiere of Anu Valia’s “We Strangers” sees a commercial cleaner in Gary, Indiana, approached with an offer to clean the homes of both a man and his mistress.
The Documentary Competition section of this year’s festival, sponsored by Silvercup Studios, will include the East Coast Premiere of Pinny Grylls and Sam Crane’s “Grand Theft Hamlet,” detailing the ridiculous, hilarious, and moving adventure of two theatre actors staging a production of Hamlet in the online digital world of Grand Theft Auto. Brendan Bellomo and Slava Leontyev’s “Porcelain War” follows three Ukrainian artists who defiantly find beauty as they defend their culture and country while creating intricate porcelain figurines. The US Premiere of Marah Strauch and Bryce Leavitt’s “Space Cowboy” follows skydiving cinematography pioneer Joe Jennings, who built a career capturing surreal, unbelievable images while plummeting mid-air. The US Premiere of “Viktor,” directed by Olivier Sarbil, is about a young deaf man in Kharkiv, eagerly seeking purpose during the early days of Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. The World Premiere of Heidi Levitt’s “Walk With Me” profiles Levitt’s husband as he develops symptoms of Alzheimer’s disease and explores how it has irrevocably changed their lives without letting it define them.
As part of the Films of Conflict and Resolution Signature Program, sponsored by Artemis Rising Foundation, the festival will screen “Antidote,” directed by James Jones, which follows three courageous subjects who have risked their lives to speak truth to power in Putin’s Russia. The East Coast Premiere of Lucian Read’s “Lions of Mesopotamia” tells the remarkable story of the Iraqi national soccer team’s journey to become Asian Cup champions in 2007 during the bloodiest days of their country’s civil war. Kino Lorber’s “Soundtrack to a Coup D’etat,” directed by Johan Grimonprez, interrogates the intersection of radical art and global politics within colonial history.
The Views From Long Island Signature Program focuses on local filmmakers, the area’s unique landscapes, and the important social and political issues facing Long Island communities. Presented with support from the Suffolk County Film Commission, the program will screen the World Premieres of Evan Ari Kelman’s “Barron’s Cove,” in which a grieving father with a history of violence kidnaps the child responsible for his son’s tragic death, igniting a frenzied manhunt fueled by a powerful politician — the father of the kidnapped boy. Sam Pezzullo and Christopher Bouckoms’ “The Premiere,” a largely improvised comedy, follows Sam, a painfully narcissistic and delusional theater producer who attempts to make a musical version of his favorite movie, “Scream,” at a local Sag Harbor theater.
The Air, Land, and Sea Signature Program, sponsored by Dragon Hemp, will present the New York Premiere of Apple’s “The Last of the Sea Women,” directed by Sue Kim, peering into what drives the haenyeo divers of South Korea young and old and documenting the women’s tight-knit friendships, savvy independence, and wonderfully infectious sense of empowerment. The New York Premiere of “The White House Effect,” directed by Bonni Cohen, Jon Shenk, and Pedro Kos, explores the drama that unfolded inside the George H.W. Bush administration after scientists made headlines by proclaiming that significant climate change was underway. Grasshopper Film’s “Nocturnes,” directed by Anirban Dutta and Anupama Srinivasan, is a deeply immersive film that transports audiences to a rarely-seen place and urges us all to look more closely at the hidden interconnections of the natural world.
For a full schedule and tickets, visit hamptonsfilmfest.org.