The Ninth Annual Hamptons International Film Festival will be presented October 17 – 21, 2001 in East Hampton, Sag Harbor, and Westhampton Beach, New York. The festival was founded to celebrate the American independent film – long, short, fiction and documentary – and to introduce a unique and varied spectrum of international films and filmmakers to its audiences. It is a festival of culture from around the world that hopes to enlighten the viewers, provide opportunities for filmmakers and present inspired entertainment for all. This year’s event features 11 World Premieres, 3 US premieres, 14 East Coast premieres and 9 New York premieres.
Executive Director, Denise Kasell, and Board Chairman, Stuart Match Suna, state “We are proud to present a slate of thought provoking as well as entertaining films to the Hamptons again this fall. The festival provides an outstanding occasion for filmmakers to exhibit their work and for our audience to catch something out of the ordinary. We would like to thank our sponsors, especially title sponsor Cablevision Systems Corporation and its Independent Film Channel (IFC), for supporting our mission to cultivate, stimulate and express the art of the independent film.”
Many popular programs and presentations will be returning this year. The heart of the Hamptons International Film Festival’s commitment to American independent filmmaking has always been its Golden Starfish Award and the films in the competitions for Best Fiction Feature, Best Documentary and Best Short Film. The award for the Golden Starfish Feature worth over $180,000 in goods and in-kind services to be used towards the next feature makes it one of the richest award prizes in the independent film arena. The Golden Starfish Documentary prize is worth $10,000 cash and in-kind, and the Short Film Prize, sponsored by the Independent Film Channel is $5,000. The Festival also awards The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Film Prize in Science and Technology with a $25,000 cash award; The Dan & Ewa Abraham and Tammy Abraham Award for Films of Conflict & Resolution also with a $25,000 cash award; The Zicherman Family Foundation Award for Best Screenwriter presents a $5,000 award; the Student Film Showcase and Awards where eight student filmmakers receive $2,000 each; the Kodak Award for Best Cinematographer with a prize of $6,000 worth of film stock; and, of course, the Audience Awards for Best Dramatic Feature film or video, Best Documentary film or video and Best Short film or video. This year, Perrier has partnered with five film festivals to present the “Bubbling Under Award” to a first time fiction feature film director. Selected by a jury from among our Golden Starfish Fiction films, the HIFF film/filmmaker will join the other four in being eligible for the grand prize of a $50,000 cash grant to be applied to their next production.
Along with the Golden Starfish Competition films, this year’s lineup features the daily Spotlight Films, where each evening high-profile films are shown in advance of their theatrical release; Artists Make Movies, a collection of films made by well-known visual artists; -View From Long Island, sponsored by the Long Island Convention and Visitors Bureau & Sports Commission, a special group of films made on Long Island or by filmmakers who call the area their home; Films For Families, a selection of films devoted to delighting and inspiring the child within us all; Student Films sponsored by the Independent Film Channel, presents competition winning films made by graduate and under-graduate filmmakers; World Cinema, sponsored by American Airlines and Altour International, presentations of the best in independent filmmaking from around the globe – this year featuring films from France, Australia, Germany, Denmark and “The Artistry of Cuba,” a selection of films from and about Cuba celebrating an innovative legacy of art and ideas; and Films of Conflict and Resolution, sponsored by Dan & Ewa Abraham and Tammy Abraham, a ten-year program created in conjunction with the Nobel Peace Laureates Foundation to present a special program of films focusing on areas of conflict in the world. In this second year, the films have been selected from countries encompassing the former Yugoslavia. All of these film programs include audience Q&A’s following the screenings with the filmmakers and facilitators to encourage dialogue.
Among the other popular programs of the festival is A Conversation With… a surprise guest selected from the ranks of filmmaking’s brightest stars. Past conversations have featured Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Isabella Rossellini, Richard Dreyfuss, Barry Sonnenfeld and Danny Aiello. New York Times film critic and The Independent Film Channel’s host of Independent Focus, Elvis Mitchell, will, as he has in the past, moderate the conversation. Also a favorite are the Close Encounters, informal discussions held each morning with filmmakers and celebrities participating in the festival and hosted by indieWire’s Editor-in-Chief Eugene Hernandez. The Special Presentations include film critic Roger Ebert conducting a Master Class on the movie often called the best film of all time – Orson Welles’ Citizen Kane. The film will be released in the fall for the first time on DVD in a 60th-anniversary, digitally remastered, edition containing, among other highlights, a feature-length audio track by Mr. Ebert. Roger Ebert will sign DVD’s and books at BookHampton on Main Street on Saturday at 10:45am; and a screening of artist/filmmaker – and the designer of this year’s HIFF poster – Julian Schnabel’s acclaimed film Before Night Falls. There will also be a program of Women and Films sponsored by New York Women in Film and Television with a special appearance by Faye Dunaway. Based at The Festival Lounge at Blanc Bleu on Main Street, the Youth Media program features discussions and panels with youth media producers and facilitators, hands-on demonstrations, an ongoing documentary workshop, screenings of shorts, including animations, docs and live action videos made by young people. And then there are the Panel Discussions, where industry leaders and filmmakers gather to discuss – films and filmmaking.
For additional info including the full schedule of screenings and events, call 631-324-4600 or visit the official site for the Hamptons International Film Festival.
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