2019 Hamptons Film Festival to close with Trey Edward Shults’ ‘Waves,’ Spotlight on Lulu Wang, Conversation with Alfre Woodard

Breakthrough Artists: Camila Morrone, Aldis Hodge, Lulu Wang

Conflict & Resolution Section and 17th Anniversary of NYWIFT Shorts Announced

27th Annual Festival to Run October 10 – 14, 2019

Today the Hamptons International Film Festival announced A24’s WAVES as their Closing Night Film. Directed by Trey Edward Shults, the film presents the lives of a suburban African-American family as they navigate life following a tragic loss. The film stars Emmy Award-winning actor Sterling K. Brown, Tony Award-winning actress Renée Elise Goldsberry, Kelvin Harrison Jr., Academy Award nominee Lucas Hedges, Taylor Russell, and Alexa Demie.

The festival will also continue its eighteen-year tradition of recognizing up and coming talent through its annual Breakthrough Artists signature program. This year’s recipients include actress Camila Morrone of MICKEY AND THE BEAR, which will screen in the World Cinema Narrative section, actor Aldis Hodge from CLEMENCY, previously announced in this year’s Spotlight section, and Lulu Wang, director of the summer indie darling THE FAREWELL. Since 2002, HIFF has honored distinguished talent in early stages of their careers, including award-winning actors Emily Blunt, Brie Larson, Adam Driver, Jessica Chastain, Mahershala Ali, Riz Ahmed, Alicia Vikander, Lupita Nyong’o, Emma Stone, Elisabeth Moss, Rooney Mara, Oscar Isaac, and more.

The films in this year’s signature Conflict & Resolution program, which spotlight stories that creatively deal with complex issues and societal effects of war and violence, and engage audiences surrounding the causes, will include the following: Hans Pool’s BELLINGCAT: TRUTH IN A POST-TRUTH WORLD, Feras Fayyad’s THE CAVE, Waad al-Khateab and Edward Watts’s FOR SAMA, Ben Lawrence’s HEARTS AND BONES, and Dror Moreh’s THE HUMAN FACTOR. This year, FOR SAMA will be the recipient of the section’s Brizzolara Family Foundation Awards for Films of Conflict & Resolution and following the screening, Alec Baldwin will be hosting a live-taping of the NPR show Here’s The Thing with the filmmakers.

For the 17th year, the festival will partner with New York Women in Film & Television, a non-profit dedicated to supporting, celebrating and advocating for women in media, to present their annual shorts “NYWIFT: Women Calling the Shots,” to support achievements in female filmmaking. This year’s shorts will include Remington Long’s ALCHEMY, Grace Kim’s AN INTERLOPER’S KISS, Sini Anderson’s CATHERINE OPIE B. 1961, Lizzy Hogenson’s DANI, Faren Humes’ LIBERTY, Celine Held and Logan George’s LOCKDOWN, and Farida Zahran’s YOUTH. The Women Calling the Shots showcase will be preceded by NYWIFT’s brunch at Mulford Farm celebrating the women filmmakers at the festival.

“We are elated to conclude our festival with Trey Edward Shults’ WAVES, a beautiful drama of a family’s love that will absolutely mesmerize our audiences,” said David Nugent, Artistic Director of the Hamptons International Film Festival. “And with our Breakthrough Artist signature program, we are pleased to recognize the talent of Camila Morrone, Aldis Hodge, Lulu Wang, three artists whose work on the screen has been stunning.”

“Our long-standing collaboration with New York Women in Film & Television has showcased exciting work from female filmmakers for the last 17 years, and we are extremely proud of this legacy,” said Anne Chaisson, Executive Director of Hamptons International Film Festival. “additionally highlighting another signature program, Conflict and Resolution has opened the eyes of our audiences of the horrors of conflict, and how we can help those in dire need.”

Ticket packages for the 2019 festival are now on sale, and individual tickets will go on sale on October 1. This year’s festival guide will be available online on September 17.

HIFF previously announced that they will honor legendary director Brian De Palma with a Lifetime Achievement Award, and artist and founding Chairman of the Board of HIFF Toni Ross will be the recipient of this year’s Dick Cavett Artistic Champion Award. De Palma will also participate in a “A Conversation With…” at the festival with Festival co-chair Alec Baldwin.  

‘Just Mercy’ to open Hamptons Film Festival; ‘Ford v Ferrari’ set as Centerpiece

The festival also previously announced JUST MERCY as the Opening Night Film, along with THE IRISHMAN as the Friday Centerpiece, FORD v FERRARI as the Saturday Centerpiece, THE TWO POPES as the Sunday Centerpiece, “A Conversation With…” with Alfre Woodard and a screening of CLEMENCY, as well as the World Premieres CONSCIENCE POINT, IN MEMORIAM, SCANDALOUS, and FLINT.

Additional films in this year’s lineup include Spotlight films A HIDDEN LIFE,  JOJO RABBIT, and MARRIAGE STORY, along with PORTRAIT OF A LADY ON FIRE in the World Cinema Narrative Section. Films in the narrative competition are Mati Diop’s ATLANTICS, Anke Blonde’s THE BEST OF DORIEN B., Jan Ole Gerster’s LARA, Andrew Patterson’s THE VAST OF NIGHT, and Hlynur Pálmason’s A WHITE, WHITE DAY. Films in the documentary competition include Alexander Nanau’s COLLECTIVE, Alla Kovgan’s CUNNINGHAM, Sung-a Yoon’s OVERSEAS, Patrick Bresnan & Ivete Lucas’ PAHOKEE, and Suhaib Gasmelbari’s TALKING ABOUT TREES.

The 27th annual Hamptons International Film Festival will take place Columbus Day Weekend: October 10 – 14, 2019. The Festival is pleased to welcome back returning Premiere Sponsor Audi, Lead Sponsors Delta and Altour, Signature Sponsors Netflix, Douglas Elliman, and JP Morgan, and Official Media Sponsors WNBC, The East Hampton Star, and Purist Magazine. For more information please visit www.hamptonsfilmfest.org.

2019 Hamptons International Film Festival Lineup – Additional Films

WAVES

*Closing Night

East Coast Premiere

Director: Trey Edward Shults

Set against the vibrant landscape of South Florida, and featuring an astonishing ensemble of award-winning actors and breakouts alike, WAVES traces the epic emotional journey of a suburban African-American family—led by a well-intentioned but domineering father—as they navigate love, forgiveness and coming together in the aftermath of a loss. From acclaimed director Trey Edward Shults (KRISHA, HIFF 2015), WAVES is a heartrending story about the universal capacity for compassion and growth even in the darkest of times.

Conflict & Resolution

BELLINGCAT: TRUTH IN A POST-TRUTH WORLD

Director: Hans Pool

Director Hans Pool tracks the story of several civilians who came together as Bellingcat, a collective of “citizen investigative journalists” dedicated to combating the spreading of misinformation online and working as a single unit to deploy open source investigations. Using every imaginable resource at their disposal, ranging from social media, video footage, and audio analysis, the collective has uncovered several global stories—including the identification of ISIS agents as well as those responsible for the poisonings of two Russian civilians in the UK. Focusing on the team of dedicated volunteers at the group’s center and the means through which they are redefining modern journalism, BELLINGCAT sheds light on those attempting to keep journalistic integrity alive in a post-truth world.

THE CAVE

Director: Feras Fayyad

New York Premiere

Coming off his Academy Award-nominated documentary LAST MEN IN ALEPPO, director Feras Fayyad returns to his native Syria, a country still ravaged by an unrelenting war that has spared nothing in its destructive wake, not even the local hospitals. In his new documentary, Fayyad covers a hidden, underground hospital called The Cave, where a dedicated team of mostly female doctors and civilians is led by Dr. Amani, a young female pediatrician. Together, they risk their lives to provide medical care to the besieged local population, ignoring the entrenched conservative and patriarchal pressures in their way. Fayyad’s tender, observational documentary captures not only the tragedy surrounding the doctors, but also the beautiful moments of generosity, compassion, and kindness that glimmer brightly among the turmoil.

FOR SAMA

Director: Waad al-Khateab, Edward Watts

Working with her co-director Edward Watts, 26-year-old Syrian filmmaker Waad al-Kateab documents the story of her life over five years during the uprising in Aleppo, as she falls in love and gives birth to her daughter Sama while cataclysmic conflict rises around her. As she is faced with the decision between leaving the city to protect her daughter’s life or continuing in her country’s struggle for freedom, al-Kateab continues to keep her camera rolling on the daily lives of her and her family. Winner of the Best Documentary and Audience Awards at SXSW and the Golden Eye Award at the Cannes Film Festival, FOR SAMA is a harrowing depiction of one woman’s fight for survival in one of the world’s most dangerous war zones.

HEARTS AND BONES

U.S. Premiere

Director: Ben Lawrence

War photographer Daniel Fisher (Hugo Weaving) returns home to Sydney from his latest assignment to begin preparations for an upcoming retrospective of his work within many of the world’s most dangerous combat zones. As he prepares for both the opening and, much to his partner’s discomfort, his next assignment abroad, he’s greeted by a surprise visitor: Sebastian Aman (Andrew Lury), a South Sudanese refugee urging Daniel to exclude photographs from a massacre in his village 15 years ago. As the two men come together, a friendship blossoms through the shared trauma they’ve worked so hard to move beyond, in this timely and affecting look at the difficulty of facing years of repression.

THE HUMAN FACTOR

East Coast Premiere

Director: Dror Moreh

The intricacies of the volatile Palestinian-Israeli peace talks are deftly explored in Academy Award-nominated director Dror Moreh’s (THE GATEKEEPERS) latest documentary. With unprecedented access to six key envoys involved in the peace talk negotiations from the late 1980s to 2000, Moreh creates a riveting behind-the-scenes look at how Bill Clinton, Yasser Arafat, and Yitzhak Rabin came within reach of pulling off the impossible, and how their dreams for a peace accord would eventually unravel in tragedy. THE HUMAN FACTOR is a fascinating look at the missed opportunities and lost chances of the negotiations, with consequences that still reverberate around the world.

NYWIFT: WOMEN CALLING THE SHOTS

ALCHEMY

Director: Remington Long

A community comes together for friendship, poetry, and some handcrafted sourdough baked in the old-world tradition.

AN INTERLOPER’S KISS

World Premiere

Director: Grace Kim

A voyeuristic look at one woman’s daily routine, from the perspective of an unlikely love interest.

CATHERINE OPIE B. 1961

East Coast Premiere

Director: Sini Anderson

Acclaimed photographer Catherine Opie shares the emotional and political motivations behind her provocative and influential work.

DANI

New York Premiere

Director: Lizzy Hogenson

Feeling obligated to put on a brave face, a daughter calls her mother to share some difficult news. 

LIBERTY

Director: Faren Humes

As their community faces redevelopment, Alex and Milagros find their longtime friendship tested by their impending separation. 

LOCKDOWN

New York Premiere

Directors: Celine Held and Logan George

Struggling with feelings for her best friend, 14-year-old Marie stages an almost perfect plan.

YOUTH

East Coast Premiere

Director: Farida Zahran

Over the course of one eventful night out in Cairo, a teenage girl takes a step toward adulthood.

ABOUT THE HAMPTONS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

The Hamptons International Film Festival (HIFF), celebrating 27 years, is a year-round non-profit organization with monthly screenings of current films, filmmaking workshops, a Screenwriters Lab, master classes, summer documentary screening series, and an annual film festival each October. The Festival is the premiere film event on New York State’s east end, and is an intimate showcase of some of the year’s best offerings in contemporary cinema from around the world. Selections from all of our programs continue to play an important role during awards season. 2018 marked the 9th time in a row that a film in the Festival has become the eventual Best Picture winner at the Oscars, making HIFF the only Festival in the world with such a distinction. For more information please visit www.hamptonsfilmfest.org