‘Close,’ ‘Pray for Our Sinners’ win top awards at 30th Hamptons International Film Festival

The 30th anniversary edition of the Hamptons International Film Festival, presented by HamptonsFilm, today announced their award winners for this year’s feature and short film competition. This year HIFF screened 69 feature films and 51 short films from 34 countries, with nine World premieres, three North American premieres, and 12 U.S. premieres.

A24’s Close, directed by Lukas Dhont, which follows two thirteen-year-old best friends, whose seemingly unbreakable bond is suddenly, tragically torn apart, won Best Narrative Feature at this year’s festival. The winner of this year’s Cannes Grand Prix, the film is an emotionally transformative and unforgettable portrait of the intersection of friendship and love, identity and independence, and heartbreak and healing. TheNarrative Feature Competition honors emerging directors who represent cinema’s next generation of innovative film artists. Juried by world-class filmmakers and industry professionals, the winning Narrative Feature film receives a $3,000 cash prize as well as a film production package of in-kind goods and services with a total value of $82,500, sponsored by Panavision, Silvercup Studios/Silvertrucks, Hamptons Locations, and On Location Education.

Pray for Our Sinners, directed by Sinéad O’Shea, won this year’s Best Documentary Feature. The film documents the townspeople in O’Shea’s hometown and the control exerted by the Catholic Church, showing their quiet victories, ongoing struggles, and the eccentricities of life within a small Irish town. These astonishing yet uplifting stories use rare firsthand testimonies to describe the horrors of mother and baby homes, the prevalence of violence against children, and the co-dependent relationship between the Church, State, and its people. Featuring an array of powerful subjects, the Documentary Feature Competition honors new and distinctive voices in documentary filmmaking. Juried by world-class filmmakers and industry professionals, the winning Documentary Feature film receives a $3,000 cash prize as well as a film production package of in-kind goods and services with a total value of $20,000, sponsored by 91 East Productions and GreenSlate.

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 the Neighborhood, directed by Nathan Truesdell, which won Best Documentary Short. Additionally, the festival would like to make a special mention for The Sentence of Michael Thompson, directed by Kyle Thrash and Haley Elizabeth Anderson. Juried by world-class filmmakers and industry professionals, the Narrative and Documentary Short Competition winners will take home a cash prize of $500 and qualify for Academy Award consideration.

This year’s narrative competition jury was comprised of producer and director of award-winning feature films, television, and theater Fred Berner, best known for producing the Oscar-winning Pollock, Vanya on 42nd Street, The Great White Hype, and The Ballad of Little Jo; President of Production at Amblin Partners Jeb Brody, who oversees a slate of films produced under the company’s Amblin Entertainment and DreamWorks Pictures banners, including 1917, FINCH, and the upcoming The Last Voyage of the Demeter; and the Celeste Bartos Chief Curator of Film at The Museum of Modern Art Rajendra Roy, who previously joined HIFF as the Director of Programming (2002-2006) before becoming the Artistic Director (2006-2007).

The documentary competition jury included  Emmy Award-winning Co-Producer and Shorts Producer at POV, Opal H. Bennett, known for her work on POV Shorts, which won the 2020 IDA Award for Best Short Form Series; entertainment writer Jordan Hoffman, whose work can currently be read at Vanity Fair, The A.V. Club, The Guardian, and The Times of Israel; and founder and CEO of Artemis Rising Foundation Regina Scully, who has produced over 200+ documentary films as a social entrepreneur, media activist, and filmmaker.

This year the Festival was honored to partner with the New York Film Critics Circle for the fourteenth year.

“We are so grateful to this year’s class of filmmakers for allowing us to host so many critical and timely projects in our competitive sections,” said David Nugent, HamptonsFilm Artistic Director. “None of this would be possible without the help of our distinguished jury members who are all such wonderful representations of their different corners of the industry. I also would like to take this opportunity to thank our hardworking programming team for curating such an amazing lineup of films and programs for everyone to celebrate 30 years out East.”

“As the 30th anniversary edition of our festival comes to a close, we could not be more excited to award the winners of this year’s feature and short film competitions,” said Anne Chaisson, HamptonsFilm Executive Director.  “It is such an honor to know that our festival continues to be recognized as a destination for some of the year’s most exciting and dynamic titles.” 

HAMPTONS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL CONGRATULATES THE 2022 WINNERS:

The HIFF Award Winner for Best Narrative Feature
CLOSE, directed by Lukas Dhont

HIFF Award Winner for Best Documentary Feature

PRAY FOR OUR SINNERS, directed by Sinéad O’Shea

The HIFF Award Winner for Best Narrative Short Film

SNOW IN SEPTEMBER, directed by Lkhagvadulam Purev-Ochir

The HIFF Award Winner for Best Documentary Short Film

WHEN THE LAPD BLOWS UP YOUR NEIGHBORHOOD, directed by Nathan Truesdell

Special Mention for THE SENTENCE OF MICHAEL THOMPSON, directed by Kyle Thrash and Haley Elizabeth Anderson

HIFF Narrative Feature Jury

Fred Berner, producer, whose work includes the Oscar-winning POLLOCK, VANYA ON 42nd STREET, THE GREAT WHITE HYPE, and THE BALLAD OF LITTLE JO

Jeb Brody, producer, whose work includes 1917, FINCH, and the upcoming THE LAST VOYAGE OF THE DEMETER

Rajendra Roy, theCeleste Bartos Chief Curator of Film at The Museum of Modern Art

HIFF Documentary Feature Jury

Opal H. Bennett, producer, known for her work on POV Shorts which won the 2020 IDA Award for Best Short Form Series

Jordan Hoffman, writer, whose work can currently be read at Vanity Fair, The A.V. Club, The Guardian, and The Times of Israel

Regina Scully, producer, founder, and CEO of Artemis Rising Foundation, who has produced over 200+ documentary films

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, Oliver Hermanus, Austin Bragg, Meredith Bragg, Judith Ivey, Sheila McCarthy, Christina Jackson, Cory Michael Smith, Wyatt Fenner, Joey Taranto, Raúl Castillo, 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, Daniel Goldhaber, Sacha Jenkins, JD Dillard, Ricki Stern, Ryan White, Ben Klein, Violet Columbus, Todd Flaherty, Karen Maine, Nancy Buirski, Matthew Heineman, Mia Hansen-Løve, and more.

The 30th Annual Hamptons Film Festival is set to close Sunday, October 16, 2022, at the conclusion of an extended 10-day event.