‘Just Mercy’ to open Hamptons Film Festival; ‘Ford v Ferrari’ set as Centerpiece
(Photo: Jake Giles Netter)
The 27th annual edition of the festival will be held October 10-14
The Hamptons Film Festival is set to kick off with the true life crime drama Just Mercy, from director Destin Daniel Cretton and starring Michael B. Jordan alongside Academy Award winners Jamie Foxx and Brie Larson. The film is slated for a Christmas Day limited release.
20th Century Fox and Disney’s race car drama Ford v Ferrari, starring Academy Award winners Christian Bale and Matt Damon, will serve as the fest’s Centerpiece Film. Ford v Ferrari hits theaters this November.
Four documentaries will have their world premieres here as well. Conscience Point, detailing the fight for ancestral rights by the Shinnecock Nation, National Enquirer exposé Scandalous; the timely topic of mass-shootings with In Memoriam; and the water-crisis of Flint.
Joining these titles is also Clemency, starring Academy Award nominee Alfre Woodard. The Chinonye Chukwu-directed film, about a prison warden (Woodard) dealing with the demons of her decisions, was a Sundance winner this year and Woodard will be present for a post-film Q&A retrospective on her career.
“We are honored to have Alfre Woodard at this year’s festival and look forward to a captivating and engaging conversation, with her as well as our Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Brian De Palma,” said Anne Chaisson, Executive Director of the Hamptons International Film Festival.
“Each of these films tell a unique, thrilling story and we are excited to share them with our passionate audiences out east, with a truly remarkable lineup of some of the year’s most anticipated films, events and world premiere screenings,” said David Nugent, Artistic Director of the Hamptons International Film
Festival.
He is a Rotten Tomatoes-approved critic, accredited by the Cannes Film Festival, Telluride Film Festival, Toronto International Film Festival and more, is a member of the International Cinephile Society (ICS), The Society of LGBTQ Entertainment Critics (GALECA), Critics Choice Association (CCA), San Francisco Bay Area Film Critics Circle (SFBAFCC) and the International Press Academy. Among his many achieved goals with AwardsWatch, he has given a platform to underrepresented writers and critics and supplied them with access to film festivals and the industry and calls the Bay Area his home where he lives with his husband and son.
- ‘Jay Kelly,’ ‘Hamnet,’ ‘Pluribus,’ ‘Task’ and More on AFI’s Top 10 Films and Television of 2025 Lists - December 4, 2025
- ‘Frankenstein’ to Receive Visionary Honor from Palm Springs International Film Awards - December 4, 2025
- Robert Yeoman to be Honored with American Society of Cinematographers’ Lifetime Achievement Award - December 3, 2025
‘Jay Kelly,’ ‘Hamnet,’ ‘Pluribus,’ ‘Task’ and More on AFI’s Top 10 Films and Television of 2025 Lists 
‘Frankenstein’ to Receive Visionary Honor from Palm Springs International Film Awards 
Robert Yeoman to be Honored with American Society of Cinematographers’ Lifetime Achievement Award 
National Board of Review: ‘One Battle After Another’ Tops in Film, Director, Actor, Supporting Actor; Netflix Lands Four in Top 10