The Hamptons International Film Festival Returns for its 32nd year. 

The Hamptons International Film Festival takes place annually in October, with a number of additional events held year round in New York City and the Hamptons. Named one of MovieMaker Magazine’s 25 Coolest Film Festivals in the World as well as one of 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee, HIFF is the premier film event on New York State’s East End, and an intimate showcase of some of the year’s best offerings in contemporary cinema. Recently referred to as “Telluride East” by Variety, the publication cited HIFF as “one of America’s most glamorous displays of the best in cutting-edge cinema.” Festival selections continue to play an important role during awards season, with a significant number of titles highlighted every year at the Academy Awards. Films featured at the 2023 Festival received 43 Academy Award nominations, and overall, films in the last 14 editions have received a total of 571 Oscar nominations.

The festival draws national film industry attendees, including representatives from a wide array of film and media companies, a range of journalists including the film trades, Academy Award bloggers, local publications as well as national journalists and New York based press. The festival hosts multiple competitions focused specifically on early-career filmmakers, in the hopes of bolstering their work at an important juncture and helping develop a discussion around their films, both within the film community and beyond. With prizes of cash and in kind goods and services valued at more than $130,000, HIFF continues to support the artists that create some of the best films each year.

The festival also features four signature programs: Films of Conflict & Resolution; Compassion, Justice & Animal Rights; Air, Land & Sea; and Views From Long Island. HIFF partners with numerous international and national organizations, including an educational initiative with the United Nations, a long-standing partnership with the New York Film Critics Circle (NYFCC), who serve on the jury and moderate Q&As, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), which attracts many big names from the film and cinema industry. Film critics are also in attendance at the festival each year, including from The New York Film Critics Circle.

Prizes are awarded for the Best Narrative Feature, Best Documentary Feature, Best Narrative Short (Academy Award qualifier), and Best Documentary Short (Academy Award qualifier). Other awards include the Peter Macgregor Scott Memorial Award ($10,000 prize), the Brizzolara Family Foundation Award for Films of Conflict & Resolution ($5,000 cash prize), the Suffolk County Film Commission Next Exposure Grant ($3,000 cash prize), the Zelda Penzel “Giving Voice to the Voiceless” Award ($2,500 cash prize), the Victor Rabinowitz & Joanne Grant Award for Social Justice ($2,000 cash prize), the New York Women in Film & Television Awards for Excellence in Narrative Filmmaking and Documentary Filmmaking (each, $1,000 cash prize),  and the University Film Awards (various cash awards).

This year’ Festival – the 32nd – kicks off on Friday, October 4. Passes and packages for the festival, which runs through October 14, went on sale September 4; individual screening tickets go on sale September 21 (for HIFF members) and September 23 (for non-members). For additional information, go to www.hamptonsfilmfest.org. This year’s honorees include Demi Moore, who will receive the Career Achievement in Acting Award; Liev Schreiber, accepting the festival’s Dick Cavett Artistic Champion Award; Malcolm Washington, recognized with the Breakthrough Director Award; and Meg LeFauve and Dave Holstein, accepting the Achievement in Screenwriting Award. The festival has also shared the poster art for the 2024 festival, continuing the 32-year tradition of featuring artwork from local artists. This year’s poster features the work of acclaimed artist Mary Heilmann’s 2014 piece “Maricopa Highway.”

The year’s presenting sponsor is the Artemis Rising Foundation, which has a mandate for the support of media, film, and education challenging the status quo and transforming culture. It champions powerful stories about important social justice issues like mental health, trauma recovery, addiction, sustainability and personal empowerment. Other sponsors include UBS, Audi, law firm King & Spaulding, Sotheby’s, Variety magazine, Netflix and Silvercup Studios. New to Festival sponsorship are Naturopathica, Assemble Media and Dragon Hemp. Favorite Hamptons wining and dining spots have joined the sponsor list as well, including Nick & Toni’s, Serafina East Hampton, Il Buco al Mare, Rowdy Hall and Wölffer Estate Vineyards.

While the entire HIFF film guide will not be available until mid-September, the following is a preliminary list of featured films scheduled to premiere at the festival:

MARTHA. HIFF32 Opening Night Film on Friday, October 4 will be the East Coast premiere of documentary feature MARTHA, profiling American businesswoman and lifestyle personality Martha Stewart. Directed by Academy Award-nominated and Emmy and Peabody Award-winning director R.J. Cutler, MARTHA is the definitive documentary on Martha Stewart. Stewart and Cutler are both scheduled to attend the festival with the film and participate in a post-screening talkback. 

NIGHTBITCH. The HIFF32 Closing Night film (screening Sunday October 13 and Monday October 14), NIGHTBITCH is a Searchlight Pictures release from writer/director Marielle Heller and starring Academy Award nominee Amy Adams and Scoot McNairy. The film follows a woman (Adams) who pauses her career to be a stay-at-home mom when her new domesticity takes a surreal turn. Marielle Heller is scheduled to attend the festival and participate in a post-screening Q&A.

THE PIANO LESSON. HIFF32 Centerpiece Film scheduled to premiere on October 5, THE PIANO LESSON is directed and co-written by Malcolm Washington, and features an ensemble cast including Samuel L. Jackson, John David Washington, Danielle Deadwyler, and Ray Fisher. An adaptation of August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name, THE PIANO LESSON is the story of how a prized heirloom piano tears two siblings apart. On one side, a brother (John David Washington) plans to build the family fortune by selling it. Malcolm Washington, Danielle Deadwyler, and John David Washington are scheduled to attend and participate in a post-screening conversation about the film. At the screening, and in recognition of his feature directorial debut, Malcolm Washington will receive this year’s Breakthrough Director Award, celebrating an up-and-coming filmmaker with an uncommonly bright future.