Friday was our first full day of screenings and events at HIFF 2014, and from what we could tell, audiences are *loving* the movies, panels, and conversations in and out of the theaters.
Friday highlights included acclaimed actress Patricia Clarkson, both in A Conversation With… (sponsored by NYU Langone Medical Center), and in her latest film, Isabel Coixet’s Learning to Drive, co-starring Ben Kingsley. (As you can see, she lit up the red carpet as well.)
Also on the red carpet on Friday were Laura Dern, whose film Wild was the opening night selection in Southampton Friday night (sponsored by Kaufman Astoria Studios); director Oren Moverman and Richard Gere, star of Moverman’s latest film Time out of Mind; actor Riz Ahmed from Nightcrawler; and legendary German director (and now Amagansett resident) Volker Schlöndorff, whose film Diplomacy screened in East Hampton on Friday.
And HIFF 2014 was the setting for the World Premiere of Wildlike, screening in the World Cinema section, sponsored by Delta and Altour. Frank Hall Green‘s feature debut stars Bruce Greenwood, Ella Purnell, Nolan Funk, and Diane Farr, all of whom were able to attend the premiere.
The Focus on Chinese Cinema program kicked off Friday as well, with the US Premiere of Zhang Yimou‘s Coming Home. A panel convened after the screening to discuss the changing cinematic climate in China.
And filmmakers rounded out the evening at the Blue Parrot, where they enjoyed the first of our Filmmaker parties—this one sponsored by Kodak. We hope everyone’s not too wiped out for more movies tomorrow! Three days to go, people… let’s make the most of it!