HIFF Reveals Opening, Closing and Centerpiece Films (#HIFF12)

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The 20th Hamptons International Film Festival (@HamptonsFilm, #HIFF12) is proud to announce that Love, Marilyn will have it’s U.S. Premiere as the Opening Night film at Guild Hall (@GuildHall) in East Hampton on Thursday, October 4th. Director Liz Garbus’ documentary feature is a startlingly intimate and revealing portrait of arguably the most famous female actor ever to grace the silver screen.

The Friday night Southampton opening is David O. Russell’s Silver Linings Playbook. After a court-ordered stint at a psychiatric facility, Pat Solitano (Bradley Cooper), who is bipolar, moves back in with his parents (Robert De Niro and Jackie Weaver) and tries to win back his estranged wife Nikki. Into his orbit flies Tiffany (Jennifer Lawrence), an equally volatile young widow who offers to help Pat get Nikki back…at a price. The film will be released by The Weinstein Company on November 21st.

Ben Affleck’s Argo will be the Centerpiece of the festival. Affleck directs and plays Tony Mendez, a CIA agent and “exfiltration” expert who devised a daring, unconventional plan to rescue six Americans hiding in the Canadian Embassy in Tehran during the 1979 Iran hostage crisis. Warner Brothers will release the film nationally on October 12th.

David Chase, the creator of The Sopranos, makes his feature film directorial debut with Paramount Vantage‘s Not Fade Away, which will close this year’s festival. The film is about a moment in time in the early 1960s when the Rolling Stones appear on television and three best friends from the suburbs of New Jersey decide to form a rock band. The film reunites Chase with Sopranos star James Gandolfini. Paramount Pictures will release the film on December 21st.

“These films, with their range of styles and risk-taking creative choices, represent the pinnacle of what the festival has endeavored to achieve for the last 20 years. The Oscar and Emmy recognition that each of these four filmmakers have already received is a testament to their vital creative force. I can’t wait to share their distinct visions with our audiences in the Hamptons,” says David Nugent, HIFF Director of Programming.