Explore HIFF 2013

Our Golden Starfish Awards honor emerging directors from around the world in narrative feature, documentary feature, and short film competition sections. Juried by world-class filmmakers and industry professionals, these competitions represent the important, provocative premieres by cinema’s next wave of master filmmakers.

The Golden Starfish Award for Best Narrative Feature Film awards an emerging director with an in-kind filmmaking service package with a total value of over $145,000. We’re thrilled to highlight this year’s exciting and eclectic group of fresh talents.

The Golden Starfish Award for best Documentary Feature Film awards an emerging director with a cash prize of $3,000. Our 2013 section delivers powerful and thought-provoking documentary features from an inspiring new class of filmmakers.

Join us as we celebrate the rich cinematic history of the United Kingdom. In addition to screening major new UK releases and discovered gems, we are honored this year to pay tribute to Working Title Films for their unwavering dedication to promoting the best and brightest talent from the British Isles.

A Tribute to Working Title

In partnership with the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA), New York, the Hamptons International Film Festival will award Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner—co-chairs of the British production company Working Title Films—with the Golden Starfish Award for Lifetime Achievement, as part of the Festival’s ‘Focus on UK Film.’

Did you know that a single British film production company is responsible for Four Weddings and a Funeral, Atonement, Bridget Jones’s Diary, Elizabeth, Billy Elliot, Les Miserables, Notting Hill, Hot Fuzz, The World’s End, Bean, Frost/Nixon, Nanny McPhee, and About a Boy, just to name a few? It is little wonder that the force behind these jaw-dropping creations is Working Title Films? Working Title’s movies have won 35 BAFTA® Awards and ten Academy Awards®, and have grossed more than $6 billion worldwide. Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner have fostered creative collaborations with actors, including Cate Blanchett, Colin Firth, Hugh Grant, Keira Knightley, Renée Zellweger, Simon Pegg, and Emma Thompson, and filmmakers, including Richard Curtis, Stephen Daldry, Stephen Frears, Paul Greengrass, Tom Hooper, Edgar Wright, and the Coen Brothers.

SPECIAL GUESTS:

• Moderator: Rajendra Roy, Celeste Bartos Chief Curator of Film, Museum of Modern Art
• Renée Zellweger (actor, Bridget Jones’s Diary)
• Richard Curtis (writer/director, About Time, Love Actually)
• Edgar Wright (writer/director, The World’s End, Shaun of the Dead)

Spotlights

The World Cinema program represents an incredible range of narrative and documentary features. Encompassing over 35 films—from stunning non-fiction portraits to hugely acclaimed festival favorites, from hilarious comedies to groundbreaking dramas—the program showcases the breadth and artistry of contemporary filmmaking from all corners of the globe.

Discover the next generation of filmmaking talent in this unique collection of short film programs. Uproarious comedies, extraordinary documentaries, the accomplished works in the Golden Starfish Award competition, all-ages selections: there’s something for viewers of all tastes in this year’s lineup.

To buy tickets for each individual program, please click on the pink “Info/Tix” button. To read about any of the individual films, click on the film title.

The Hamptons International Film Festival continues to strengthen our programming partnerships and bring our audiences unique films and events through our Signature Programs.

Join us for our Conversation With series, one-on-one interviews with some of the legends of cinema. Past conversations have included Richard Gere, Vanessa Redgrave, Steven Spielberg, Martin Scorsese, Robert Altman, Sidney Lumet, Gena Rowlands, Angelica Huston, Richard Dreyfuss, and many more.

Now entering its 14th year, Films of Conflict & Resolution (C&R) program recognizes and celebrates films dealing with the complex issues and effects of war and violence, and the attendant human dramas, in creative, enlightening ways. This year, the Hamptons International Film Festival recognizes five stellar films under the esteemed banner of Conflict & Resolution. These films call on audiences to learn, react, and engage in worthy causes. They encourage dialogue about critical topics and provide a platform for our community to share discussions of the issues we care about the most. Read about the Brizzolara Family Foundation Award for a Film of Conflict & Resolution and our partnership with React to Film. 

The culmination of our outstanding partnership, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and HIFF present the Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize to a narrative film highlighting a realistic and compelling portrayal of science and technology. The winner receives a $25,000 cash prize. “For its searing dramatization of one woman’s personal heroism and another woman’s scientific dedication that led to the groundbreaking 1990 discovery of the bRcA1 gene responsible for many breast and ovarian cancers, and for several exceptional performances, the 2013 Alfred P Sloan Foundation Feature Film Prize at the Hamptons International Film Festival goes to Steven Bernstein’s powerful feature film, Decoding Annie Parker.” —Doron Weber, Alfred P. Sloan Foundation.

Read more about the Sloan Screenplay Reading>>

The Views From Long Island section focuses on local and resident filmmakers, the area’s unique landscapes, and the important social and political issues facing Hamptons communities. A special thank you to the valued support of the Michelle Stark and the Suffolk County Film Commission, Suffolk County Office of Film and Cultural Affairs, Long Island Community Foundation, and the New York State Council on the Arts.

Short Films:

Across Grace Alley, directed by Ralph Macchio (short, screening as a part of the Shorts Program: Connections) Diner en Blanc, directed by Jennifer Ash (short, screening as a part of the Shorts Program: NYWIFT) Fool’s Day, directed by Cody Blue Snider (short, screening as a part of the Shorts Program: Joke’s On You) Lost Thoughts, directed by Jeff Scher (short, screening as a part of the Shorts Program: Edge of the World) Miss Todd, directed by Kristina Yee (short, screening as a part of the Shorts Program: Take Flight)

Features: