A Conversation With…

Since the Festival’s inception, HamptonsFilm has invited industry leaders to join us for our signature series A Conversation With… A festival highlight, these intimate, insightful conversations are an integral part of HIFF, featuring one-on-one interviews with legendary personalities. These icons discuss their impressive careers, entertaining our audiences with behind the scenes stories and sharing inspirational insights into what makes the entertainment industry tick.

Ethan Hawke has long stood among cinema’s most distinctive and quietly brilliant actors. In BLUE MOON, his ninth collaboration with Richard Linklater, he delivers a career-defining performance as Lorenz Hart—magnetic, emotionally raw, and deeply human.

Over nearly four decades, Hawke has continually reshaped his screen identity in acclaimed work like TRAINING DAY, BOYHOOD, the BEFORE trilogy, and FIRST REFORMED, for which he earned both Gotham and Independent Spirit Awards, plus over 30 critics prizes—including the rare trifecta of Best Actor honors from the New York Film Critics Circle, Los Angeles Film Critics Association, and National Society of Film Critics. His blazing turn as abolitionist “John Brown” in The Good Lord Bird earned Hawke a Peabody, a Gotham Award, and nominations from SAG, the Golden Globes, and TCA. Next, he stars in Sterlin Harjo’s FX drama The Lowdown.

Across every genre and format, Hawke remains a fearless, ever-evolving screen artist.

Elizabeth Olsen stars in (and is an executive producer on) the A24 romantic comedy ETERNITY, the Opening Night Film at HIFF33. She recently completed production on the FX pilot Seven Sisters, where she reunited with director Sean Durkin, as well as the Warner Brothers thriller PANIC CAREFULLY, opposite Julia Roberts. Olsen is also set to star in the thriller FLESH OF THE GODS alongside Kristen Stewart and Oscar Isaac.

Additional film credits include THE ASSESSMENT; HIS THREE DAUGHTERS, which received the Robert Altman Award at the 2025 Film Independent Spirit Awards; the AVENGERS franchise; KODACHROME; INGRID GOES WEST; I SAW THE LIGHT; OLDBOY; VERY GOOD GIRLS; RED LIGHTS; SILENT HOUSE; and MARTHA MARCY MAY MARLENE, for which she received Critics Choice, Independent Spirit, and Gotham Award nominations.

Olsen’s television credits include Love and Death, for which she received a Golden Globe nomination; WandaVision, for which she received Emmy®, Golden Globe and Critics Choice Award nominations; and Sorry For Your Loss. In addition, Olsen is a New York Times best-selling author with her children’s book Hattie Harmony: Worry Detective.

Past conversations include Steven Spielberg, Alfre Woodard, Annette Bening, Frances McDormand, Brian De Palma, Vanessa Redgrave, Robert Altman, Laura Dern, Holly Hunter, Sidney Lumet, Emily Blunt, Hilary Swank, Mark Ruffalo, Matthew Broderick, Martin Scorsese, and many more.