Each year, the Hamptons International Film Festival recognizes a new class of Breakthrough Artists, celebrating up-and-coming actors and directors with uncommonly bright futures. Three of the most recent Breakthrough Artists at HIFF have gone on to receive Academy Award nominations, with Stephanie Hsu winning in 2022 for Best Supporting Actress.
2024
Malcolm Washington: Breakthrough Director
THE PIANO LESSON
Malcolm Washington received the 2024 Breakthrough Director Award, celebrating an up-and-coming filmmaker with an uncommonly bright future. Washington is a Los Angeles filmmaker making his feature film directorial debut with THE PIANO LESSON, an adaptation of August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning masterwork for Netflix, which screened as the Festival’s Centerpiece on Saturday, October 5.
After graduating from the University of Pennsylvania and the prestigious American Film Institute, Washington went on to direct award-winning short films and music videos. In 2017, he wrote and directed the short film BENNY GOT SHOT. For his work, he received the Filmmaker to Watch Award at the Atlanta Film Festival (ATLFF). His previous credits include SHE’S GOTTA HAVE IT, SUMMER OF 17, THE DISPUTE, and NORTH HOLLYWOOD.
Clarence Maclin: Breakthrough Performer
SING SING
Clarence “Divine Eye” Maclin reflects, “My life was influenced by hip-hop, but I was drawn to the negative parts of a beautiful culture.” In 1995, he was incarcerated at Sing Sing Correctional Facility, where he joined the Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA) program, debuting in
Twelve Angry Men. After earning an associate’s degree in Behavioral Psychology from Mercy College, Maclin has since worked as a youth counselor, creative arts specialist, and gang intervention specialist, and now serves as an RTA mentor.
In SING SING, filmmakers Greg Kwedar and Clint Bentley focused on the bond between RTA members John “Divine G” Whitfield and Maclin, with Maclin making his film debut and executive producing. Premiering at TIFF 2023 and winning the Festival Favorite Award at SXSW 2024, SING SING was released in July 2024 to critical and popular acclaim. Robert Daniels praised Maclin’s debut as “deeply felt, magnetic, emotionally and physically attuned.” Maclin’s journey underscores his belief: “If we never take the time to invest in others, we’ll never see the beauty they possess on the inside…That’s where the world misses out.”
Clarence Maclin received an nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay at the 97th Annual Academy Awards®.
2023
Celine Song: Breakthrough Artist
Celine Song is a filmmaker and playwright. Her debut feature film PAST LIVES premiered at Sundance 2023. The film was released in the U.S. in June to critical and audience acclaim, and will be released globally throughout the year. Her play Endlings received its world premiere in 2019 at American Repertory Theater and had its New York premiere in 2020 at New York Theatre Workshop. She has been a finalist for the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize and a semifinalist for the American Playwriting Foundation’s Relentless Award.
Celine Song received an nomination for Best Original Screenplay at the 96th Annual Academy Awards®.
2022
Stephanie Hsu: Breakthrough Artist
Breakthrough Artist Award Stephanie Hsu is known for her breakout performance in A24’s EVERYTHING EVERYWHERE ALL AT ONCE, as well as her role as Mei in THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL, for which Hsu and the cast were awarded the 2020 Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series. More recently, THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL was nominated for the 2022 Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series.
Hsu began her career in the arts on Broadway, where she played Karen the Computer in ‘SpongeBob The Musical,’ and Christine Canigula in ‘Be More Chill,’ the latter of which earned Hsu nominations for a Lucille Lortel Award and a Drama Desk Award in the category of Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical. ‘Be More Chill’ was also nominated for a Lucille Lortel Award and a Drama Desk Award for Best New Musical.
Stephanie Hsu was named Best Supporting Actress at the 95th Annual Academy Awards®.
2019
ALDIS HODGE: Breakthrough Artist
Aldis Hodge is an award-winning actor who is best known for his roles in films and television series such as Underground, Leverage, STRAIGHT OUTTA COMPTON, and HIDDEN FIGURES. This year, he starred as the title character in the film BRIAN BANKS, in addition to the Paramount Pictures film WHAT MEN WANT opposite Taraji P. Henson. Currently, Aldis is starring opposite Kevin Bacon in the critically acclaimed Showtime series City on a Hill. Earlier this year, Hodge’s film CLEMENCY (HIFF 2019) won the Dramatic Grand Jury prize at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival, and will be released in December by NEON.
Hodge has earned National Board of Review, Screen Actors Guild and Palm Springs Film Festival awards for his acting work. In 2017, Hodge was asked to join the Academy of Motion Pictures and Sciences. In addition to acting, he is developing projects for film and television, designs luxury timepieces, and is an avid artist and painter.
CAMILA MORRONE: Breakthrough Artist
An affecting and charismatic actress, Camila Morrone is quickly making a name for herself as one of Hollywood’s most talented performers. Upcoming, Morrone will star as the titular ‘Mickey’ in Annabelle Attanasio’s MICKEY AND THE BEAR (HIFF 2019). The film follows a determined Montana teenager (Morrone) as she maneuvers a turbulent relationship with her veteran father (James Badge Dale). The critically-acclaimed drama made its world premiere debut at the 2019 SXSW Film Festival and later played to sold-out crowds at the 2019 Cannes Film Festival.
Morrone’s additional film credits include A24’s comedy NEVER GOIN BACK, which premiered at the 2018 Sundance Film Festival; Eli Roth’s remake of DEATHWISH, opposite Bruce Willis; and James Franco’s biopic BUKOWSKI.
LULU WANG: Breakthrough Artist
Chinese-American director Lulu Wang wrote and directed her second feature film THE FAREWELL, which A24 released this summer. The story follows Billi (Awkwafina), a young woman who returns to China after decades in America to join her relatives as they gather to say goodbye to the family’s elderly matriarch. While Billi’s story is unique to her Asian-American experience, it is entirely relatable in its heartwarming depiction of love within a family. The film had its world premiere at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival. Variety also named Wang among its “Top Ten Directors To Watch in 2019.”
For her first film POSTHUMOUS (2014), an indie romantic comedy starring Brit Marling and Jack Huston, Wang was awarded the Chaz and Roger Ebert Directing Fellowship at the 2014 Film Independent Spirit Awards. She also earned a 2014 Film Independent Project Involve Directing fellowship. Wang’s 2015 short film TOUCH premiered at the Palm Springs International ShortsFest..
Born in Beijing, raised in Miami and educated in Boston, Wang originally trained as a classical pianist. However, her love for writing eventually paved the way to her success as a storyteller, with her diverse background reflected and emphasized in the global sensibility of her films. Lulu is currently developing her next feature.
Past honorees include many future Oscar® winners and nominees, including Jessica Chastain, Taraji P. Henson, Lupita Nyong’o, Adam Driver, Brie Larson, Timothée Chalamet, Riz Ahmed, and more. Additional actors who have received this honor include Oscar Isaac, Alexander Skarsgård, David Oyelowo, Miles Teller, Tatiana Maslany, Emily Blunt, and Rooney Mara.
