HIFF 2015 Centerpieces: ‘Spotlight’ and ‘Carol’

As the 23rd Annual Hamptons Film Festival draws near, we’re pleased to announced our two Centerpiece selections. 

Tom McCarthy‘s Spotlight, starring Michael Keaton, Mark Ruffalo, Rachel McAdams, Liev Schreiber, and more, will screen Saturday, October 10, sponsored by Blundstone. On Sunday, October 11, Festival-goers can catch Carol, from director Todd Haynes and starring Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara. Both directors are Academy Award® nominees for their previous work.

“It is an honor to be screening these films for our Centerpieces this year,” said HIFF Artistic Director David Nugent. “McCarthy and Haynes are two of America’s most talented filmmakers and they are working at the top of their game.”

Spotlight and Carol have garnered high praises and are highly anticipated for the awards circuit this year,” said HIFF Executive Director Anne Chaisson. “Both films truly demonstrate the high caliber of films that we continue to pursue and program at our Festival.”

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Saturday Centerpiece: SPOTLIGHT

Directed by Tom McCarthy | USA | 2015 | 128 minutes
Oscar® nominees Mark Ruffalo, Michael Keaton, and Rachel McAdams star as the Boston Globe’s Spotlight team, assigned by their newly appointed editor Martin Baron (Liev Schreiber) to investigate the allegations of abuse in the Catholic Church. For over a year, they pursued the story relentlessly, despite intense resistance from the highest levels of Boston’s religious, legal, and government establishment. Tom McCarthy’s Spotlight examines the true story of the Pulitzer Prize-winning investigation that uncovered a massive web of pedophilia and systemic cover-ups within the Catholic Church. Aided by a fantastic supporting cast (Stanley Tucci, Billy Crudup, John Slattery), Spotlight is a nuanced and thrilling procedural about the power and impact of great investigative journalism. Open Road Films will release the film in select theaters on November 6, 2015.

Blundstone-100The Saturday Centerpiece screening will be sponsored by Blundstone.


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Sunday Centerpiece: CAROL

Directed by Todd Haynes | USA/UK | 2015 | 118 minutes
With phenomenal performances from Cate Blanchett and Rooney Mara (winner of the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival) as two women entangled in an intoxicating love affair, director Todd Haynes (FAR FROM HEAVEN) illuminates the delicate intricacies of navigating forbidden desire in 1950s New York. Adapting Patricia Highsmith’s semi-autobiographical novel “The Price of Salt,” CAROL is the story of an unlikely bond between an ingenue shop girl dreaming of a better life and an older sophisticated woman trapped in a loveless marriage. A masterfully crafted love story, CAROL is an exquisite and poignant meditation on longing. The Weinstein Company film will open in theaters on November 20, 2015.


The 23rd Annual Hamptons International Film Festival, which will be held over Columbus Day Weekend, October 8 – 12, 2015, greatly appreciates the support from corporate sponsors, including Delta Air Lines, Altour International, The Wall Street Journal, and WNBC New York. The Box Office will open on September 26 in NYC, East Hampton and Southampton.