HIFF has proudly bestowed close to five million dollars in its 32-year history. This year, HamptonsFilm will continue to present emerging filmmakers with awards totaling $130,000 in cash, goods and services, with special events taking place throughout the duration of the festival.
This year HIFF screened a lineup of films that are 45% female-directed and represent 50 countries from around the world. The festival will screen 86 features and 61 shorts with 8 World Premieres, 5 North American Premieres, 11 US Premieres, 9 East Coast Premieres, and 20 New York Premieres. Feature and short competition section screenings were sponsored by Silvercup Studios.
AUDIENCE AWARDS
BEST NARRATIVE FEATURE
BOB TREVINO LIKES IT
Directed by Tracie Laymon
World Cinema Narrative
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
THE WORLD ACCORDING TO ALLEE WILLIS
Directed by Alexis Spraic
World Cinema Documentary
BEST SHORT FILM
A SWIM LESSON
Directed by Rashida Jones and Will McCormack
Shorts Program: Bodily Freedoms
COMPETITION AWARDS
>> Meet the Competition Jury
BEST NARRATIVE FEATURE
ARMAND
Directed by Halfdan Ullman Tøndel
The Narrative Feature Competition honors emerging directors who represent cinema’s next generation of innovative film artists. Juried by world-class filmmakers and industry professionals, the film received a $2,500 cash prize, and $72,500 in in-kind goods and services, sponsored by Panavision, Hamptons Locations, and On Location Education.
“ARMAND is an intense journey into the complexities of human nature. Halfdan Ullman Tøndel has skillfully crafted a narrative that grips you from start to finish, featuring Renate Reinsve in a stunning performance that lingers long after viewing. We are delighted to present ARMAND with the Best Narrative Feature award, celebrating its bold exploration of accountability and the tumultuous path to redemption.” said Narrative Competition Jury members Joanna Arnow, Wyatt Cenac, and Genevive Villaflor.
BEST DOCUMENTARY FEATURE
VIKTOR
Directed by Olivier Sarbil
Featuring an array of powerful subjects, the Documentary Feature Competition honors new and distinctive voices in documentary filmmaking. Juried by world-class filmmakers and industry professionals, the winning Documentary Feature film receives a $2,500 cash prize and $20,000 in in-kind goods and services, sponsored by GreenSlate and 91 East Productions.
“Amid a remarkable selection of documentary films this year, we are privileged to present Best Documentary Feature to Olivier Sarbil’s VIKTOR. Sarbil’s innovative approach, fusing striking black-and-white imagery with inventive sound design, adds an extraordinary depth to Viktor’s journey, inviting audiences to engage with a conflict that remains inaudible to him yet resonates powerfully through his steadfast determination. This documentary not only illuminates the resilience of the human spirit but also reveals the intricate realities faced by those on the fringes of war,” said the Documentary Competition Jury members Ebs Burnough, Rachel Fleit, and Tomris Laffly.
Special Jury Prize
The Documentary Competition Jury recognized WALK WITH ME with a Special Jury Prize for director Heidi Levitt’s intimacy and generosity.
BEST NARRATIVE SHORT
L’AVANCE
Directed by Djiby Kebe
Featuring exceptional technique and storytelling, the Narrative Short Competition honors the fresh perspectives of up-and-coming filmmakers. Juried by world-class filmmakers and industry professionals, the Narrative Short Competition winner will take home a cash prize of $1000 and qualify for Academy Award consideration.
Special Jury Prize
The Narrative Competition Jury recognized Nicolas Keppens’s BEAUTIFUL MEN with a Special Jury Prize for its comedy, originality and thoughtful portrayal of masculinity.
BEST DOCUMENTARY SHORT
UNTIL HE’S BACK
Directed by Jacqueline Baylon
The Documentary Short Competition celebrates new and emerging voices in the documentary film world. Juried by world-class filmmakers and industry professionals, the Documentary Short Competition winner will take home a cash prize of $1000 and qualify for Academy Award consideration.
ADDITIONAL HIFF AWARDS
The Artemis Rising Foundation Award for Social Impact: $15,000
ZURAWSKI V TEXAS
Directed by Maisie Crow, Abbie Perreault
The Artemis Rising Foundation champions powerful stories about our most challenging social justice issues—including gender-bias, healing, trauma, mental health, addiction and women’s empowerment. This award will honor one film that transforms our culture and challenges the status quo.
The Peter Macgregor Scott Memorial Award
JANE AUSTEN’S PERIOD DRAMA
Directed by Julia Aks, Steve Pinder
The award, which is accompanied by a $10,000 cash prize, aims to continue the celebrated producer’s mentorship for a new generation of passionate filmmakers. Sponsored by Susan Macgregor-Scott, this award is specifically designed to recognize narrative short filmmakers and reward creative approaches to solving practical production challenges in the service of storytelling.
The Sherzum Awards
Sponsored by producer Jayne Baron Sherman, a long time LGBTQ+ activist, this award is designed to acknowledge and foster stories about LGBTQ+ people, issues and concerns. Named for Jayne and her wife Deborah Zum, the Sherzum Awards encourages films that show the realities and challenges—as well as successes—of the people and communities it represents.
A NICE INDIAN BOY
Directed by Roshah Sethi
SABBATH QUEEN
Directed by Sandi DuBowski
Brizzolara Family Foundation Awards for Films of Conflict & Resolution
For over two decades, the Films of Conflict and Resolution section has showcased films that focus on the realities of war and conflict around the world and inspire possibilities for resolution. Sponsored by Kim Brizzolara, Vice Chair of HamptonsFilm Board.
ANTIDOTE
Directed by James Jones
Suffolk County Next Exposure Grant
CHRISTMAS EVE IN MILLER’S POINT
Directed by Tyler Taormina
This $3,000 grant is awarded to a feature film in the Views From Long Island Signature Program. This program supports the completion of high quality, original director-driven, low budget independent films from both emerging and established filmmakers who have completed 50% of principal photography within Suffolk County, New York. Sponsored by the Suffolk County Film Commission.
The Zelda Penzel Giving Voice to the Voiceless Award
CHECKPOINT ZOO
Directed by Joshua Zeman
Presented to a film in the Compassion, Justice & Animal Rights Signature program, the award recognizes a film that inspires compassion, compels social change, and raises public awareness about the moral and ethical treatment and the rights of animals, as well as environmental protection. The film was awarded a $2,500 cash prize from Zelda Penzel.
New York Women in Film & Television Awards
These awards honor outstanding female filmmakers who have demonstrated exceptional artistic vision and dedication to their craft. Both films received a $1,000 cash prize and a six month membership to NYWIFT.
NYWIFT Excellence in Narrative Filmmaking
BOB TREVINO LIKES IT
Directed by Tracie Laymon
NYWIFT Excellence in Documentary Filmmaking
THE LAST OF THE SEA WOMEN
Directed by Sue Kim
Victor Rabinowitz & Joanne Grant Award for Social Justice
The annual award, which is accompanied by a $2,000 cash prize presented by the Louis M. Rabinowitz Foundation by way of Mark Rabinowitz, is presented to a film that exemplifies the values of peace, equality, global justice, and civil liberties, and is named in honor of two people who spent their entire lives fighting for those values: civil rights lawyer Victor Rabinowitz and his wife Joanne Grant, an author, filmmaker and journalist.
I’M YOUR VENUS
Dir. Kimberly Reed
“Once again, HIFF has presented me with a bevy of fine films, each loaded with bona fides that speak to their worthiness for this award named after my late parents, Victor Rabinowitz and Joanne Grant. Longtime East Hampton residents, mom and dad were also two of the most principled and courageous activists for social justice I can name.
Last year I wrote that the patriarchy was a foe greater than the admittedly existential threat of climate change and that if not for this “first evil,” to use one of the endless pop culture references that live rent-free in my head, climate change wouldn’t even exist. The thing is, it’s not easy to fight an enemy that has not only convinced roughly 50% of the population that it’s protecting them, but has permeated every level of society. It’s literally everything, everywhere, all at once….
I also believe that the moving image has more potential to inspire movements and effect mass societal change than any other art form and is an indispensable tool in the dismantling of the patriarchy. For example, in barely 90 minutes, this year’s film illustrates how a small group of people, representing disparate histories and cultures can impact millions of people, even when they start out with relatively modest aims.
The Montgomery Bus Boycott; the Blacklist; the 1992, 2000, 2008 and 2016 elections; the murder of Matthew Shepard, the Roe & Dobbs decisions; Stonewall, the 13th, 15th and 19th amendments…historically, we’ve often used single events to mark turning points or to represent entire movements, even if we didn’t know how important some of them were at the time.
In that spirit, the achievements – both individually and as a faaaaabulous coalition – by the Pellagatti family and House of Xtravaganza in this year’s recipient may end up representing more than one such turning point in the global struggle for human rights.
Ironically and unfortunately, the Venn diagram containing those most crucial to dismantling the patriarchy and those that are aiding and abetting the enemy – either with malice or willful/generic ignorance – is a circle…one filled with men.
When more men learn that they’ve been sold a bill of goods on what it means to be “male” and when those men do the hard work of deconstructing their masculinity, perhaps we’ll have more cis men able to reach across the divide, men like John, Joe and Louie Pellagatti, the brothers of the late Venus Pellagatti Xtravaganza, from this year’s winner of the Victor Rabinowitz and Joanne Grant Award For Social Justice, Kimberly Reed’s moving and crucially important film I’m Your Venus.
As a bit of a post script, I want to make sure to acknowledge the trailblazing and enduring work done by my friend Jennie Livingston with her landmark film PARIS IS BURNING! It’s not a stretch to say that a great deal of the cinematic and activist work around trans rights was influenced by her film.” — Mark Rabinowitz
University Film Awards: $500 each
Awarded to five student filmmakers selected from hundreds of submissions, the University Short Film Showcase highlights the extraordinary talent and achievements of exceptional students.
BUG DINER
directed by Phoebe Jane Hart (California Institute of the Arts)
PRAEIS
directed by Dovydas Drakšas (London Film School)
THE TRUCK
directed by Elizabeth Rao (NYU)
MY MORNING
directed by Liav Tamuz (Minshar School for Art, Israel)
TORNADO
directed by Jack Kendrick (NYU)
