The HAMPTONS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL is proud to announce the films, programs and special events which will make up the 2008 season. Now in its 16th year, this East Coast favorite comes to life against the fall back-drop as talent, industry and audiences participate in what has now become one of the leading international film festivals of the world. The 2008 Hamptons International Film Festival runs October 15th through 19th, 2008, in East Hampton, New York with additional venues in Southampton, Sag Harbor and Montauk.

The Hamptons International Film Festival was founded to celebrate independent film and to introduce a unique and varied spectrum of international films and filmmakers to our audiences. The Festival is committed to exhibiting films that express fresh voices and differing global perspectives, with the hope that these programs will enlighten audiences, provide invaluable exposure for filmmakers and present inspired entertainment for all.

“The process of compiling the slate of films for the 2008 Festival was truly a process of discovery,” says David Nugent, Director of Programming. “The cross-section of films we are seeing this year represent unique and often unheard voices in film. From films made in China, Iran and Denmark, to those made right here in Montauk and East Hampton, I'm excited to be presenting our audiences global perspectives and local voices.”

This year’s Festival features 122 films including - 14 World Premieres, 23 North American Premieres, 18 US Premieres, 15 East Coast Premieres and 15 New York Premieres.

“Our aim this year was to begin to develop long-term partnerships - both here and abroad - in order to solidify the foundation of our festival and to broaden its reach and appeal,” says Karen Arikian, Executive Director. “I think, with this diverse program, and the many international guests we are expecting, we have achieved this goal.”

The heart of the Hamptons International Film Festival has always been its Golden Starfish Award and the films in the competitions for Best Narrative Feature (over $185,000 in goods and in-kind services), Best Documentary Award ($5,000 in cash) and Short Film Award ($5,000 in cash). The Hamptons International Film Festival also awards the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Feature Film Prize in Science and Technology ($25,000 in cash); the Kodak Award for Cinematography ($6,000 of goods and in-kind services); the Brizzolara Family Award for Films of Conflict and Resolution ($5,000 in cash); the Zicherman Family Foundation Award for Screenwriting ($5,000 in cash); Best Undergraduate and Graduate Student Films (five $1,000 cash awards); the Heineken Red Star Award; the Lifetime Movie Network Everywoman Filmmaker Award and the ¡Sorpresa! Youth Film Competition (a one-week scholarship to the New York Film Academy); new this year, RoC® Gold Standard Award for Female Feature Director and Caroline’s Comedy Emerging Talent Award ($7,500).

"The dedication and hard work of the entire Hamptons organization continues to be the backbone in creating such a prolific and first-rate event.” - Stuart Match Suna, HIFF Board Chairman.

On Wednesday, October 15th, the Hamptons International Film Festival is proud to open its 16th season with Matt Tyrnauer’s Valentino: The Last Emperor, chronicling the final days of the titular designer’s 45-years at the helm of his fashion dynasty. Tyrnauer’s unprecedented access paints an intimate portrait of a master artist struggling to preserve his craft within a business empire and forced to adapt to the changing pressures of modern commerce.

And to close the 2008 Festival, HIFF is honored to screen the Sony Pictures Classics film
SYNECDOCHE, NEW YORK (Us Premiere), starring Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener, Samantha Morton, Dianne Wiest, Jennifer Jason Leigh, Emily Watson, Hope Davis and Michelle Williams. Phillip Seymour Hoffman leads an ensemble cast as a theater director losing control of both his life and his ambitious production in this directorial debut from Oscar-winning screenwriter Charlie Kaufman (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Being John Malkovich, Adaptation).

Programs and Special Events

A Conversation With…
Each year, the Festival presents A Conversation With…
Past guests have included Robert Altman, Gena Rowlands, Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg and more. This year the Hamptons International Film Festival is thrilled to announce two conversations. “A Conversation with…” Oscar© Winning actress Frances McDormand (Fargo, Burn After Reading) moderated by Elvis Mitchell and Jacqueline Bisset (Joan of Arc, An Old Fashioned Thanksgiving) moderated by Alec Baldwin.

Hamptons/indieWIRE ‘Industry Toast’
Founder and Co-Chairman of Fortissimo Films Wouter Barendrecht will be honored at this year’s Industry Toast: an intimate Festival event celebrating his energy, vision, and acumen, which enhances the industry and propels the art of film to greater heights. Master of Ceremonies, John Cameron Mitchell will join colleagues and friends to raise a glass to Mr. Barendrecht. Past Toastees include: Sony Picture Classics Co-President Marcie Bloom, Picturehouse President Bob Berney and Producer Ted Hope.

Breakthrough Performers:
The Hamptons International Film Festival and OK! Magazine will continue the popular Rising Stars Showcase, welcoming three North American actors to highlight their talents and films at the 2008 Festival. This year the Festival is expanding this program for the first time to officially include three actors from the Shooting Stars program, an initiative of European Film Promotion. In all, six very talented and exciting young actors will be on hand to help light up the screens and adorn the red carpets at the 2008 Hamptons International Film Festival.

Rising Stars (US)
Jake Abel (Flash of Genius), Kate Mara (Stone of Destiny) and Taylor Kitsch (Gospel Hill)

Shooting Stars (Europe)
Hannah Herzsprung (Werther), Maryam Hassouni (Dunya & Desie) and Anamaria Marinca (Boogie)

Once again, we invite Festival-goers to see in advance, and access in depth, the work in independent films that will turn some of today’s finest actors into tomorrow’s stars. The Breakthrough Performers program is directed by Lina Todd.

Golden Starfish Narrative Competition:
• ’77 (USA, World Premiere) Dir. Patrick Read Johnson - with John Francis Daley, Colleen Camp, Austin Pendleton. Part autobiography, part fever-dream, ’77 is the inspired true story of a young man’s cinematic awakening, and a cinephile's delight.
• BOOGIE (Romania, North American Premiere) Dir. Radu Muntean – with Dragos Bucur, Anamaria Marinca, Mimi Branescu, Adrian Vancica. This Romanian film follows a young husband and father of a three year-old on a weekend holiday. When he runs into a couple of high school buddies, Boogie longs to relive his past days of freedom, yet needs to come to terms with his new responsibilities.
• DANCERS (Denmark, North American Premiere) Dir. Pernille Fischer Christensen – with Trine Dyrholm, Anders W. Berthelsen, Birthe Neumann. When dance instructor Annika falls in love with shy electrician Lasse, she begins receiving a series of malicious, anonymous phone calls that slowly reveal her boyfriend’s dark past. Ignoring her mother’s wishes, Annika’s continues with a relationship that potentially threatens her staid, comfortable life.
• MY MOTHER, MY BRIDE, AND I (Germany, US Premiere) Dir. Hans Steinbichler – with Matthias Brandt, Monica Bleibtrau, Maria Popistasu. In the German film My Mother, My Bride and I the loaf-like Erwin, a 41 year old man who has never left his mother’s embrace, takes a young, fawn-like bride in Romania, much to mother’s dismay, and then must decide what he is willing to risk to keep her.
• TROUBLED WATER (Norway/Sweden, North American Premiere) Dir. Erik Poppe - with Pål Sverre Valheim Hagen, Trine Dyrholm, Ellen Dorrit Petersen, Trond Espen Seim. Jan Thomas has served his eight year term for the murder of a young boy, and is released back into society a rehabilitated man. He begins to believe that he has truly left his past behind him – but now a boy is missing, and someone has been watching Jan.
• VASERMIL (Israel, East Coast Premiere) Dir. Mushon Salmona – with David Taplitsky, Adiel Zamro, Nadir Eldad. This Israeli drama depicts the lives of disaffected and struggling teenage boys confronting the volatile elements of clashing cultures and generations. When a football coach takes the boys in hand, they learn new meanings for the term ‘streetwise,’ and are confronted with choices that chart the course of their futures.

Golden Starfish Narrative and Shorts Competition jurors include: Elvis Mitchell (Film Critic, Host of “The Treatment”), Chistoph Terhechte (Director of International Forum of New Cinema, Berlin International Film Festival), Victoria Burrows (Casting Director – Burrows / Boland Casting)

Golden Starfish Documentary:
• HERB AND DOROTHY (USA, NY Premiere) Dir. Megumi Sasaki. What happens when a librarian and postal worker fall in love with art? They amass one of the most important private collections in the country. Sol LeWitt, Robert and Sylvia Mangold, Chuck Close, and Christo and Jeanne-Claude all celebrate the true story of Herb & Dorothy Vogel.
• LOOT (USA) Dir. Darius Marder. Lance Larson, modern day treasure hunter, sets off on a globetrotting journey to find riches buried over sixty years ago by two WWII veterans. LOOT finds philosophy in these men's stories, and in a journey that becomes far more about life than loot.
• MUST READ AFTER MY DEATH (USA, East Coast Premiere) Dir. Morgan Dews. An unconventional couple made over two hundred home movies, transcribed their telephone conversations and tape recorded many hours of self and family analysis. Morgan Dews has taken all these primary sources and crafted a suspenseful film about the fate of a deeply conflicted, nonconformist American family.
• NURSERY UNIVERSITY (USA, US Premiere) Dir. Marc H. Simon, Matthew Makar. NURSERY UNIVERSITY evokes the world of the elite New York City ‘feeder preschools,’ supposed conduits to the very highest of higher education, as anxious parents, administrators and elementary school admissions consultants sweat out the complex, high-pressure process of the annual gleaning of the preschoolers.
• THE RED RACE (China/Germany, NY Premiere) Dir. Chao Gan. With a keen emphasis on composition and rhythm, Director Chao Gan astutely presents the harsh life of kindergarten-aged gymnasts at China’s Lu Wan District Youth Athletic School, where grueling training and ferocious competition break down children in order to build up the next Olympic champions.

Golden Starfish Documentary Competition jurors include: Claudia Landsberger (Managing Director, Holland Film), Kate Pearson (SVP Programming, The Documentary Channel), Rachel Grady (Director, Oscar Nominated Jesus Camp)

Golden Starfish Shorts:
• EVE (USA, North American Premiere) Dir. Natalie Portman – with Lauren Bacall, Ben Gazzara, Olivia Thirlby. A teenager's purposeful visit to her feisty grandmother is unexpectedly waylaid by the latter’s lively social life.
• FINGERS (USA, World Premiere) Dir. Danny Mooney – with Ben Daniels, Tim Brennen, Hayes Hargrove, Denna Glasser. A softspoken but passionate guitarist hitchhikes from Ohio to Nashville on weekends to play at a hole-in-the-wall bar’s open mic night. Interest from a record executive promises to change his life, but the offer, like so much about this deceptively simple film, is not what it seems.
• GLORY AT SEA (USA) Dir. Benh Zeitlin – with Henry D. Coleman, Chantise Colon, Levy Easterly, Chris Lewis, Geremy Jasper, Mama Jo, Jimmy Lee Moore. Equal parts fairy tale, parable, and classical myth, Benh Zeitlin's widely-lauded GLORY AT SEA is the moving story of a group of bereaved New Orleanians who band together and set sail to reclaim their lost loved ones.
• I AM SO PROUD OF YOU (USA, East Coast Premiere) Dir. Don Hertzfeldt. Dark family secrets cast a shadow over Bill's recovery in this second chapter to 2007's Sundance-award winning short EVERYTHING WILL BE OK.
• JERRYCAN (Australia, US Premiere) Dir. Julius Avery – with Tristan Burke, Walter Currie. It's just another boring, unsupervised day when Nathan and his friends decide to blow something up. From inception to conclusion, the decision will have ramifications that ripple through the young boys' social structure.

Spotlight Films:
• AN OLD FASHIONED THANKSGIVING (USA, World Premiere) Dir. Graeme Campbell – with Jacqueline Bisset, Kristopher Turner, Tatiana Maslany, Helene Joy, Paula Boudreau. A feisty turn of the century teenager, Mathilda Bassett struggles to find herself while also trying to reunite her estranged mother and grandmother. Based on a story by Louisa May Alcott.
• ARN THE KNIGHT TEMPLAR (Sweden, North American Premiere) Dir. Peter Flinth – with Joakim Nätterqvist, Sofia Helin, Stellan Skarsgård, Simon Callow, Bibi Andersson. An epic story of a warrior bound by honor, faith, and an unflinching devotion to his star-crossed lover.
• DOMINICK DUNNE: AFTER THE PARTY (Australia, North American Premiere) Dir. Kirsty de Jarvis and Timothy Jolley – with Dominick Dunne, Graydon Carter, Joan Didion, Griffin Dunne, Robert Evans. Dominick Dunne is a famous story teller who has dedicated himself to chronicling the trials of the rich and powerful, bravely confronting the high and mighty. Who better than a celebrity writer to chronicle the affairs of the rich and infamous?
• GOSPEL HILL (USA) Dir. Giancarlo Esposito – with Danny Glover, Taylor Kitsch, Julia Stiles, Angela Bassett, RZA, Samuel L. Jackson. In the town of Julia, the residents of the black neighborhood of Gospel Hill are being forced out of their homes to make way for a multimillion-dollar golf course.
• LEMON TREE (Israel, East Coast Premiere) Dir. Eran Riklis – with Hiam Abbass, Rona Lipaz-Michael, Ali Suliman, Tarik Kopty, Doron Tavory. A Palestinian woman’s cherished lemon grove is endangered when the Israeli Minister of Defense and his kind-hearted wife move in next door and deem the area unsafe. The two women find themselves reluctantly implicated in a dispute that mirrors the vast complexity of the Israeli/Palestinian conflict.
• SHADOWS IN THE SUN (UK, North American Premeire) Dir. David Rocksavage – with Jean Simmons, James Wilby, Jamie Dornan, Ophelia Lovibond, Toby Marlow. Jean Simmons plays Hannah, the ailing matriarch of a family on the verge of disintegration. With the help of a mysterious stranger, Hannah is able to offer her descendants another chance at happiness.
• STONE OF DESTINY (Canada/UK, US Premiere) Dir. Charles Martin Smith – with Charlie Cox, Kate Mara, Billy Boyd, Robert Carlyle, Stephan McCole. The true story of four earnest Scottish university students who on Christmas Eve of 1950 undertake one of the most audacious heists of the 20th century: to free the Stone of Destiny—symbol of Scottish sovereignty—from its 650-year imprisonment in Westminster Abbey, and return it to its rightful home.
• SUGAR (USA, East Coast Premeire) Dir. Anna Boden & Ryan Fleck – with Jose Rijo, Walki Cuevas, Algenis Perez Soto, Santo Silvestre. A young Dominican baseball player is recruited to play for an American minor league team in a small town in Iowa. With high hopes, but only minimal knowledge of the USA, he heads to the Midwest to chase his dream and face inevitable challenges.
• THE ARTIST’S EYE: BRUCE WEBER – Many of Weber's classic commercials, music videos, and shorts, alongside a selection of other short form works never before seen by the public.
• THE BLACK BALLOON (Austrailia, US Premiere) Dir. Elissa Down – with Rhys Wakefield, Luke Ford, Gemma Ward, Erik Thomson, Toni Collette. All Thomas wants is a normal adolescence but his autistic brother, Charlie, thwarts his every opportunity.
• THE BROTHERS BLOOM (USA, East Coast Premiere) Dir. Rian Johnson – with Rachel Weisz, Adrien Brody, Mark Ruffalo. The Brothers Bloom is a whirlwind of action, deception and romance as the best con men in the world swindle millions with complex scenarios of lust, intrigue and the most complex literary-inspired setups imaginable.
• THE GUITAR (USA, East Coast Premiere) Dir. Amy Redford – with Saffron Burrows, Isaach de Bankolé, Paz de la Huerta, Mia Kucan, Adam Trese, Janeane Garofalo. Melody Wilder is haunted by a guitar she admired as a child but was never allowed to own. When she is diagnosed as terminally ill, she buys a guitar, and transforms her personality. THE GUITAR confronts mortality and the unpredictability of life.
• THE RETURN OF THE WAR ROOM (USA) Dir. Chris Hegedus, D A Pennebaker – with Paul Begala, Frank Luntz, Lisa Caputo, James Carville, Dee Dee Myers, Mary Matalin, George Stephanopoulos. Get an inside look at how the hard-hitting Clinton campaign of 1992 forever changed the game of politics.

World Cinema Features:
• A PRESIDENT TO REMEMBER: IN THE COMPANY OF JOHN F. KENNEDY (US) Dir. Robert Drew. Producer Robert Drew continues his legacy of groundbreaking documentary films with this sweeping yet intimate retrospective on John F. Kennedy’s life and career as President of the United States, all captured in the direct “vérité” style that makes his work so immediate and real.
• BLACK ICE (Finland/Germany, North American Premiere) Dir. Petri Kotwica – with Outi Manpaa, Ria Kataja, Martti Suosalo, Ville Virtanen, Sara Paavolainen. Saara, a happily married woman and surgeon, discovers that her husband, an architecture professor, is cheating on her with a student. Saara sets out on the complicated journey to discover the truth – and plotting her revenge.
• CHILDHOODS (US) Dir. Fritz Lang, Orson Welles, Jacques Tati, Jean Renoir, Alfred Hitchcock, Ingmar Bergman. In homage to filmmaking greats Fritz Lang, Orson Welles, Jacques Tati, Jean Renoir, Alfred Hitchcock and Ingmar Bergman, CHILDHOODS pieces together a fictionalized story from the early years of each.
• DUNYA & DESIE (Netherlands, North American Premiere) Dir. Dana Nechustan – with Eva van den Wijdeven, Maryam Hassouni, Christine van Dalen, Theo Maassen. Eighteen year-old girlfriends Dunya and Desie could not seem more different - one a reserved Moroccan from a traditional Muslim family, the other a Dutch native sporting skimpy clothes and mistaking sex for true love. This entertaining road movie explores cross-cultural identity in a shrinking world. Also, the Netherlands entry for Foreign Language Oscar Film.
• EMPTY NEST (Argentina/Spain/France/Italy, US Premiere) Dir. Daniel Burman – with Oscar Martinez, Cecilia Roth, Arturo Goetz. Bored playwright Leonardo must battle his indifferent children, the urge to be unfaithful and more, in this comedic twist on love, lust and the mysteries of marriage.
• HARVARD BEATS YALE 29-29 (USA, US Premiere) Dir. Kevin Rafferty – with Tommy Lee Jones, Brian Dowling, Frank Champi, Vic Gatto, J.P. Goldsmith. Forty-two seconds to go, Harvard is down by fifteen points, it's the last game of the season and both teams are undefeated. Follow along in this documentary with original commentary, as well as insightful and funny interviews from actual players as Harvard Beats Yale.
• HAZE (USA, World Premiere) Dir. Pete Schuermann - Haze tells the story of Llynn Gordie Baily, who died during a fraternity initiation event. The epidemic of college alcohol abuse is examined – and the hidden culture of extremism and violence that goes along with it.
• LUKE AND BRIE ARE ON A FIRST DATE (USA, North American Premiere) Dir. Chad Hartigan – with George Ducker, Meghan Webster, Keegan DeWitt. Luke and Brie are a young couple embarking on that all-important first date. Throughout the night, earnest Luke does his best to defend his big night from a who’s who of interlopers, hoping that his charm and wit will help him win the girl in the end.
• MOSCOW, BELGIUM (Belgium, US Premiere) Dir. Christophe van Rompaey – with Barbara Sarafian, Jurgen Delnaet, Johan Heldenbergh, Anemone Valcke, Sofia Ferri. This Belgian import features a romantic triangle between Matty, a world-weary mother of three, her charming but philandering husband, and the hot-tempered, younger truck driver. An unlikely, but very winning romantic comedy.
• THE END OF AMERICA (USA, World Premiere) Dir. Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg. In this profound and eye-opening film, Award-winning documentarians Ricki Stern and Annie Sundberg accompany Naomi Wolf as she discusses America’s dangerous passage towards a society of fear and surveillance, and chronicles her journey to raise awareness about our threatened democracy.
• ONE DAY YOU’LL UNDERSTAND (France/Germany, US Premiere) Dir. Amos Gitai – with Jeanne Moreau, Hippolyte Girardot, Emmanuelle Devos, Dominique Blanc. Jeanne Moreau stars as Rivka, the elegant, elusive mother who refuses to dwell on the past, and Hippolyte Girardot as Victor, the son whose obsession with it threatens to unbalance his life.
• OUR CITY DREAMS (USA, North American Premiere) Dir. Chiara Clemente – with Swoon, Ghada Amer, Kiki Smith, Marina Abramovic, Nancy Spero. A portrait of five women artists who span different decades and represent diverse cultures - but who all work and live in New York City today.
• PICASSO AND BRAQUE GO TO THE MOVIES (USA, US Premiere) Dir. Arne Glimcher – with Martin Scorsese – narrator, Julian Schnabel, Chuck Close, Lucas Samaras, Eric Fischl. Arne Glimcher's documentary introduced and co-produced by filmmaker Martin Scorsese – examines the work of Pablo Picasso and George Braque, in the light of how strongly the new technology of the motion picture influenced their work.
• SLEEP DEALER (USA/Mexico) Dir. Alex Rivera – with Luis Fernando Pena, Leonor Varela, Jacob Vargas. In this political take on the cyberpunk genre, Mexico is cut off from the United States. In virtual reality, workers pilot machines that not only construct buildings—but also patrol borders and fire guns at humans.
• SONG OF SPARROWS (Iran, East Coast Premiere) Dir. Majid Majidi. In this tale set in Iran, Karim works on an ostrich farm and lives contentedly in a small house with his wife and three children. When a runaway ostrich flies the coop, Karim unsuccessfully tries to lure the bird back by roaming the desert in a self-fashioned ostrich costume.
• TERRIBLY HAPPY (Denmark, North American Premiere) Dir. Henrik Ruben Genz – with Jakob Cedergren, Kim Bodnia, Lene Maria Christensen, Lars Brygmann. When exiled Copenhagen cop Robert Hansen encounters the seductive Ingelise during a stint as a constable in a rural village, he becomes preoccupied with rescuing her from her brutish husband, even if it means sinking to the level of the local frontier justice in this dark comic thriller.
• THE BEETLE (Israel, US Premiere) Dir. Yishai Orian. Yishai adores his 40-year-old VW Beetle, even though it barely moves over the hills of Jerusalem. Through interviews with the vehicle’s former owners, cultural politics and personal stories merge into a fond tribute to the iconic car.
• THE ENGLISH SURGEON (UK, NY Premiere) Dir. Geoffrey Smith – with Henry Marsh, Igor Kurilets, Marian Dolishny. Dr. Henry Marsh, a world renowned brain surgeon, deals not only with lack of help and medical supplies in the villages of the Ukraine, but also with his conscience – and very human limitations - as he struggles to save lives.
• THE ROAD AHEAD: THE FIRST GREEN LONG MARCH (USA, World Premiere) Dir. Ryan Wong. In China, as in many places, the cause of environmental protection needs a lot of help. The key is awareness, and the youth movement at the core of this documentary film is determined to overcome attitudinal, bureaucratic, economic and generational obstacles as they spread their message.
• THE WRESTLER (USA) Dir. Darren Aronofsky – with Mickey Rourke, Marisa Tomei, Evan Rachel Wood. Master filmmaker Darren Aronofsky triumphs with this stunning and quintessential portrait of an aging professional wrestler struggling to come to terms with his life’s choices at the twilight of his career.
• TWO LOVERS (USA, North American Premiere) Dir. James Gray – with Joaquin Phoenix, Gwyneth Paltrow, Vinessa Shaw, Isabella Rossellini, Elias Koteas. Leonard lives at home with his parents in Brooklyn. He goes from being lonely and forlorn to suddenly being torn between two lovers, one chosen for him by his parents, and one who comes into his life out of nowhere and changes it forever.
• WERTHER (Germany, North American Premiere) Dir. Uwe Janson – with Stefan Konarske, Hannah Herzsprung, Aaron Hildebrandt, David Rott, Fritz Roth. A film adaptation of the most passionate, perhaps also the most dangerous traditional text in the German language, about the struggle for uncompromising love.
• WHAT NO ONE KNOWS (Denmark, North American Premiere) Dir. Soren Kragh-Jacobsen – with Anders W. Berthelsen, Maria Bonnevie, Ghita Norby, Marie Louise Ville, Henning Jensen. At mid-age, Thomas is a mess— an unhappy bumbler, but when his sister dies suddenly, Thomas makes the mistake of asking questions, and stumbles into a tangle of personal and political secrets. What seemed routine family dysfunction leads to discoveries of sinister doings at the highest levels.

Films of Conflict and Resolution in Competition:
• FOR MY FATHER (Israel, US Premiere) Dir. Dror Zahavi – with Shredi Jabarin, Hili Yalon. Terek is a young Arab traveling to be a suicide bomber in Tel Aviv, but everything changes when his bomb doesn’t function.
• HEART OF FIRE (Germany/Italy, East Coast Premiere) Dir. Luigi Falorni – with Letekidan Micael, Solomie Micael, Seble Tilahun, Daniel Seyoum, Mekdes Wegene. In Heart of Fire, director Luigi Falorni interprets the dramatic true story of Senait G. Mehari coming of age as a child soldier during the Eritrean civil war.
• SNOW (Bosnia/ Herzegovina/Germany/France/Iran, US Premiere) Dir. Aida Begic – with Zana Marjanovic, Jasna Ornela Bery, Sadžida Šetic, Vesna Mašic,. When a government delegation comes to a quiet Bosnian town four years after the war, offering the villagers money for their land, the locals find it hard to abandon their homes and the memories they hold so dear.
• WHEN CLOUDS CLEAR (Ecuador/USA, NY Premiere) Dir. Danielle Bernstein – with Robinson Piedra Cultid, Polivio Perez, Marcia Ramirez. When Clouds Clear follows the struggles of Ecuadorian farmers as they try to protect their land against copper-mining companies.
• THE HEART OF JENIN (Germany/Israel, US Premiere) Dir. Marcus Vetter and Leon Geller. In 2005, twelve year old, Ahmed Khatib is shot and killed when an Israeli soldier mistakes his toy gun for a real weapon. Ahmed’s father is then faced with the choice of donating his son’s organs for the benefit of other sick children.

Conflict and Resolution Competition jurors include: Giulia d’Agnolo Vallan (Author, US Programmer, Venice Film Festival), Carsten Siebert (Executive Director, Byrd Hoffman Water Mill Foundation & Robert Wilson), Bob Aaronson (Director of Acquisitions and Distribution at Netflix)

Films Of Conflict And Resolution Out Of Competition:
• FOUR SEASONS LODGE (USA, NY Premiere) Dir. Andrew Jacobs – with Hymie Abromowitz, Carl Potok, Olga Bowman, Aron Adelman, Genya Boyman. In the quiet Catskill Mountains there is a community where Holocaust survivors have been gathering for decades, a place to get away and be surrounded by people who share a past full of pain and a yearning to enjoy the days that remain.
• KASSIM THE DREAM (USA) Dir. Kief Davidson. This is the story of Kassim "The Dream" Ouma, born in Uganda, kidnapped by the rebel army and trained to be a child soldier at the age of 6. His fight for survival would take him all the way to the boxing world championships and more
• TAKING ROOT: THE VISION OF WANGARI MAATHAI (USA, NY Premiere) Dir. Lisa Merton. This inspirational documentary follows the life and work of Wangari Maathai, the first environmentalist and first African woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize.

Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Award:¬
For the 9th consecutive year, the $25,000 Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Film Prize in Science and Technology for a feature-length film that explores science and technology themes in fresh, innovative ways and depicts scientists and engineers in a realistic and compelling fashion will be presented at the Hamptons International Film Festival.

This years recipient of the Alfred P. Sloan award is Marc Abraham’s, FLASH OF GENIUS, a Universal Pictures release, written by Philip Railsback, based on the New Yorker article by John Seabrook and starring Greg Kinnear, Alan Alda, Lauren Graham, Dermot Mulroney and Jake Abel (one of this year’s HIFF Rising Stars). Based on the true story of a college professor and part-time inventor Robert Kearns' (Greg Kinnear) long battle with the U.S. automobile industry, FLASH OF GENIUS tells the tale of one man whose fight to receive recognition for his ingenuity would come at a heavy price. But this determined engineer refused to be silenced, and took on the corporate titans in a battle that nobody thought he could win.

The Hamptons/Sloan feature Film Prize comes from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation’s program in public understanding of science and forms part of a broader effort to stimulate leading artists in film, television, and theater to create more credible works about science and technology. The program aims to enhance people’s lives by providing a better understanding of the increasingly scientific and technological environment in which we live. It also strives to convey some of the challenges and rewards of the scientific and technological enterprise, and of the lives of the men and women who undertake it.

Israel at 60
This year, the Hamptons International Film Festival will celebrate Israel's 60th Anniversary with a program focusing on films and filmmakers from contemporary Israel. LEMON TREE (Israel, East Coast Premiere) directed by Eran Riklis, will be the Opening Night Film of the Israel at 60 Program, and East Hampton's Vered Gallery will host a Israel at 60 Reception following the film. Other films in the program include THE BEETLE (Israel, US Premiere) Dir. Yishai Orian; FOR MY FATHER (Israel, US Premiere) Dir. Dror Zahavi; ONE DAY YOU’LL UNDERSTAND (France/Germany, US Premiere) Dir. Amos Gitai; THE HEART OF JENIN (Germany/Israel, US Premiere) Dir. Marcus Vetter; VASERMIL; (Israel, East Coast Premiere) Dir. Mushon Salmona. Also part of the program, the Festival will be presenting the game PeaceMaker, an interactive video game inspired by real events in the Israeli-Palestinian conflict. PeaceMaker™ offers Hamptons festival-goers the opportunity to practice leadership skills and sustain peace in the Middle East by way of a virtual setting, and game makers Asi Burak and Eric Brown will attend the festival to offer tutorials and game tips. Additionally, the Israel at 60 filmmakers, game makers and invited guests will participate on a panel to to discuss the current state of the film and media industry in contemporary Israel.

THE ARTIST’S EYE:
We are pleased to inaugurate this new annual program by honoring legendary artist, filmmaker, and Montauk native Bruce Weber. As a visual artist, Weber's work has been exhibited in over 60 gallery shows and museums around the world, and his photographs are in the permanent collections of London's Victoria and Albert Museum as well as in the Photography Division of the City of Paris. Weber is perhaps best known for his popular, much-imitated advertising campaigns for brands like Calvin Klein, Banana Republic, Ralph Lauren, and Abercrombie & Fitch, and for his award-winning music videos for Chris Isaak and the Pet Shop Boys. Weber is also the director of 10 short and feature films, earning awards from the International Documentary Association, and an Academy Award nomination for his classic documentary on jazz trumpeter Chet Baker, LET'S GET LOST. The Hamptons is privileged to showcase some of Weber's classic commercials, music videos, and shorts, alongside a selection of other short form works never before seen by the public. The screening will be followed by an intimate conversation between Weber and Rajendra Roy, Celeste Bartos Chief Curator of the Department of Film at the Museum of Modern Art and former Hamptons Film Festival Artistic Direc