The Hamptons

The Hamptons' PR News Wire!

The 24th Annual Hamptons International Film Festival Announces Centerpiece Films + Southampton Opening Night Film!

theater + film :: The Hamptons International Film Festival


The Hamptons International Film Festival (HIFF) announced today that Kenneth Lonergan’s MANCHESTER BY THE SEA will be the Saturday Centerpiece Film, and Mike Mills’ 20TH CENTURY WOMEN will be the Sunday Centerpiece Film. Both titles will play at Guild Hall in East Hampton. The festival also announced that Katherine Dieckmann’s STRANGE WEATHER will be the Southampton Opening Night film on Friday, October 7th.


Written and directed by Kenneth Lonergan, MANCHESTER BY THE SEA tells the story of Lee Chandler (Casey Affleck), who after the death of his older brother Joe is shocked that Joe has made him sole guardian of his teenage nephew Patrick. Taking leave of his job as a janitor in Boston, Lee reluctantly returns to Manchester-by-the-Sea, the fishing village where his working-class family has lived for generations. There, he is forced to deal with a past that separated him from his wife, Randi (Michelle Williams), and the community where he was born and raised. The film also stars Kyle Chandler, Lucas Hedges and Kara Hayward; Hedges and Hayward are both on the 2016 Variety 10 Actors to Watch list and will be recognized at the festival. Amazon Studios and Roadside Attractions will release MANCHESTER BY THE SEA in limited theaters on November 18th. Kara Hayward will be in attendance at the festival.


20th CENTURY WOMEN is a comedy-drama from writer and director Mike Mills, and tells the story of three women who explore love and freedom in Southern California during the late 1970s. The film stars Annette Bening, Greta Gerwig, Elle Fanning and Billy Crudup. Director Mike Mills will be in attendance at the festival and A24 will release 20TH CENTURY WOMEN in limited theaters on December 21st.


Written & directed by Katherine Dieckmann, STRANGE WEATHER is a drama about a mother (Holly Hunter), who, in an effort to deal with the grief over the death of her son, travels the back roads of the deep south to settle a score. The film also stars Carrie Coon, Kim Coates and Glenne Headly. Holly Hunter will be in attendance at the festival. Southampton Opening Night is sponsored by Gibson Dunn.


“Our Southampton Opening Night and Centerpiece Films bring an array of talented filmmakers, actors, and diverse storylines to HIFF this year,” said HIFF Artistic Director David Nugent. “We are thrilled at the opportunity to screen these bodies of work.”


“We are so proud to showcase films made by New York based, independent film directors, and it is an exceptional pleasure to showcase their works in these coveted festival slots,” said HIFF Executive Director Anne Chaisson. “For 24 years our mission has been to celebrate independent voices, and the films of Katherine Dieckmann, Mike Mills and Kenneth Lonergan embody what the word independent truly means.”


The 24th annual Hamptons International Film Festival, which will be held over Columbus Day Weekend, October 6th – October 10th, 2016, greatly appreciates the support from their corporate sponsors, including Delta Air Lines, Altour International, BMW, and WNBC New York. Founder Passes and ticket packages are currently available for purchase. To purchase founder passes and ticket packages, or for additional information, please visit www.hamptonsfilmfest.org. Individual tickets will go on sale on Monday, September 26.


SOUTHAMPTON OPENING NIGHT FILM – Sponsored by Gibson Dunn


STRANGE WEATHER
U.S. Premiere
Director: Katherine Dieckmann
STRANGE WEATHER is a portrait of an unconventional woman (Holly Hunter) discovering what it takes to change your life mid-stream. A lyrical, emotionally rich drama, STRANGE WEATHER tracks a strong southern woman as she travels the deep south with her best friend (Carrie Coon), looking for answers to the unanswerable. A story about how to be fully alive in the face of tragedy, about forgiveness, grace, redemption and the power of moving on.


SATURDAY CENTERPIECE FILM – Sponsored by Blundstone

MANCHESTER BY THE SEA
Director/Writer: Kenneth Lonergan
In MANCHESTER BY THE SEA, the latest film from award-winning writer and director Kenneth Lonergan, the life of a solitary Boston janitor is transformed when he returns to his hometown to take care of his teenage nephew. The story of the Chandlers, a working-class family living in a Massachusetts fishing village for generations, MANCHESTER BY THE SEA is a deeply poignant, unexpectedly funny exploration of the power of familial love, community, sacrifice and hope.

After the death of his older brother Joe (Kyle Chandler), Lee Chandler (Casey Affleck) is shocked to learn that Joe has made him sole guardian of his nephew Patrick (Lucas Hedges). Taking leave from his job, Lee reluctantly returns to Manchester-by-the-Sea to care for Patrick, a spirited 16-year-old, and is forced to deal with a past that separated him from his wife Randi (Michelle Williams) and the community where he was born and raised. Bonded by the man who held their family together, Lee and Patrick struggle to adjust to a world without him.

In his first film since 2011’s acclaimed MARGARET, Lonergan once again proves himself a powerful and visionary storyteller as he seamlessly weaves past and present together, crafting a tension-filled tale that deftly eschews sentimentality in favor of penetrating emotional insight and deeply affecting human relationships.


SUNDAY CENTERPIECE

20TH CENTURY WOMEN
Director Mike Mills
With 20TH CENTURY WOMEN, acclaimed filmmaker Mike Mills (the Academy Award®- winning BEGINNERS) brings us a richly multilayered, funny, heart-stirring celebration of the complexities of women, family, time, and the connections we search for our whole lives.

Set in Santa Barbara in the pivotal summer of 1979, the film follows Dorothea Fields (Annette Bening), a determined single mother in her mid-50s who is raising her adolescent son, Jamie (newcomer Lucas Jade Zumann, in a breakout performance) at a moment brimming with cultural change and rebellion. Dorothea enlists the help of two younger women in Jamie’s upbringing — via Abbie (Greta Gerwig), a free-spirited punk artist living as a boarder in the Fields’ home, and Julie (Elle Fanning), a savvy and provocative teenage neighbor.

Mills expertly recreates the warmth and passion of a great memory – but also the urgency and energy of three generations in the throes of momentous transition. Bening gives one of her very best performances as Dorothea, conveying with subtle yet tremendous emotional power both her unconditional love for her son and her increasing bewilderment about the world she is watching him enter. Gerwig, Fanning, and Billy Crudup all do outstanding work, creating complex, unique characters who each contribute in crucial ways to Jamie’s upbringing. 20th CENTURY WOMEN is a poignant love letter to the people who raise us – and the times that form us – as this makeshift family forges fragile connections that will mystify, haunt and inspire them through their lives.

About Our Local International Festival


The 24th Annual Hamptons International Film Festival will be held over Columbus Day Weekend – October 6th through 10th. HIFF is a year-round 501(c)3 non-profit organization with events, screenings, film workshops, comprehensive summer programs and an annual film festival each October. The Festival is the premiere film event on New York State’s east end, and is an intimate showcase of some of the year’s best offerings in contemporary cinema from around the world. With cash and in-kind prizes handed out totaling more than $225,000, HIFF continues to attract some of the best films of the year. Selections from all of our programs continue to play an important role during awards season. 2014 marked the 6th time that a film at the Festival has become the eventual Best Picture winner at the Oscars, making HIFF the only Festival on the East Coast with such a distinction. hamptonsfilmfest.org


You can keep up with updates by following us on twitter @hamptonsmedia and bookmarking our People & Parties pages for full write-ups and videos and interviews…or even use the rss feed on this blog! You can find handy links to both The Hamptons International Film Festival plus lodging and/or dining from Westhampton to Montauk on “The Hamptons”.com

thehamptons.com lifeguard stand


September 17th, 2016 Posted by | theater & film | no comments

No Comments

No comments yet.

Sorry, the comment form is closed at this time.