Hamptons Film Fest Unveils 20th Edition Line-Up

The Hamptons International Film Festival announced its line-up for the 20th annual festival, which takes place over Columbus Day weekend on the South Fork, and it features a mix of films, panel discussions and partnering exhibitions.

The 2012 festival runs from Oct. 4 through Oct. 8 in East Hampton, with additional venues in Montauk, Sag Harbor, Southampton and Westhampton Beach. Tickets go on sale Thursday.

The opening night film is Liz Garbus' "Love Marilyn," featuring Viola Davis, Marisa Tomei, Glenn Close and Adrien Brody, among others. "Garbus' film celebrates the tenacity, sensitivity and beauty of Marilyn Monroe on the 50th anniversary of her death," the film festival stated. HBO will air in the film in 2013 and this is its U.S. premiere.

Political thriller "Argo," starring an directed by Ben Affleck and produced by George Clooney and Grant Heslov, will be the centerpiece film on Oct. 6.

The closing night film is "Not Fade Away," which stars James Gandolfini and reunites him with "The Sopranos" creator David Chase, who is making his feature film directorial debut. It screens Oct. 7.

Spotlight films include, "Frankenweenie," an animated film directed by Tim Burton that opens in theaters Oct. 5; "Amour," a French film directed by Michael Haneke; "The Details," starring Tobey Maguire, Elizabeth Banks, Laura Linney, Ray Liotta and Kerry Washington and directed by Jacob Aaron Estes; "The Girl," starring Toby Jones as Alfred Hitchcock and Sienna Miller as actress Tippi Hedren, during the filming of "The Birds"; "A Late Quartet," directed by Yaron Zilberman and starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Catherine Keener and Christopher Walken; "Lay the Favorite," starring Bruce Willis, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Vince Vaughn; "Rust & Bone," a French-Belgian dark romance directed by Jacques Audiard; "The Sessions," a Ben Lewis film starring Helen Hunt and William H. Macy, about a man confined to an iron lung, determined to lose his virginity at 38; "Seven Psychopaths," directed by Martin McDonagh follows a struggling screenwriter portrayed by Colin Farrell who inadvertently becomes entangled in crime after his friends, played by Christopher Walken and Sam Rockwell, kidnap a gangster's (Woody Harrelson) beloved Shih Tzu; "Shadow Dancer," from Academy Award winning director James Marsh, set in 1990s Belfast; "Smashed," an adult coming of age story directed by James Ponsoldt, and "Whole Lotta Sole," about a botched fish market robbery, directed by Oscar-winner and Hamptons resident Terry George.

“In addition to the incredible line-up of films this year, the festival also has important new partnerships with industry leaders including the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences, the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, New York and Variety," said Karen Arikian, the festival's executive director. Alec Baldwin will serve as honorary chairman.

There are 20 British films being shown during the festival, as part of the "Focus on UK Film," presented in association with BBC America and the Great Britain Campaign. There will be nine programs of short films, including works by Cynthia Wade, Lucy Walker, Don Hertzfeld and Josh and Benny Safdie.

The “Views from Long Island” series returns with 10 documentaries, features, and short films by local filmmakers.

Among them are the world premiere of "59 Middle Lane," which follows the adopted Russian children of Ted Ammon, who was murdered in his East Hampton house when they were 10 by their stepfather Danny Pelosi, as they unearth their roots in the Ukraine. Gregg and Alexa Ammon' mother Generosa later died of cancer. Now at 20 years old, they seek their identities.

Now in its 13th year, the Films of Conflict & Resolution program will showcase five films that look at war, violence and crucial social issues around the world, including "One Day After Peace," "Beyond Right and Wrong," and "Call me Kuchu," "War Witch" and "Rising from Ashes," a film about five cyclists who come together to form the first Team Rwanda while racing for spots in the 2012 Olympics. That film will be shown before a discussion about “Post-War Conflict Zones” on Oct. 5.

Several other interviews are scheduled, including one with the Starfish Award recipient Richard Gere and Alan Cumming, and “An Afternoon with Stevie Nicks” which will precede Dave Stewart’s and Nicks’ documentary, "In Your Dreams: Stevie Nicks," on Oct. 7 in Sag Harbor.

The more casual morning discussions at Rowdy Hall, known as "Rowdy Talks" are also back.

The film “Nobel Laureates: In the Camera’s Eye" will be shown in partnership with an exhibition of 40 photographs of Nobel Laureates by Peter Badge at c/o The Maidstone. Jose Ramos-Horta, Nobel Peace Prize-winner and the former President of East Timor, and John Nash, Nobel Prize-winner for Economics, are featured in the exhibition and will attend the festival and host Q&As of their films, "Balibo" and "A Beautiful Mind."

An exhibition of HIFF posters from the past two decades will be shown at the Peter Marcelle Gallery in Bridgehampton. Posters go on display Sept. 29, with a party at 5 p.m., and will be up through Oct. 8.

The Golden Starfish Awards and the Competition films are among the festival's highlights. Competitions are: Best Narrative Feature, for more than $125,000 in goods and in-kind services, Best Documentary Feature, for more than $3,000 in cash, and Best Short Film, for more than $1,000 in cash. Filmmakers Chris Hegedus, Susan Lacy and Rachael Horovitz, New York Film Critic Circle members Thelma Adams and Joshua Rothkopf, and actress/filmmaker Trudie Styler are among the jurors.

Oscar-award winning costume designer Ann Roth will receive a Golden Starfish Award during a special event co-hosted by the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences. Screenwriter James Shamus is the recipient of the 2012 Industry Toast.

Variety will also hold its inaugural “Variety’s 10 To Watch: Breakthrough Performers of 2012.”

The box office opens Thursday. Tickets are available online here or by phone at 866-663-8541 from 2 to 6 p.m. The Retreat Boutique in East Hampton will be the location for open for walk-up ticket sales from Thursday through Oct. 3, noon to 6 p.m. on weekdays, 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Saturdays and noon to 5 p.m. on Sundays. From Oct. 4 to 8, walk-up sales will be open 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. Regular pricing is $15. For more information, click here.

The headquarters will again be located at the c/o The Maidstone Hotel in East Hampton Village.