For five days in October the Hamptons become Hollywood-east.
The Hamptons International Film Festival gets underway on October 9 with a schedule loaded with premieres, foreign films, and Oscar hopefuls. Founded in 1993, the annual fest celebrates independent movies — long, short, fiction and documentary — and places international films and filmmakers in the spotlight.
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Opening the proceedings at the East Hampton location is the Melissa McCarthy, Bill Murray comedy "St. Vincent," about retired curmudgeon Vincent (Murray) who takes over day-care duties of a small boy to help out the child's overworked mother (McCarthy). Only Vincent's daily routine involves heading to the racetrack, a strip club, and the local dive bar.
The following night the Southampton venue sees the East Coast premiere of "Wild" starring Reese Witherspoon as woman who comes back from the brink of drug addiction and personal devastation only to embark on a life-changing solo 1,000-mile trek along the Pacific Coast Trek. Scribed by Nick Hornby ("High Fedility"), the movie is an adaptation of Cheryl Strayed's best-selling 2012 memoir. Witherspoon's co-star Laura Dern will participate in one of the festival’s signature “A Conversation With …” sessions during the festival. "Wild" is directed by Jean-Marc Vallee ("Dallas Buyers Club").
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"Bennett Miller and Jean-Marc Vallée are two of the most exciting filmmakers working today, each of whose last films were nominated for the Academy Award for best picture," HIFF artistic director David Nugent said in a statement. "Their latest films continue their evolution as artists, and we are so proud to share their work with our audiences."
Another Oscar hopeful, "Foxcatcher," will screen as Saturday’s centerpiece film. Star Mark Ruffalo will participate in a Sunday “A Conversation With …” sitdown. Channing Tatum and Steve Carell feature in the psychological thriller about Olympic gold medal-winning wrestlers Mark and Dave Schultz (Tatum and Ruffalo) and their tragic relationship with multimillionaire benefactor John du Pont (a virtually unrecognizable Carrell).
Also on the festival slate is "Learning to Drive" starring Patricia Clarkson, the Tommy Lee Jones-directed "The Homesman," and Elizabeth Banks' "Little Accidents.
The U.S. premiere of "Still Alice" will bring the curtain down on the festivites on October 13. Julianne Moore stars as the titular Alice Howland who receives the devastating diagnosis of early-onset Alzheimer's and must come to terms with what it means not only to herself, but those closest to her. "Still Alice" also stars Kristen Stewart and Alec Baldwin.
A full breakdown of the complete schedule and how to obtain tickets is available at hamptonsfilmfest.org.
The 22nd Annual Hamptons International Film Festival will be held over Columbus Day Weekend, from Thursday October 9, through Monday, October 13.
