The Hamptons International Film Festival is set to kick off today—with a high-profile lineup of Q & A attendees and participants including MSNBC’s Jacob Soboroff, Rashida Jones, Alec Baldwin, James Carville, Jonathan Groff, Julianne Moore, Marisa Tomei, and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton.
ZURAWSKI V. TEXAS
The lattermost guest will join “Law and Order: SVU’s” Mariska Hargitay-moderated post-screening Q & A for “Zurawski v Texas” — set to hold its East Coast premiere on Saturday, October 5. Directed by Maisie Crow and Abbie Perrault, the documentary platforms three women denied critical care under Texas’ abortion laws as they band together with the Center for Reproductive Rights to file suit against The Lone Star State.
This hot-button healthcare issue is not the only prescient political issue to be on display within the fest’s highly-anticipated programming slate.
HOMEGROWN
The South Shore Press will be on-hand to cover the premiere of “Homegrown” next Friday, October 11, at East Hampton Regal UA.
Reads the documentary premise description: “In the summer of 2020, director Michael Premo follows three right-wing activists—a newly politicized father-to-be in New Jersey, an Air Force veteran organizing conservatives in New York City, and a charismatic activist from Texas—as they crisscross the country campaigning for Donald Trump and building a movement they hope will outlast him. When they become convinced that the election is stolen, they begin to organize with a new aim: taking their fight to the streets.”
“Through startlingly intimate access to its subjects and riveting on-the-ground footage, HOMEGROWN seeks to understand the growing movement pushing American democracy to the brink,” HamptonsFilm adds.
A CONVERSATION WITH LIEV SCHREIBER & SHORTS PROGRAM: VIEWS FROM LONG ISLAND
The South Shore Press has also been invited to attend “A Conversation with Liev Schreiber” this weekend and the “Views From Long Island” short film series the next, amongst other events.
Known for his leading role in the prestige TV series “Ray Donovan” (2013-2020) and in films such as “Spotlight” (2015), “The Manchurian Candidate” (2004) and the original “Scream” (1996-2000) trilogy, an early Schreiber delight was the Long Island-shot 1996 indie “The Daytrippers,” directorial debut of Dix Hills native and eventual “Superbad” director, Greg Mottola.
CHRISTMAS EVE IN MILLER’S POINT
The scripted feature department is set to tackle many artistic impressions on sensitive matters deemed ready for their close-up, ripped straight from modern newsreels and offered a well-deserved cinematic lens.
It’s also rife with options for “the lost” to escape a high-tension election cycle in favor of wistful alternatives–like one that still touches on pinpointing the root-feared cause and beer-floated antidote to the divisiveness within the parented v. the parent-less culture, albeit in its own “three egg nogs too many” ways.
What’s more: “Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point” does so with a “Home Alone” attitude in set-up and a “Dazed and Confused” energy in executing its pay-off, by all accounts.
This includes its own director, Smithtown born-and-bred Tyler Taormina (“Ham on Rye,” “Happer’s Comet”) who’s likened his biggest swing to date to a “warm hug on a cold night” all along the globe-spanning, year-round marketing tour before bringing it back home where it all began.
“On Christmas Eve, the Balsano family gathers for what could be their last holiday in their ancestral home on Long Island. As the night wears on and generational tensions arise, teenager Emily (Matilda Fleming) and her cousin Michelle (Francesca Scorsese) sneak out with their friends to claim the wintry suburb for their own,” reads the festival’s website preview of “Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point,” an eventual November 15 wide release, courtesy of IFC Films.
“In a comedy-drama packed to the brim with the glittering nostalgia of the holidays in the suburbs, director Tyler Taormina’s Cannes [Film Festival] breakout hit weaves Christmas magic with a delightful ensemble cast.”
Starring Michael Cera (“Arrested Development”), Elsie Fisher (“Eighth Grade”), Ben Shenkman (“Billions”), Maria Dizzia (“Orange is the New Black”), Francesca Scorsese (“We Are Who We Are”) and Sawyer Spielberg (“Masters of Air”), and introducing Matilda Fleming, “Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point” earned rave reviews from the Variety, Deadline and Hollywood Reporter triumvirate—and currently sits at 94% “certified fresh” on Rotten Tomatoes.
A less-than-hodgepodge assemblage of carefully-curated, classic diner table-top needle-drops—or as Taormina described them, “Christmas songs that aren’t quite Christmas songs”—score the film’s cacophony of good vibes lifted from greater memories.
The “snowglobe” scenery is accompanied by a total haze of tonal trippiness threatening as subtly as it possibly may to win out over the big bad adversary called “loss of innocence,” which looms with its naughty list-netting fixations on shattering said glass by the end-credits roll.
Notably, the film also holds the distinction of having been primarily shot in Smithtown, Selden and Holbrook—with various local cast-and-crew hires and resources tabbed for their “big breaks” alongside the aforementioned star-power attached.
Sean Cosgro, 23, of Babylon, is an independent filmmaker with a couple of shorts to his name who will be on the clock as a volunteer in HIFF’s event coordination wing over the next 10 days.
He was also a production assistant on “Christmas Eve in Miller’s Point” during principal photography from February to March 2023, an experience he described as “invaluable.”
“While volunteering for the festival the past two years, I had the privilege to see many films before their wide release. Some would go on to win Academy Awards, others had three people in the crew with a budget of $20,000 (the film I’m referring to is “Chrissy Judy”), and I’ve loved them all,” Cosgro said.
“It’s incredible experiencing how the festival works behind the scenes,” he adds. “A million moving parts come together for each screening and event. Having the first film I ever worked on premiere at the festival that’s done so much for me feels like two worlds colliding in the best way.”
ABOUT HAMPTONSFILM AND THE THE HAMPTONS FILM FESTIVAL
HamptonsFilm, home of the Hamptons International Film Festival (HIFF) was founded in 1992 to celebrate the art of film and to introduce a unique and varied spectrum of international films and filmmakers to local audiences. HIFF is an annual premiere film event in New York State, and an intimate showcase of some of the year's best offerings in contemporary cinema from around the world.
To purchase tickets and for more information on this year’s festival and all HamptonsFilm year-round programming, please visit https://hamptonsfilmfest.org.