Hamptons International Film Festival Adds More Films to 2017 Lineup
The Hamptons International Film Festival (HIFF) announced additional selections for the festival’s 25th Anniversary lineup on Tuesday.
The festival revealed the North American premiere of Simon Curtis’ Goodbye Christopher Robin as the Friday Centerpiece film in Southampton. The film looks into the life of author A.A. Milne and his relationship with his son, which led to the creation of his renowned character Winnie the Pooh. The film stars Domhnall Gleeson (Star Wars: The Force Awakens) and Margot Robbie (Suicide Squad), and HIFF Honorary Board member Carter Burwell is the film’s composer.
The East Coast Premiere of Martin McDonagh’s Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri will screen as the Saturday Centerpiece in East Hampton. The film tells the story of a woman in conflict with her local police department while attempting to solve her daughter’s murder case. It stars Sam Rockwell (Confessions of a Dangerous Mind) and Frances McDormand (Fargo) and recently received the Venice Film Festival Award for Best Screenplay by McDonagh.
HIFF also announced three additional Spotlight Films. First among them is Guillermo del Toro’s The Shape of Water, about a janitor working at a hidden high-security government laboratory whose life is changed forever after discovering a secret classified experiment. The film stars Sally Hawkins, Michael Shannon and Richard Jenkins. Also included is Luca Guadagnino’s Call Me By Your Name, which won the Golden Lion award at the Venice Film Festival. Starring Armie Hammer and Timothée Chalamet, one of this year’s 10 Actors to Watch, it tells the story of a young boy’s summer romance when a charming gentleman arrives in Italy to work with his family for the season. The final new Spotlight Film is Fatih Akin’s In the Fade, starring Diane Kruger as a woman struggling to overcome the loss of her family following a Neo-Nazi terrorist attack.
Simon Curtis, Carter Burwell, Diane Kruger, and Armie Hammer will attend the festival.
The festival also announced Greg Campbell’s Hondros as the winner of its 18-year-long signature program: Conflict and Resolution. Hondros shares a glimpse of the life of Chris Hondros, one of the world’s most acclaimed war photographers, killed in action at the age of 41, and the legacy he left behind.
The third year of HIFF’s successful Compassion, Justice, and Animal Rights section has awarded Allison Argo’s The Last Pig—which looks at a man at a crossroads in life during his final summer as a pig farmer—with the Zelda Panel “Giving Voice to the Voiceless” Award, sponsored by Zelda Penzel.
Films in this year’s Documentary Competition include Gustavo Salmerón’s Lots of Kids, a Monkey and a Castle, a portrait of a family’s various experiences over the course of 15 years in present-day Spain; Jennifer Peedom’s Mountain, a look at some of the most breathtaking summits around the world from the perspective of ice climbers, snowboarders and more, narrated by Willem Dafoe; Jason Kohn’s Love Means Zero, about Nick Bollettieri, a controversial but passionate coach in the world of tennis; Jed Rothstein’s The China Hustle, about China’s role in the recovery of the United States following the 2008 stock market crash; as well as the previously announced 11/8/16, curated and produced by Jeff Deutchman.
The Narrative Competition will include director Hafsteinn Gunnar Sigurðsson’s Icelandic narrative Under the Tree, about a man living with his parents, who are embroiled in a passive-aggressive argument with their neighbors over a tree in the lawn; Carla Simón’s Summer 1993, about a six-year-old from Barcelona struggling with the death of her parents and sent to live in the countryside with her uncle; Ali Asgari’s Disappearance, about a couple in present-day conservative Iranian society and their determination to solve an impossible problem over the course of the night, starring Sadaf Asgari and Amir Reza Ranjbaran; Cory Finley’s Thoroughbreds, about the unlikely friendship between two teenage girls in Connecticut and the mischief they find along the way, starring Anya Taylor-Joy, Olivia Cooke and the late Anton Yelchin in one of his final films; as well as the previously announced Oh, Lucy! directed by Atsuko Hirayanagi.
As previously announced, HIFF will include eight world premieres at this year’s festival, including Itzhak as the opening night film, as well as 11/8/16, The First to Do It, Killer Bees, Larger Than Life: The Kevyn Aucoin Story, The Misogynists, The Tribes Of Palos Verdes, and Wanderland.
Andy Serkis’s Breathe is the 2017 Sunday Centerpiece in East Hampton, and HIFF has also programmed Vincent Gagliostro’s After Louie, Alexandre Moors’ The Yellow Birds, Ai Weiwei’s Human Flow, Ruben Östlund’s The Square and Rob Reiner’s LBJ.
Reiner, an Emmy Award-winning actor and Oscar-nominated director, will participate in the “A Conversation With…” series.
Additionally, this year, HIFF will honor Academy Award-winning actress and Hamptonite Julie Andrews with a Lifetime Achievement Award, including a special presentation of Victor/Victoria co-presented with the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences on Saturday, October 7, in East Hampton. The event will feature a post-screening conversation with Andrews and HIFF Co-Chair Alec Baldwin.
Also, as previously announced the festival will continue to co-present the annual 10 Actors to Watch list with Variety. The 2017 10 Actors to Watch are: Timothée Chalamet, Hong Chau, Kiersey Clemons, Daveed Diggs, Ali Fazal, Daniel Kaluuya, Barry Keoghan, Danielle Macdonald, Kumail Nanjiani, and Grace Van Patten.
The 25th annual Hamptons International Film Festival will take place over Columbus Day Weekend, October 5–9. Passes and packages are currently on sale, and individual tickets will go on sale on Monday, September 25. For more info, visit hamptonsfilmfest.org.