The 2009 Hamptons International Film Festival (Thursday, October 8 to Monday, October 12, in East Hampton, NY) is presenting 107 films including - 15 World Premieres, 10 North American Premieres, 18 US Premieres, 14 East Coast Premieres and 10 New York Premieres. The program includes four nonfiction films in competition for the Golden Starfish Award for Best Documentary Feature:
- Big River Man (East Coast Premiere) - Director John Maringouin, with Martin Strel, Borut Strel, Matthew Mohlke - John Maringouin follows long distance swimming champion Martin Strel on his journey to complete the world's longest ever swim: the Amazon River. It's a wildly dangerous and life-altering journey for all.
- Long Distance Love (US Premiere) - Directors: Magnus Gertten and Elin Jonsson, with Alisher Sultanov, Dildora Sultanov - Alisher and Dildora are newlyweds in Osh, Kyrgyzstan. Alisher moves to Moscow -- 3,500 miles away -- to be able to earn enough to support his new family, which is now beset by the difficulty of maintaining a long distance relationship and other challenges.
- Mugabe and the White African - Directors: Lucy Bailey & Andrew Thompson, with Michael Campbell, Ben Freeth - This film follows Mike Campbell who, in 2008, took the government of Zimbabwe and President Robert Mugabe to international court for violation of human rights in an effort to preserve his farm and to protest state-sanctioned "Land Reform" initiatives tantamount to the ethnic cleansing of whites.
- Videocracy (US Premiere) - Director Erik Gandini - The film focuses on the outrageous way Italian television's covers Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi and other Italian notables.
- Waking Sleeping Beauty (East Coast Premiere) - Director Don Hahn, with Roy Disney, Jeffrey Katzenberg, John Musker, Glen Keane, Howard Ashman - A behind-the-scenes look at Disney's renaissance, as the studio recovered from its mid-1980s slump to produce a string of hits -- from Who Framed Roger Rabbit? to The Lion King -- during the 1990s.
The winner receives $5,000 in cash. Another $5000 cash award goes to the winner of the Best Conflict and Resolution Film, a category for which both narrative and nonfiction features are eligible. Documentaries competing in this category this year include:
- The Good Soldier (World Premiere) - Directors Lexy Lovell and Michael Uys, with Will Williams, Jimmy Massey, Perry Parks, Edward Wood, Michael McPhearson - Directors Lexy Lovell and Michael Uys bring together veterans from each of the American wars of the last century who eagerly defended their country in 1944, 1966, 1991, or 2003 -- only to return conflicted by the atrocities they saw and participated in, and questioning what true service to your nation really means.
- How to Fold a Flag (US Premiere) - Directors Petra Epperlein and Michael Tucker - A montage of interviews with young American soldiers returning from the Iraq War. At a memorial service, when the flag is folded, each fold is intended to represent a virtue. The directors explore the symbolism of the flag folding within the context of comparing the abstract and idealistic notions about war with its cruel realities.
- My Neighbor My Killer - Director Anne Aghion - Seven years after the Tutsi genocide, the Rwandan government mandated the surviving population to reconcile. The Gacaca open-air hearings engage citizen-judges in trying their neighbors -- confessed genocide killers are sent home from prison, while survivors are asked to resume living next door to them. as peaceful neighbors. Aghion has filmed the painful process for close to a decade.
- Rabbit a la Berlin - Director Bartek Konopka - Winner of a top prize at this year's Hot Docs Documentary Film Festival, Rabbit a La Berlin is the true story about a population of wild rabbits that found safe haven within the confines of the Berlin Wall.
Additional documentaries are presented in the festival's non-competitive Spotlight and World Cinema Features. Check the festival program for the complete listing.
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