Founded to celebrate independent film and to introduce a unique and varied spectrum of international films and filmmakers, the festival is committed to showing films that express fresh voices and differing global perspectives, with the hope that these programs will enlighten audiences, provide invaluable exposure for filmmakers and present inspired entertainment for all.
The 2008 festival features 122 films including 14 world premieres, 23 North American premieres, 18 US premieres, 15 East Coast premieres and 15 New York premieres.
The Hamptons International Film Festival presents coveted Golden Starfish Awards for Best Narrative Feature (with over $185,000 in goods and in-kind services), Best Documentary ($5,000 in cash) and Short Film Award ($5,000 in cash), as well as the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Feature Film Prize in Science and Technology ($25,000 in cash), Kodak Award for Cinematography ($6,000 of goods and in-kind services), Brizzolara Family Award for Films of Conflict and Resolution ($5,000 in cash), Zicherman Family Foundation Award for Screenwriting ($5,000 in cash), Best Undergraduate and Graduate Student Films (five $1,000 cash awards), Heineken Red Star Award, Lifetime Movie Network Everywoman Filmmaker Award, Sorpresa Youth Film Competition (a one-week scholarship to the New York Film Academy) ; new this year, RoC® Gold Standard Award for Female Feature Director and Caroline's Comedy Emerging Talent Award ($7,500).
The 2008 festival opens with a screening of Matt Tyrnauer's "Valentino: The Last Emperor," a documentary chronicling the final days of the titular designer's 45-years at the helm of his fashion dynasty. Tyrnauer's unprecedented access paints an intimate portrait of a master artist struggling to preserve his craft within a business empire and forced to adapt to the changing pressures of modern commerce.
Nonfiction films in competition for the Golden Starfish Documentary include:
- Herb and Dorothy (USA, NY premiere) Dir. Megumi Sasaki - What happens when a librarian and postal worker fall in love with art? They amass one of the most important private collections in the country. Sol LeWitt, Robert and Sylvia Mangold, Chuck Close, and Christo and Jeanne-Claude all celebrate the true story of Herb & Dorothy Vogel.
- Loot (USA) Dir. Darius Marder. Lance Larson, modern day treasure hunter, sets off on a globetrotting journey to find riches buried over sixty years ago by two WWII veterans - Loot finds philosophy in these men's stories, and in a journey that becomes far more about life than loot.
- Must Read After My Death (USA, East Coast Premiere) Dir. Morgan Dews - An unconventional couple made over two hundred home movies, transcribed their telephone conversations and tape recorded many hours of self and family analysis. Morgan Dews has taken all these primary sources and crafted a suspenseful film about the fate of a deeply conflicted, nonconformist American family.
- Nursery University (USA, US Premiere) Dir. Marc H. Simon, Matthew Makar - Nursery University evokes the world of the elite New York City "feeder preschools," supposed conduits to the very highest of higher education, as anxious parents, administrators and elementary school admissions consultants sweat out the complex, high-pressure process of the annual gleaning of the preschoolers.
- The Red Race (China/Germany, NY Premiere) Dir. Chao Gan - With a keen emphasis on composition and rhythm, Director Chao Gan astutely presents the harsh life of kindergarten-aged gymnasts at China's Lu Wan District Youth Athletic School, where grueling training and ferocious competition break down children in order to build up the next Olympic champions.
The 2008 Golden Starfish Documentary Competition jurors include: Claudia Landsberger (Managing Director, Holland Film), Kate Pearson (SVP Programming, The Documentary Channel), Rachel Grady (Director, Oscar Nominated Jesus Camp)
