Amagansett Nets Academy Awards

SHERIDAN SANSEGUNDO

Well, maybe that's pushing it a bit, but Kim Basinger, who lives there part of the year, won Best Supporting Actress for her role in "L.A. Confidential." And Don Lenzer, who lives year-round on the Bell Estate, was the cinematographer on "The Long Way Home," which won for Best Documentary.

Ms. Basinger, in chartreuse scoop-necked satin, seemed genuinely surprised that she had earned the award for her role as a sultry prostitute in "L.A. Confidential," a film noir thriller that was beaten out for Best Movie by the blockbuster "Titanic." The role marked a comeback for the 44-year-old actress.

Long Way Home

"If anybody has a dream out there, I'm living proof that it can happen," she said in her acceptance speech.

If she seemed surprised, her husband, Alec Baldwin, was obviously delighted, cheering her on from his seat with as much excitement, maybe more, than if he had been a winner himself.

Mr. Lenzer's documentary, "The Long Way Home," is about the aftermath of the Holocaust; it chronicles the efforts of orphans and other displaced persons to find their way home, both literally and metaphorically.

This isn't the first time that Mr. Lenzer has been behind the camera of an Oscar-winning movie. In 1995, "Maya Lin: A Strong, Clear Vision," also won for the Best Documentary. It followed the young artist who designed the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., from her winning the design award through the monument's completion.

Walking Through It

Mr. Lenzer was also the photography director for "He Makes Me Feel Like Dancin'," a documentary about the teacher and dancer Jacques D'Amboise, which picked up the Best Documentary Oscar in 1984.

Trying to pinpoint what it is that has made his services valuable in the documentary world, Mr. Lenzer said, in a 1996 interview with The Star, "I really think my work is characterized by my ability to get inside a subject. . . . It requires really caressing the material and moving through it so you experience a sense of character and place as if you were walking through it."

His style relies on a "floating" hand-held camera feel, longer takes, and working up close to subjects.

Best Mention

Among recent features, Mr. Lenzer has made a documentary about the Sag Harbor jazz veteran Hal McKusick, who taught him saxophone. And Mr. Lenzer took the prime-time Emmy Award for "outstanding cultural program," for "Itzhak Perlman: In the Fiddler's House," which documented the East Hampton violinist's journey into ethnic Jewish music.

To squeeze one last Amagansett connection out of the Oscars: Peter Stone, a writer who has picked up his own Tony, Emmy, and Oscar awards, got what might be classified as "best mention in someone else's speech."

If you want a hit, the first thing you do is get good writers, said Stanley Donen, who won an honorary Oscar for his lifetime work as a choreographer and director of such classics as "Singin' in the Rain," mentioning Mr. Stone by name.