Skip to main content

Hamptons Film Fest Announces Key Award Winners

Mon, 10/14/2019 - 11:37
"A White, White Day" won the narrative feature competition at the Hamptons International Film Festival on Monday.

"The Two Popes," "Oliver Sacks: His Own Life," and "Fire in Paradise," were the audience award winners of this year's Hamptons International Film Festival. The awards were announced this week at the end of the festival in East Hampton. 

Directed by Fernando Meirelles, "The Two Popes" won for best narrative feature. "Oliver Sacks: His Own Life," directed by Ric Burns, won for best documentary feature. "Fire in Paradise," by Drea Cooper & Zackary Canepari, was the winner for short film.

Winners from the films in competition were also announced. The jurors for the best narrative feature award, Peter Hedges, Dori Begley, and Scott Feinberg, selected "A White, White Day," directed by Hlynur Palmason. "Just Me and You," directed by Sandrine Brodeur-Desrosiers, received the award for best narrative short film.

"Overseas," by Sung-a Yoon, won best documentary feature, sponsored by Investigation Discovery. "Ghosts of Sugar Land," directed by Bassam Tariq, won for best documentary short film. This year's documentary jury was Jannat Gargi, Alison Wilmore, and Jill Burkhart.

"Overseas," a film about women in the Philippines training to be domestic workers by Sung-a Yoon, won the best documentary feature award at this year's HIFF

Trey Edward Shults, the writer and director of "Waves," the festival's closing night film selection, received the $10,000 inaugural Zicherman Family Foundation Screenwriting Award.

Miguel Ioann Littin Menz was presented with a special cinematography award for his work on "The Vast of Night." "The Best of Dorien B." received a breakthrough achievement in filmmaking award. It was directed by Anke Blonde.

Special jury mentions for acting performances went to Ida Mekkin Hlynsdottir in "A White, White Day," Mama Sane in "Atlantics," Corinna Harfouch in "Lara," Kim Snauwaert in "The Best of Dorien B.," and Sierra McCormick in "The Vast of Night."

Special jury prizes given to Alla Kovgan's documentary "Cunningham," Suhaib Gasmelbari's "Talking About Trees," Lasse Linder's "All Cats Are Grey in the Dark," and Alexander A. Mora's "The Nightcrawlers."

In addition to some previously announced awards, "The Artist's Wife" by Tom Dolby won a Suffolk County Next Exposure Grant of $3,000. Treva Wurmfeld's "Conscience Point" received the Victor Rabinowitz & Joanne Grant Award for Social Justice. 

This article was modified to include the winners of the audience awards and the Zicherman Family Foundation Screenwriting Award, which were announced Tuesday.


Your support for The East Hampton Star helps us deliver the news, arts, and community information you need. Whether you are an online subscriber, get the paper in the mail, delivered to your door in Manhattan, or are just passing through, every reader counts. We value you for being part of The Star family.

Your subscription to The Star does more than get you great arts, news, sports, and outdoors stories. It makes everything we do possible.