Montauk Film Fest
In what is to be an annual event, over the next three days the first Montauk Film Festival will screen films that inspire awareness about the environment, starting today with three afternoon shows at the Montauk School and two outdoor evening screenings at Third House. Programs will also take place at the Montauk Library tomorrow and Saturday afternoons. An awards ceremony and closing party will be held on Sunday evening from 7 to 9 at George’s Lighthouse Cafe.
The festival will feature a selection of short and feature films in four categories: environmental, social and cultural documentary, dramatic, and surf and skate. A $500 cash prize will be awarded to winners in each category.
Carl Safina, a renowned ecologist, writer, and Stony Brook University professor, will speak at the screening of “Coral: A Glimmer of Hope,” a short film by Gaelin Rosenwaks, and the feature “Poisoning Paradise” by Keely Shaye Brosnan and Teresa Tico, tomorrow at 8 at Third House. Mr. Rosenwaks will join Mr. Safina for the conversation.
Tickets are $10 per show, $100 for an all-access pass. Because the shows at Third House will be outdoors, guests have been advised to take chairs or blankets. In the event of rain, the evening programs will be held at the Montauk School.
Montaukfilmfestival.org is the place to go for information and tickets.
Camp Hero Drama
Joe Kovler, a writer from East Hampton, will be at the Montauk Library tonight at 6:30 to discuss his screenplay “Camp Hero,” which combines historical elements from the 1962 Cuban missile crisis and Operation Pedro Pan with an imaginative drama set at Camp Hero in Montauk.
Operation Pedro Pan was a little-known initiative administered by Catholic Charities that airlifted more than 14,000 children from Cuba to the U.S. between 1960 and 1962. Mr. Kovler’s screenplay tells the story of two Cuban teenagers who face the challenge of adjusting to a new life while waiting for their parents at Camp Hero, then an American military base.
Mr. Kovler will talk about what inspired him to use Montauk and Camp hero as the film’s location, although there is no record of the base having been used to shelter Pedro Pan children.
Anderson at Ross
The Ross School’s Nexus Lecture Series, which brings notable artists, scholars, and philosophers to the East Hampton campus, will feature Laurie Anderson, the Grammy Award-winning multidisciplinary artist, on Saturday at 6 p.m.
Since emerging in the 1970s with work focused on language, technology, and visual imagery, Ms. Anderson has gone on to create theatrical works that combine music, video storytelling, projected imagery, film, sculpture, performance, and, most recently, virtual reality.
Tickets are $75, and Ms. Anderson’s presentation will be followed by a question-and-answer session and a reception. Next up in the series will be Carter Burwell, the Oscar-nominated composer, on Aug. 10.
Family Portraits
The photographer Betty Kuhner (1916-2014) revolutionized the American family portrait by taking her affluent subjects out of the studio and into the backyard, the garden, or onto the beach. During her five-decade career, her subjects included members of the Kennedy, Ford, Lily Pulitzer, and Estee Lauder families.
Kate Kuhner, the photographer’s daughter, and Steven Stolman, the co-authors of “Betty Kuhner: The American Family Portrait,” will be at the Southampton History Museum to speak about their subject and sign copies of their recently published monograph today at 4 p.m. The free talk will be followed by a reception.
Baseball in India
The Hamptons Doc Fest will screen “The Only Real Game,” an award-winning documentary by Mirra Bank, a filmmaker who lives in East Hampton, on Monday at 7 p.m. at the Hampton Library in Bridgehampton.
The film focuses on the popularity of baseball in Manipur, a state in northeast India beset by civil war, drugs, gun traffic, and H.I.V. Under the aegis of First Pitch, a nonprofit established by a native Manipuri living in the United States, two envoy coaches from Major League Baseball visit the village to conduct instructional clinics, while talented local players hope to eventually visit the U.S.
The film also draws from archival footage of American soldiers playing baseball while based there during World War II, as well as more recent material related to the violent separatist movement and government corruption that still exist.
Love and Longing
“Songs of Love and Longing,” a concert by Katherine C.H.E., an Amagansett singer-songwriter whose music draws from jazz, gospel, and reggae, will take place at the East Hampton Library tomorrow at 6 p.m.
Originally from Nashville, Ms. C.H.E. performs at venues on Long Island, in New York City, and along the East Coast. She also hosted a local TV show, “Music in the Hamptons.” Her 2016 debut CD of folk tunes was titled “Campfire Sessions.”