SummerDocs Returns
HamptonsFilm’s annual SummerDocs series will open with Alex Gibney’s “Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie” on Saturday evening at 7 at Guild Hall.
Almost four years ago, Rushdie, a Booker Prize-winning author, was attacked onstage by a knife-wielding man, losing an eye and the reduced use of one hand. Gibney uses excerpts from Rushdie’s work, including his memoir “Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder,” and never-before-seen footage shot by Rushdie’s wife, Rachel Eliza Griffiths, to trace the author’s physical and spiritual recovery.
Gibney will be present for a post-screening conversation with Alec Baldwin, HamptonsFilm’s co-chairman, and David Nugent, its chief creative officer. Only a handful of tickets, priced at $40, remain.
Hamptons Film has also announced the return of its free outdoor screening series, presented Wednesday evenings throughout the summer at different venues. Among this year’s offerings are “Mamma Mia!” (July 8 at Main Beach); “The Biggest Little Farm” (July 15 at Amber Waves Farm), and “Home Alone” (July 22 at Herrick Park). More information can be found on the HamptonsFilm website.
Happy Birthday, Jerry
In celebration of his 99th birthday, the Sag Harbor Cinema is showcasing the nearly century-long legacy of Jerry Schatzberg with an exhibition of his photographs of cinema icons and a screening of his first feature film, “Puzzle of a Downfall Child” (1970).
During the decade before making his first film, Schatzberg, who had a background in fashion photography, created portraits of Bob Dylan, Francis Coppola, Andy Warhol, Arlo Guthrie, Roman Polanski, Fidel Castro, Milos Forman, Jimi Hendrix, Frank Zappa, and the Rolling Stones, among others. He has said that his portrait photography taught him how to make actors comfortable in front of the camera.
“Puzzle of a Downfall Child,” which will be shown Friday, stars Faye Dunaway as Lou Andreas Sand, a reclusive former model whose grip on reality is increasingly fragile. “Visually striking and psychologically complex, Schatzberg’s first feature reveals the eye of a master photographer and the sensibility of a major American filmmaker in the making,” says the cinema.
The photographs will be installed on the second floor.
Comedy at Bay Street
David Koechner, an actor, comedian, writer, and producer best known to television audiences as Todd Packer on “The Office,” will bring an evening of comedy to Sag Harbor’s Bay Street Theater on Saturday at 8 p.m.
An alumnus of Chicago’s Second City Theater, Koechner got his first break as a cast member on “Saturday Night Live. He has since accumulated over 200 film and television credits.
Film credits include the role of Champ Kind in “Anchorman” and “Anchorman 2: The Legend Continues,” as well as “Braking for Whales,” “Talladega Nights,” “Get Smart,” “Then Came You,” “National Champions,” and “Cheap Thrills.”
On TV, he has appeared in ABC’s “The Goldbergs,” CBS’s “Superior Donuts,” Showtime’s “Twin Peaks,” and Comedy Central’s “Another Period.” He also performs stand-up across the country.
Only a few seats remained as of press time, priced from $69 to $89.
Catskill Serenade
Gideon Evans, a writer-producer whose credits include “The Daily Show with Jon Stewart,” has co-created “Borscht Belt Serenade,” a show about that region’s music and singers, which will be performed at the Jewish Center of the Hamptons on Sunday at 4 p.m.
Evans created the show with Jill Abramovitz as a commission for the Borscht Belt Museum in Ellenville, N.Y. Abramovitz, a Broadway veteran, stars in the one-woman show, which includes an extensive slideshow following the resort region from its beginnings until late in the last century, when its famous resorts closed.
Abramovitz (“The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” “Beetlejuice”) will sing sentimental favorites such as “My Yiddishe Mama,” Cole Porter classics, pop hits from the 1970s and ’80s, and a disco television commercial jingle.
Tickets are $72, $36 for members of the center, and $118 for V.I.P. seating.
Puppets for Adults
The Masonic Temple in Sag Harbor, known for its eclectic and venturesome music series, is moving in a different direction, at least for one night, with Puppet Slam, which will happen Friday at 8 p.m. For adults only, the show “is sure to have you on the edge of your seat,” says the temple, cautioning that the puppets have “adult issues.”
Tickets are $20.
Concerts in the Park
The Southampton Cultural Center’s annual series of free concerts in Agawam Park will kick off next Thursday at 6:30 p.m. with the Nancy Atlas Project. Subsequent shows, all at 6:30, will feature Bangos (July 8), the Lone Sharks (July 15, at Cooper’s Beach), Darren Ottati and Friends (July 22), Sir Elton, featuring Lance Millard in a tribute to Elton John (July 29), Christiaan Padavan and Friends (Aug. 5), Damaged Goods (Aug. 12), Mecco Groove (Aug. 19), Cornerstone (Aug. 26), and Strange Magic NY, the ELO Experience (Sept. 2).
