With individual tickets set to go on sale on Saturday for members and Tuesday for the general public, the Hamptons International Film Festival, which will run from Oct. 2 through Oct. 12, has announced the full slate of films and the lineup for its Conversations With series.
The closing night selection is Alex Huston Fischer and Eleanor Wilson’s romantic fantasy comedy, “Wicker,” which stars Olivia Colman, Alexander Skarsgard, Elizabeth Debicki, and Peter Dinklage. Colman plays an ostracized fisherwoman who commissions a wicker husband (Skarsgard) from the local basketmaker (Dinklage). When he turns out to be more spectacular than she imagined, she becomes the object of envy for all the village women who once mocked her.
Centerpiece screenings include the U.S. premiere of “The Life and Deaths of Wilson Shedd,” directed by Tim Blake Nelson and starring Amanda Seyfried and Scoot McNairy. Based on actual events, when a teacher in an abusive marriage takes a job leading creative writing classes at a maximum security prison, she begins to fall for a charismatic inmate. Seyfried will join the festival for a conversation at the East Hampton Middle School on Oct. 4.
The other Centerpiece film is “The Only Living Pickpocket in New York,” which stars John Turturro in the title role. Directed by Noah Segan, it also features Steve Buscemi, Giancarlo Esposito, Will Price, and Tatiana Maslany. Turturro, who will be interviewed onstage on Oct. 11 at Guild Hall, plays an old-school hustler who relies solely on his wits and connections. As times change, his daily pickpocket haul includes credit cards and cellphones, rather than cash and wristwatches. Things take a turn when he pockets cryptocurrency and a handgun.
The other two Conversation With guests are Jesse Eisenberg and Ron Howard, who will be at Guild Hall at different times on Oct. 10. Eisenberg wrote and directed “The Debut,” which stars Julianne Moore, Paul Giamatti, Halle Bailey, and Eisenberg in what the festival calls “a playful love letter to the vibrant, larger-than-life world of community theater.”
Having its East Coast premiere, Howard’s “Avedon” explores the life and legacy of the celebrated photographer who captured on film everyone from world leaders to pop culture icons to international supermodels. Howard was able to gain access to Avedon’s personal archives, including never-before-seen stills and behind-the-lens footage, as well as new interviews with his closest collaborators.
Vic Sarin’s “The Lightkeeper,” a Spotlight film having its international premiere, stars Dominic Cooper as a lighthouse keeper in 1920s Ireland whose tie to his mournful past is gradually loosened by a mysterious American widow, a hard-headed priest, and his housekeeper. It also stars Sarah Gadon, Aidan Quinn, and Sarah Bolger.
Also in the Spotlight category and having its East Coast premiere is “Wild Horse Nine,” a film by Martin McDonagh set shortly before the 1973 coup that overthrew Salvador Allende, Chile’s Socialist president. John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell play C.I.A. agents sent from Santiago to Easter Island by their bureau chief, MJ (Steve Buscemi). While among the island’s iconic statues, the two agents wrestle with their dark pasts and present conspiracies. It also features Tom Waits and Parker Posey.
Among the World Cinema narrative films is “Tender Loving Care,” a comedy-drama directed by the Academy Award nominee Mike Leigh (“Secrets and Lies,” “Topsy-Turvy”) and likely his final feature film. It tells the story of two social workers navigating an uncaring modern world in order to look after their clients and each other.
Another eminent director is Pedro Almodovar, whose “Bitter Christmas” features two alternating stories. One, set in 2004, is about Elsa, an advertising director having trouble with her friends and her boyfriend, while in 2026 Raul, a filmmaker, writes a script that is soon revealed to be the story of Elsa. The filmmaker examines the “close relationship between inspiration and life, expanding the limits of stories within stories,” according to the festival.
“Fatherland” by Pawel Pawlikowski, an Oscar nominee for “Cold War” (2018), is about the return to post-World War II Germany by the author Thomas Mann (Hanns Zischler) with his daughter Erika (Sandra Huller) after 16 years of exile in the United States. Traveling from U.S.-controlled Frankfurt to Soviet-dominated Weimar, the author is confronted by the ruins of a divided homeland and his fragmented family.
In World Cinema documentaries category is a new film by Alex Gibney, an Oscar winner for “Taxi to the Dark Side.” Opinions are sure to be divided (or, more likely, unanimous) about the subject of “Musk,” his four-hour documentary having its New York premiere. Gibney drew upon investigative research, interviews, and archival footage to create a portrait that did not please the world’s richest man.
Also in the World Cinema documentary category is the world premiere of “Wilder,” Chris Smith’s portrait of Gene Wilder, the star of “Young Frankenstein,” “The Producers,” and “Blazing Saddles.” Told almost entirely through his own words and performances, the film examines Wilder’s transition from neurotic outsider to unlikely leading man by drawing from rare archival footage and insights from Jordon Walker-Pearlman, Wilder’s nephew.
Having its New York premiere is “Maverick: The Epic Adventures of David Lean,” Barnaby Thompson’s portrait of the director whose filmography includes “The Bridge on the River Kwai,” “Lawrence of Arabia,” and “Doctor Zhivago.” Narrated by Cate Blanchett and with Kenneth Branagh as the voice of Lean, the film features admiring interviews with contemporary filmmakers including Wes Anderson, Nia DaCosta, Alfonso Cuaron, Celine Song, and Denis Villeneuve.
The Narrative Competition will have the North American premiere of “The Guest,” a drama by Mads Mengel about a new father’s unraveling when his estranged mother turns up for his son’s naming ceremony. Also in that category is the New York premiere of “La Bola Negra,” an epic by Javier Ambrossi and Javier Calvo that follows three generations of men across pivotal moments in Spanish history, and the U.S. premiere of “The Meltdown,” a thriller set in 1992 post-dictatorship Chile by Manuela Martelli that involves the search for a 15-year-old German skier who vanishes.
Among the Competition Documentaries are the New York premiere of Carolina Gonzalez Valencia’s “How to Clean a House in 10 Easy Steps,” the story of a domestic worker and her daughter who face deportation after migrating to the United States, and the New York premiere of “What Will I Become?” — a film by Lexie Bean and Logan Rozos about their experiences of being young trans men in America and the growing suicide rate among trans teenagers.
Other returning programming categories are Compassion, Justice, and Animals, Views From Long Island, Films of Conflict and Resolution, and Air, Land, and Sea. There will also be 12 programs of short films.
The festival has announced its jury members. The Narrative Jury has Cara Cusumano, festival director of the Tribeca Film Festival and senior vice president of programming, Jeremy O. Harris, a Tony Award-nominated playwright, screenwriter, and actor, and David Rooney, The Hollywood Reporter’s chief film critic. The Documentary Jury consists of Carlos A. Gutierrez, co-founding executive director of Cinema Tropical, Mark Obenhaus, an award-winning director and producer, and Sky Sitney, a co-founder and the festival director of DC/DOX.
Programs will be held at Guild Hall, the East Hampton Cinema, the East Hampton Middle School, the Sag Harbor Cinema, and the Southampton Playhouse. The HIFF34 Film Guide, which is now live on the festival’s website, is the place to visit to explore the more than 150 films and events.
