HIFF Awardees Announced for the 32nd Annual Edition

HamptonsFilm has announced honorees for the 32nd annual edition of the Hamptons International Film Festival, presented by Regina K. Scully’s Artemis Rising Foundation: Demi Moore, who will receive the Career Achievement in Acting Award; Liev Schreiber, accepting the festival’s Dick Cavett Artistic Champion Award; Malcolm Washington, recognized with the Breakthrough Director Award; and Meg LeFauve and Dave Holstein, accepting the Achievement in Screenwriting Award which celebrates their work on Disney’s “Inside Out 2.” HIFF will also screen Washington’s “The Piano Lesson” as this year’s Centerpiece presentation. The festival also revealed the full feature lineup for this year’s Compassion, Justice, and Animal Rights Signature Program. The 2024 Hamptons International Film Festival will run from October 4 to 14.

The East Coast premiere of Netflix’s “The Piano Lesson” screens at HIFF on October 5. Directed and co-written by Malcolm Washington, and featuring an ensemble cast including honorary Academy Award-winner Samuel L. Jackson, John David Washington, Danielle Deadwyler and Ray Fisher, the film is an adaptation of August Wilson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play of the same name. The story follows the Charles household, where a prized heirloom piano is tearing two siblings apart. On one side, a brother (John David Washington) plans to build the family fortune by selling it. On the other, a sister (Deadwyler) will go to any lengths to hold on to the sole vestige of the family’s heritage. Malcolm Washington, Danielle Deadwyler and John David Washington will attend and participate in a post-screening conversation about the film.

At the screening, and in recognition of his feature directorial debut, Washington will receive this year’s Breakthrough Director Award, celebrating an up-and-coming filmmaker with an uncommonly bright future.

The festival will present the Career Achievement in Acting Award to actress, producer, and New York Times bestselling author Demi Moore in celebration of her work in this year’s critically acclaimed “The Substance.” Moore will soon be seen in Paramount+’s upcoming drama “Landman” from Taylor Sheridan and Christian Wallace, in which she stars alongside Jon Hamm and Billy Bob Thornton. Moore set a record in 1995 when she became the highest-paid actress in Hollywood. She is known for her work in “St. Elmo’s Fire,” “About Last Night,” “Ghost,” “G.I. Jane” and many other films. Moore will also participate in an “A Conversation With …” event on October 13, where she will accept the award.

HIFF will also recognize actor and filmmaker Liev Schreiber with the 2024 Dick Cavett Artistic Champion Award. Created in 2017 by HamptonsFilm Chairman Emeritus Alec Baldwin, the award honors those in the creative arts who not only excel in their field, but who also support the arts and artists in other fields, such as education, related media, and other arts disciplines. Schreiber is a Tony and Golden Globe Award-winning and Emmy-nominated performer, known for his roles across film and television including “Spotlight,” “The Manchurian Candidate,” and the upcoming “The Perfect Couple” and “Across the River and Into the Trees.” In 2022, Schreieber co-founded the BlueCheck Ukraine foundation, which has been instrumental in championing the Ukrainian people’s ongoing struggle for freedom. On October 5, Schreiber will sit for “A Conversation With…,” moderated by Baldwin, where he will discuss his career and legacy and receive the award.

On October 13, HIFF will host a Morning Talk conversation with the screenwriters of “Inside Out 2,” Academy Award-nominee Meg LeFauve and Golden Globe-nominee Dave Holstein, where they will discuss the incredible commercial and critical success of the film. During the conversation, the pair will be presented with the festival’s Achievement in Screenwriting Award. “Inside Out 2” was the highest-grossing film of 2024. Warmly received by critics, it offers a fresh way for parents to talk to children and adolescents about mental health, their burgeoning emotions, and how to deal with the myriad anxieties of our current climate.

“It is an honor to celebrate an esteemed group of accomplished artists and their indelible contributions to cinema at this October’s festival,” said HamptonsFilm Artistic Director David Nugent. “Our awardees have all experienced career-defining moments this year, and we are thrilled to share in their successes with our audiences.”

The full feature lineup for this year’s Compassion, Justice, and Animal Rights Signature Program has been announced. It includes the U.S. premiere of Todd Bieber’s “American Cats: The Good, The Bad, The Cuddly,” which explores the issue of cat declawing in the United States and the powerful industry lobby that not only promotes but profits from the controversial procedure; Joshua Zeman’s “Checkpoint Zoo,” documenting a daring rescue led by a heroic team of zookeepers and volunteers at a zoo at the center of the Russian Invasion of Ukraine. The film will also receive the Zelda Penzel Giving Voice to the Voiceless Award; and the New York Premiere of Sally Aitken’s “Every Little Thing,” following subject Terry Masear as she finds a sense of healing from her own past through tending to fragile yet resilient hummingbirds.

Passes and packages for the 32nd edition of HIFF go on sale September 4, at hamptonsfilmfest.org.