HIFF Celebrates 20 Years

Karen Arikian knows a thing or two about nonprofits.

Before taking the helm of the Hamptons International Film Festival five years ago, she ran two nonprofit organizations and worked in a number of others, Ms. Arikian reported during a recent telephone interview. She didn’t paint an optimistic picture.

As a whole, nonprofits are understaffed, underfunded, and oftentimes, under-appreciated, she said, causing them to fold quicker than the time it takes them to get started.

The first two points may be true of HIFF—the year-round staff of three utilizes a handful of grants to keep the nonprofit film festival afloat—but certainly not the latter. Two decades strong, the beloved film festival—which will kick off on Thursday, October 4, and run through Monday, October 8—is celebrating a major milestone this year.

“Twenty years in the nonprofit world is, in my opinion, an achievement,” Ms. Arikian said. “The board conceptualized the festival, originally, as a film festival for independent, international films, fresh voices, challenging films you’re not going to see next week—truly a high-end, quality festival with the basic premise and belief of serving the community and international outreach. I would say the agenda was set 20 years ago and we are continuing to fulfill that mission.”

Beginning Thursday, directors, producers and stars—among them Richard Gere, Alec Baldwin, Nathan Lane, Stevie Nicks and Sienna Miller—will flock to a slew of red carpet events across the East End to see 140 films at 10 theaters from Westhampton Beach to Montauk.

Programming Director David Nugent narrowed down the field of films for this year’s festival from more than 2,000 films either received from around the globe, viewed at various festivals or screened in Manhattan, he said. The final lineup of features and shorts—a number of the selections are world-, United States- and East Coast-premieres—was no easy task, especially considering the festival’s track record, he said.

Three of the last four years, one of HIFF’s featured films has gone on to win the Oscar for Best Picture: “Slumdog Millionaire” in 2009, “The King’s Speech” in 2011 and “The Artist” this past winter.

“It was a mammoth undertaking this year, maybe because we were all excited, and felt a little pressure, about the 20th anniversary,” Mr. Nugent said during a recent telephone interview. “It was a big undertaking, I have to say. But we think we’ve got another winner in the batch this year.”

The festival will kick off at Guild Hall and UA East Hampton Cinema with the American premiere of “Love, Marilyn,” a Liz Garbus-directed documentary that digs into the life of Marilyn Monroe—the person, not the actress—to reveal a startlingly intimate portrait of, arguably, the silver screen’s most famous starlet on the 50th anniversary of her death.

After buying a home in Amagansett last year, where Monroe and Arthur Miller famously spent a summer in the late 1950s, Mr. Nugent said choosing “Love, Marilyn” to open the festival was not a calculated decision. It “just felt right,” he said.

“First of all, I love documentaries,” he laughed. “I just think that documentaries, sometimes, are amongst the most amazing films out there. She [Ms. Garbus] tackled the subject of Marilyn Monroe, that has been done in so many ways, with footage that’s never been seen before, having a number of actors and actresses read excerpts from letters she wrote to people she worked with, and friends, and lovers. It’s just a smart, creative film that celebrates Hollywood and also casts a critical eye on it.”

The Toronto Film Festival Audience Award-winner, “Silver Linings Playbook”—a comedy directed by David O. Russell about a former teacher who falls in love with a mysterious woman after checking out of a mental hospital starring Bradley Cooper, Jennifer Lawrence and Robert DeNiro—will open the Southampton screenings on Friday, October 5, Mr. Nugent said.

“It’s a very big deal. Toronto is a huge festival—289 feature films screened. It’s four times as big as we are,” Mr. Nugent said. “They also screened ‘Slumdog Millionaire,’ ‘King’s Speech.’ They also have good taste.”

He laughed, and continued, “It’s the biggest festival in North America, one of the biggest in the world. They have amazing films, and this is the one their audiences chose for the award. We’re really excited about that. It’s a really funny, smart movie that we’re happy to share.”

Ben Affleck’s third directorial effort, “Argo,” in which he also stars with John Goodman and Kyle Chandler, is the festival’s centerpiece film. The film was produced by George Clooney, whose film “The Descendants” screened last year at HIFF, and Grant Heslov. “Argo” will be making its East Coast premiere on Saturday, October 6, at Guild Hall and Sunday, October 7, at UA East Hampton.

The political thriller, which will be released by Warner Brothers on Friday, October 12, is already causing many to buzz with anticipation. Just at the mention of the title, Mr. Nugent breathed out a euphoric sigh.

“Ahh, ‘Argo’s’ fantastic,” he said. “So good. People will love this movie. It’s not just a political thriller; it’s also really funny. It’s a really fun throwback to classic Hollywood and it’s well-acted. It features one our ‘Variety 10 To Watch’: Scoot McNairy.”

Mr. McNairy, who plays Joe Stafford, one of the six “house guests” held hostage at the home of the Canadian ambassador to Iran in the film, took some time for a quick telephone interview on Monday afternoon. The actor, who has four additional films coming up, said that being selected as a HIFF standout was an honor.

“It feels great after 10 years of work, it’s nice to finally feel like you’re getting some recognition,” he said. “Being selected is very gratifying, I feel incredibly blessed.”

The inaugural “Variety 10 To Watch” is a ramped-up rendition of last year’s six “Breakthrough Performers,” up-and-comers who were selected as standouts at HIFF. The “Variety 10” this year include Adam Driver, Domnhall Gleeson, Boyd Holbrook, Imogen Poots, Alicia Vikander, Nate Parker, Elyas M’Barek, Dree Hemingway and Bella Heathcote, who appears in HIFF’s closing night film “Not Fade Away,” a moving coming-of-age tale about rock and roll in the 1960s from director David Chase, who directed HBO’s “The Sopranos.”

Mr. Nugent also urges audiences to pay attention to Spotlight films’ “Amour,” which was the winner of this year’s Palme d’Or at the Cannes Film Festival, “The Girl,” “Seven Psychopaths,” “The Sessions.” He also mentioned World Cinema Narratives “The Sapphires” and “Future Weather,” whose director, Jenny Deller, is this year’s Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Feature Film Prize winner.

The last two years, the HIFF Audience Award-winning films went on to win Best Picture at the Academy Awards. Recently, several others, including “Black Swan” and “The Descendants” were nominated for Oscars.

“I like to think our audiences have good taste and are thirsting for the best cinema around the world,” Mr. Nugent said. “The last four years of festivals, there have been 86 Oscar nominations—24 from films last year, 30 from the year before.”

Those numbers have secured the festival a spot on the “awards circuit,” according to Ms. Arikian, noting the recognition is a “recent development.” Additionally, the festival has partnered with the Academy of Television Arts and Sciences and the British Academy of Film and Television Arts, New York, which will present a slate of 20 British films this year.

Continuing are the “Rowdy Talks” and “A Conversation With” series, which will feature talks with Hamptons resident, actor Alan Cumming, rock icon Stevie Nicks and East Ender Richard Gere, who is receiving the Golden Starfish Award for Lifetime Achievement in Acting.

New to the festival this year is “Nobel Laureates: In the Camera’s Eye,” a free film programming series running alongside an exhibition of 40 photographs of Nobel Laureates by Peter Badge at c/o The Maidstone in East Hampton. Jose Ramos-Horta, Nobel Peace Prize-winner and former president of East Timor, and John Nash, Nobel Peace Prize-winner, will host talks during screenings of films “Balibo” and “A Beautiful Mind,” respectively.

“What the Hamptons offers is a very inquisitive and interested audience able to deal with challenging films, and our festival is highly regarded and highly respected in the industry,” Ms. Arikian said.

Right now she’s focused on this year’s film festival, but there will also be planning for the future very soon, she said.

“A five-year plan? If I had a five-minute plan, I would be so happy, I’ve got to tell you,” she said. “There has been discussion over the years about lengthening the festival. These are discussions we’ll have right after this festival with the board. When you spread out something from five days to seven or eight days, the energy level changes. But as we program more and more films—and it’s not only films but the way we try to frame a lot of films with discussions and presentations—it gets tight. As you can see from this festival’s lineup, people are going to have to make serious choices.”

The 20th annual Hamptons International Film Festival will kick off on Thursday, October 4, and run through Monday, October 8, with screenings, panel discussions and red carpet walks at theaters from Westhampton Beach to Montauk. For a complete schedule of events or to purchase tickets, visit hamptonsfilmfest.org.