For the 16th consecutive year, Hamptons Doc Fest is celebrating with an expanded seven-day festival of 30 illuminating documentary films. The films will be screening at both the Sag Harbor Cinema and Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor from November 30 to December 6.
Founder and executive director of Hamptons Doc Fest Jacqui Lofaro said, “Our 2023 documentary program promises you the power and experience of quality storytelling that surprises us, makes us think and feel, and connects us with wider ideas and concepts.” He continued, “Plus, the festival provides us, as always, with a festive, celebratory opening to the holiday season.” The line-up includes films about musicians, artists, dancers, history and human rights, nature and the environment, fashion and photography, and biography.
On November 30, opening night at the Sag Harbor Cinema will feature In the Company of Rose, directed by James Lapine. The film is centered around the life of widow Rose Styron as she lived it with novelist William Styron. Rather, a film about newscaster Dan Rather, directed by Frank Marshall, will close the festival on December 6 at Bay Street Theater.
Hamptons artistic director Karen Arikian stated, “Among the many award-winning films and talented filmmakers we have invited to our festival, we are honored to recognize the stellar career of Matt Heineman with our Pennebaker Career Achievement Award; Artemis Rising Foundation with our Impact Award to Regina K. Scully; and new this year, our Legacy Award, given posthumously to filmmaker Nancy Buirski.” Arikian added, “We are also thrilled to be showing Wim Wenders’ Anselm — shot in 3D — about artist Anselm Kiefer, as well as to warmly welcome master filmmaker James Ivory with his film A Cooler Climate.”
This year, Hamptons Doc Fest presents the Pennebaker Career Achievement Award to Heineman for “tackling difficult and often hard-to-access subjects while addressing great social truths.” Heineman will receive this award and others at the Awards Gala on Saturday, December 2, at Bay Street Theater. He will receive the prestigious award alongside a screening of his latest film, American Symphony. Filmmaker Lana Jokel sponsors the award, which will be presented by Jokel and Chris Hegedus, Pennebaker’s partner and co-filmmaker.
Known for taking on loaded subjects such as the war in Afghanistan (Retrograde) and the drug war in Mexico (Cartel Land), Heineman is an Academy Award-nominated and nine-time Emmy Award-winning filmmaker at only 40 years old. Other controversial topics Heineman has undertaken include COVID-19 (The First Wave), ISIS in Syria (City of Ghosts), and the severe issues with modern healthcare (Escape Fire: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare). Speaking on his films, Heineman said you can “speak great social truths through the power of the documentary film.”
The festival will also present its Young Voices Program, which will be featured at Bay Street Theater on December 6. After the Rocks 4 Sale screening, award-winning filmmaker Roger Sherman will conduct a hands-on workshop. The festival is also adding a new program this year called “Shorts & Breakfast Bites.” The program pairs coffee/tea and other breakfast treats with a well-curated slate of short films. The breakfast program will take place on Saturday and Sunday mornings, December 2 and 3, at Bay Street Theater because “Who doesn’t love the indulgence of a morning in the theater, seeing interesting films, complete with breakfast?” Lofaro asks. “It’s the perfect combination.”
