Press

Long Island Press
26 October 2006
By Lori Carson
Source

The 14th Annual Hamptons International Film Festival

Weighty Themes In A Small Town

Joe Pantoliano, immediately recognizable because of the multitude of odd characters he has played in movies and television, went bounding down East Hampton’s Main Street wearing a green felt hat on day three of the 14th Annual Hamptons International Film Festival (HIFF). “Joey Pants,” as he calls himself, was there to help promote Canvas, an independent film yet to find distribution, the first feature by writer/director Joe Greco. Pantoliano stars in the production along with Academy Award-winning actress Marcia Gay Harden, who was also in town.

The film made its world premiere on Saturday, Oct. 21, at the United Artists (UA) Theater in East Hampton, a modest venue for such an event. But that’s part of the charm of this festival, as compared to some others. Robert Redford’s Sundance Film Festival in Utah began rescuing and reinventing independent films in 1981. But success—and higher stakes—has changed Sundance.

The HIFF, which runs for five days each year, harks back to a day when an independent festival was about making and seeing movies, pure and simple. “For a time, it was this,” Pantoliano said, arms extended toward the small-town street.

As he spoke, casually dressed movie buffs strolled past. For five days, actors, directors, producers and the press shared this stretch, between the Huntting Inn (where the press was headquartered, and many industry out-of-towners were staying) and the UA Theater, juggling interviews and screenings. Venues in Southampton and Sag Harbor also held screenings and panels, but most took place at the UA East Hampton, or down the street at Guild Hall, where the two “A Conversation With …” events took place—one with filmmaker Robert Altman and the other with actress Ellen Burstyn. Both were inspirational, as the two shared observations about the world, their lives and their movies.

“At the Oscars,” Burstyn commented, “the whole place smells like a gymnasium because everyone is sweating so much.”

Altman gave his insight into the director’s mind: “A writer sees the movie in his head,” the famed director said, “but that’s not the movie you’re going to make. Sometimes I was the writer. I treated myself with the same disrespect.”

On Wednesday, Oct. 18, opening night, things got off to a slow start. Lines were short and moviegoers were outnumbered by festival volunteers and the press. But by the weekend, crowds were overflowing onto the street, as filmmakers and actors, such as Alec Baldwin, Famke Janssen, Burstyn and Ron Livingston, arrived at the theater, to stand in front of the festival’s signature starfish-covered backdrop, while photographers snapped their pictures.

Despite a number of celebrities and those in the film industry in attendance, the festival continues to be a local one, although it’s changed a lot over the years. Madeleine Meehan, a visual artist and longtime resident of East Hampton, has attended many times.

“Years ago, there wasn’t all this organization,” she said. “I loved going from theater to theater. Now, you can only see three movies—it’s all very strict.”

Meehan was one of many who waited in line to see the many serious films this year. Themes of terrorism, oppression, child prostitution and war dominated international and domestic films, in both narrative and documentary categories.

The opening-night film The Situation, though promoted by the festival as being “the first U.S. feature film dealing with the war set exclusively in Iraq,” was shot in Morocco. Its cast came from cities from all over the world. The international ensemble was “a coalition of the willing,” joked Philip Haas, the film’s director, at the question-and-answer session after the screening. (The Q&As following many of the films added much to the festival, for they gave audiences an opportunity to interact with directors and stars.)

The film, described as a story of intrigue set in the complex world of post-invasion Iraq, successfully conveyed the complexity of war. But The Situation’s lack of dimension in the characters and story left audience members unmoved by all the death and destruction. Some objected to the film’s violence as well, described as “needless” by Geri Sloan of Amagansett.

More successful was Warchild, a moving film directed by Christian Wagner, about a woman who travels to Germany in search of her daughter, lost nine years before during the war in Sarajevo. Details of her ordeal were slowly revealed throughout the movie, effectively illustrating the destructiveness of war.

In much the same way, Holly, an American film about a 12-year-old Vietnamese girl sold into prostitution in Cambodia, exposed the plight of many similar children through the experiences of one young girl. Directed by Guy Moshe, it was as beautiful to look at as it was brutal.

Baldwin led the Q&A that followed Holly. The audience seemed as taken with the film’s star, Livingston, of Sex and the City fame, as they were with Baldwin, who asked some good questions and relieved the tension in the theater created by the film with his wit.

“Lately, I’ve gone back to cheering for the bad guy to die,” he quipped.

The Conflict & Resolution Panel, which took place in Sag Harbor on Saturday at the Bay Street Theater and featured three documentary makers, further brought focus to international issues. About the Body was about a group of Israeli women, who having survived a bombing, learn to accept their new physical disabilities through dance. What Remains of Us told the story of a woman who travels through Tibet, bringing a videotaped message from the Dalai Lama to the Tibetan people, many of whom had never before seen his face. The filmmakers talked about what constitutes manipulation in documentary making. All acknowledged that, to some degree, even having a camera present can alter an event.

Collectively, the experience of seeing so many films from other countries and cultures, about people dealing with loss, exploitation and war, left the viewer feeling like a citizen of the world. This was Artistic Director Raj Roy’s expressed intention in choosing these films for the HIFF.

“We made a big push to embrace these films this year,” he said, exhausted at the end of the festival (Roy was everywhere, it seemed, during the HIFF). “I think when you personalize events, which many of these films do, it’s easier for an individual to get his head around the larger implications.”

On Saturday night, the Golden Starfish Award winners were announced. The award for Best Narrative Feature Film went to The Bothersome Man, directed by Jens Lien. Voyage in G Major, directed by Georgi Lazarevski, was named Best Documentary Feature Film.

Closing the festival on Sunday night was The Astronaut Farmer, starring Billy Bob Thornton and Virginia Madsen. By that time, East Hampton seemed almost quiet again, the way things get in the fall on the East End. There had been many movies, and much discussion among filmmakers and actors about what it is that filmmakers and actors do. A film festival allows a movie audience into the world of those conversations.