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The 2005 HAMPTONS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL is celebrating its 13th annual presentation of films, programs and events, and will bring to the East End an array of exciting and interesting filmmakers and personalities. The Hamptons International Film Festival is always an outstanding opportunity for audiences to catch something new and out of the ordinary. This year’s festival runs October 19th through 23rd, 2005, in East Hampton, New York with additional venues in Southampton, Sag Harbor and Montauk. This year also finds the Festival significantly expanding its presence and services to Southampton and its nearby communities. The Southampton expansion will extend the Festival’s reach in presenting exciting, entertaining and intriguing films and programs.

The Hamptons International Film Festival was founded to celebrate the American Independent film and to introduce a unique and varied spectrum of international films and filmmakers to our audiences. The festival is committed to exhibiting films that express fresh voices and differing global perspectives, with the hope that these programs will enlighten audiences, provide invaluable exposure for filmmakers and present inspired entertainment for all. Each year our Director of Programming, Rajendra Roy, and his screening committee view thousands of submissions and scour the world’s festivals to put together a slate of films all fueled by an innovative spirit: the adventuresome, courageous, original and philosophical that defines the Hamptons film-going experience. This year’s event features 27 World Premieres, 23 US Premieres, 4 North American Premieres, 18 East Coast Premieres and 7 New York Premieres.

Executive Director, Denise Kasell, and Board Chairman, Stuart Match Suna, are at the helm to ensure that the slate of thought provoking as well as entertaining films and programs will fulfill the Festival’s mission to cultivate, stimulate and express the art of international independent film and be a forum for new artistic voices. “This year with the encouragement of our Board of Directors and our newly formed Southampton Committee we have been able to implement an expansion we have wanted to do for many years”, says Kasell. “This will enable a greater constituency and offer even more tastemakers for our distributors & producers. With the growth of the festival there are even more filmmakers in attendance. We are so thankful to our presenting sponsors American Airlines & Altour International and to our new host sponsor, Panasonic for their state of the art hi-def equipment.”

“Observers from both the public and the film industry will notice a dramatic maturation of the festival and its programs this year,” states programmer Rajendra Roy. “Over the past four years we have worked very hard at listening; to our filmmakers, to our partners in promotion and distribution and to our audiences. It is extremely gratifying to be able to provide an essential venue for both established and emerging filmmakers from across the international spectrum.”

The heart of the Hamptons International Film Festival has always been its Golden Starfish Award and the films in the competitions for Best Narrative Feature (over $170,000 in goods and in-kind services), Best Documentary Award ($10,000 in cash and in-kind services) and Short Film Award ($5,000 in cash). The Hamptons International Film Festival also awards the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Film Prize in Science and Technology ($25,000 in cash); the Kodak Award for Cinematography ($6,000 of goods and in-kind services); the Brizzolara Family Inspirational Film Award ($5,000 in cash); the Zicherman Family Foundation Award for Screenwriting ($5,000 in cash); Best Undergraduate and Graduate Student Films (eight $1,000 cash awards); and new this year, the Artemis Records Original Movie Score Award ($5,000 of goods and in-kind services).

This year, the Golden Starfish Narrative and Documentary Competitions have continued to expand - For the first time American and International films are competing together on an even playing field. Other returning programs will include the acclaimed Films of Conflict and Resolution, the Spotlight Films, Films For Families, View From Long Island, World Cinema, NYWIFT (New York Women in Film & Television), A Conversation With…, Special Presentations and Panels with actors and filmmakers, and the Rising Stars program including the Golden Starfish Award for Career Achievement in Acting to this year’s Rising Stars mentors. New programs and additions for this year include: A tribute to the Berlinale Kinderfilmfest, a program from the Berlin International Film Festival presenting here as an exciting new compilation of films for young audiences, tailored specifically for the Hamptons Film Festival; and The Panasonic 48Hour Film Challenge, for selected film makers during the festival to write, shoot and finally present their work to festival audiences.

From Wednesday, October 19th when the Festival Opens with a screening of BEE SEASON (USA, East Coast Premiere, a Fox Searchlight release) directed by Scott McGehee & David Siegel (THE DEEP END), based on the nationally best-selling Myla Goldberg, and starring Richard Gere and Juliette Binoche; through to our Closing Night film, THE WEATHER MAN (USA, East Coast Premiere, a Paramount release), directed by Gore Verbinski and starring Nicolas Cage, Michael Caine and Hope Davis (who will be attending), the Hamptons will be a very special and exciting place to be.

The Golden Starfish Feature Competition films, worth over $170,000 in goods and in-kind services to be used towards the next feature, include Director/Screenwriter/Producer, Bernadine Santistevan’s THE CRY (USA, World Premiere) The legend of a crying, vengeful mother who abducts children and rips open the throats of unfaithful men, haunts this atmospheric thriller. Breathing life into a myth well known in the Latino community, the film takes place over the course of one ominous day in New York City; SWEET LAND (USA, World Premiere), by writer/director Ali Selim, tells an intimate yet powerful tale of immigrants struggling to establish homesteads and new lives at the end of World War I in the exquisite landscape of Minnesota farm country. Spare, painterly, and with a wonderfully strong cast that includes Lois Smith, Elizabeth Reaser, Patrick Heusinger, Alan Cumming, Ned Beatty, and John Heard, SWEET LAND is a gorgeous portrait of the triumph of will and longing and the emergence of our better selves; THE CAVE OF THE YELLOW DOG (Mongolia/Germany, US Premiere) was exquisitely filmed on the Mongolian steppes by Oscar-nominated director Byambasuren Davaa (THE STORY OF THE WEEPING CAMEL) who artfully incorporates the real day-to-day existence of the Batchuluuns—an actual Mongolian family, not actors—into the warm-hearted story of Nansal, the young daughter who finds a puppy sheltered in a cave; WELCOME TO CALIFORNIA (USA, World Premiere), Written and Directed by Susan Traylor, is as much a metaphor for California as it is the story of Ondine (Ms. Traylor), an actress in that class of beauties who can still attract a man but can’t get him to return her phone calls. Ondine emerges as a strong woman with a unique plan to save herself and also save the spiritually deaf men around her; In Writer/Director Stefan C. Schaefer’s CONFESS (USA, World Premiere), a dreadlocked hacker with an axe to grind, Terell Lessor (Eugene Byrd) returns to New York to enact his revenge. After his mother (21 GRAMS' Melissa Leo) is downsized, Lessor begins his cyber-activist crusade by slipping a hidden camera into her boss's office and posting images of his sexual harassment online; Hannes Stöhr’s ONE DAY IN EUROPE (Germany/Spain, North American Premiere), Swirls together four purported robberies in four countries, a smorgasbord of mangled languages and an entire continent overcome by soccer mania in this lighthearted jab at the new European melting pot.

Jurors for the Golden Starfish Narrative Competition include: Acclaimed Actress Kerry Washington, Playwright/ScreenwriterJon Robin Baitz and Wieland Speck, Director, Panorama Section, Berlin International Film Festival.

Five films compete in the Golden Starfish Documentary category, with an award worth $10,000 in cash and in-kind services. If you thought the drill instructors from THE BOYS IN COMPANY C and FULL METAL JACKET were pure fiction…, EARS, OPEN. EYEBALLS, CLICK (USA, East Coast Premiere) by Canaan Brumely, a vivid documentary chronicling 12 weeks of basic training shows how true-to-life those loud-mouthed portrayals can be - presenting an unfiltered, fly-on-the-wall glimpse into the chaos and pain of boot camp; BE FRUITFUL AND MULTIPLY (Israel, US Premiere), by Shosh Shalam, is a story of women's oppression in an Ultra-Orthodox patriarchal society that enslaves women socially and ideologically, leaving them unable to develop inner freedom and negating their right to critical thought; TINA BARNEY: SOCIAL STUDIES (France, World Premiere), by Director/Writer/Producer Jaci Judelson, explores the life and work of the artist in the context of a European series she undertook when inspiration from her native northeastern U.S. dimmed; Once a year an event takes place in Dorchester County, Maryland that is unlike any other, anywhere: the close-knit community’s annual National Outdoor Show culminates in one big night that includes both the Miss Outdoors Beauty Pageant and the World Championship Muskrat Skinning Competition. Amy Nicholson’s MUSKRAT LOVELY (USA, World Premiere) tells the story of the lead-up to the 50th anniversary pageant and skinning contest; What began with a few lone voices in the ′60s changed the course of history. Military men and women on the frontlines of dissent come forward to recall their participation in the anti-war movement in David Zeiger’s SIR! NO SIR! (USA, New York Premiere), a penetrating look back at an oft forgotten chapter in the Vietnam chronicle.

Jurors for the Golden Starfish Documentary Competition include: Alex Halpern, Founder & CEO, Post Factory NY; Actor/Playwright David Marshall Grant, Producer/Director Peggy Rajski

Five films compete in the Golden Starfish Shorts category with a $5000 cash prize. AT THE QUINTE HOTEL (Canada, East Coast Premiere), Written by Al Purdy and Directed by Bruce Alcock is a magically crafted pastiche of stop-motion and traditional line-animation using oil paintings, acrylics, graphite, charcoal, wire, cut paper, a beer mug, linoleum, and even bottlecaps, this short piece both interprets and recounts Canadian poet Al Purdy's live reading of his original work, Director/Producer/Cinematographer Daniel Vernon’s FOUNTAIN OF YOUTH (UK, North American Premiere), beautifully filmed documentary is set in the desolate Mojave Desert, where the Fountain Of Youth retirement home exists - a deteriorating place where the elderly wait patiently for time to pass by. This fantastic documentary compassionately acknowledges the loss of youth and beauty and the stillness of old age; Brendan Gleeson (28 DAYS LATER, BRAVEHEART) stars in SIX SHOOTER (Ireland, North American Premiere), by Martin McDonagh, a dark and uncomfortably funny comedy about the pains and sorrows of death; After being falsely accused, a young Middle Eastern couple becomes the target of profiling and is followed by the FBI in THE SEVENTH DOG (USA, US Premiere) by Writer/Director Zeina Durra; Scott Flockhart’s X MAS (UK, World Premiere) follows an angst-filled teenage boy who conjures his uncle back from the dead on Christmas Eve night, wreaking havoc on his abusive father and passive mother.

Each evening, the HIFF presents Spotlight Films, high-profile films that are shown in advance of their theatrical release. What happens if a mother loves her child too much? This is the question that actor/director Kevin Bacon addresses with sensitivity, compassion, and insight with his provocative and beautifully visualized second feature, LOVERBOY (USA, a THINKFilm Release), starring Kyra Sedgwick, based on the novel by Victoria Redel; If Pierce Brosnan wearing a black Speedo, cowboy boots, sunglasses and smoking a cigar wasn't in itself worth the price of admission, the glorious excesses that writer/director Richard Shepard offers are just part of the considerable range of payoffs that make THE MATADOR (USA, New York Premiere, a Weinstein Company release), also featuring Greg Kinnear and Hope Davis, a delightful mix of genres that simultaneously spoofs the buddy film, killers, and ordinary American life; In WHY WE FIGHT (USA, East Coast Premiere, a Sony Pictures Classics release), Eugene Jarecki launches a full-frontal autopsy of how the will of a people has become an accessory to the Pentagon. Surveying the scorched landscape of a half-century's military misadventures and misguided missions, Jarecki asks how—and tells why—a nation ostensibly of, by, and for the people has become the savings-and-loan of a system whose survival depends on a state of constant war; “Things are never really simple, are they?” is the rhetorical question put to Gideon Warner, a wealthy, world-weary public relations executive deeply disconcerted by his strained relationship with his daughter. The sentiment could equally apply to GIDEON’S DAUGHTER (UK, World Premiere, a BBC release), Starring Miranda Richardson, Bill Nighly and Emily Blunt, a richly textured drama from recent Emmy Winner, Stephen Poliakoff; Set mainly during the spring and summer of Princess Diana’s death and the rise to power of Britain’s Labour Party, the film casts a withering eye at the nexus between the fawningly ambitious worlds of politics, media, and celebrity; Marc Levin, the award-winning filmmaker, whose SLAM won the Sundance Grand Jury Prize in 1998, gives us an explosive exploration of resurgent anti-Semitism in the wake of September 11th with PROTOCOLS OF ZION (USA, New York Premiere, a THINKFilm release), referring to "The Protocols of the Elders of Zion," a notorious forgery created 100 years ago this year, purporting to be the Jews' master plan to rule the world; BOYNTON BEACH BEREAVEMENT CLUB (USA, World Premiere), written by Shelly Gitlow and Susan Seidelman, who also directs this romantic comedy about our amazing capacity to rebound and fall in love…. at any age. LOIS (Dyan Cannon), HARRY (Joseph Bologna), MARILYN (Brenda Vaccaro), SANDY (Sally Kellerman) and JACK (Len Cariou) live in an “Active Adult” community in Boynton Beach, Florida. Their lives intersect when they meet at a local Bereavement Club, where they’ve gone to find emotional support after the loss of a loved one. But soon they each find themselves on a journey they could never have predicted, when they reenter the "dating scene" after many decades, only to find that it's a whole new world out there; Morgan J. Freeman directs PIGGY BANKS (USA, World Premiere) about two brothers who live at the edges, roaming the country, leading a life devoid of intimacy, responsibility, direction or day jobs. They are charming. They are brilliant. They are murderers. And for John, the transient life of the parasitic serial killer lost all its novelty a long time ago; Mona's wedding day might just be the saddest day of her life. She knows that once she crosses the border between Israel and Syria to marry Taller, she will never be able to go back to her family in Majdal Shams, a Druze village in the Golan Heights, in SYRIAN BRIDE (HACALA HASURIT) (France/Israel/Germany, USA Premiere, a Koch Lorber release) Directed by Eran Riklas; Unearthing a treasure trove of archival footage, filmmakers Dan Geller and Dayna Goldfine have fashioned a dazzlingly entrancing ode to the revolutionary twentieth-century dance troupe known as the BALLETS RUSSES (USA, East Coast Premiere, a Zeitgeist release); LIZA WITH A "Z" (USA, USA Premiere, A Showtime Networks Inc. presentation) is a beautifully restored version of the landmark Emmy® and Peabody Award-winning concert, originally recorded May 31, 1972 at New York's Lyceum Theatre, directed and choreographed by Bob Fosse, and featuring original music by John Kander and Fred Ebb. The iconic traits are all there—the laugh, the vocal catch, the Halston costumes, the eyelashes—and so is a thrilling Minnelli at the top of her game; THE NAKED BROTHERS BAND (USA, World Premiere), is a thoroughly entertaining rock and roll musical comedy for children and adults. Part documentary, part mockumentary, and a lot of fun in between, it tracks a kids' rock band that struggles with superstardom in elementary school. This 'fantasy rockumentary' stars two real life brothers; Nat Wolff age 9, and Alex Wolff age 6. All the songs in the film were written and performed by them. In Polly Draper’s The Naked Brothers Band, the camera follows Nat and Alex through their concerts, their rehearsals and their private lives, as they deal with the growing pains related to love, friendship and fame - featuring appearances by Uma Thurman, Cyndi Lauper, Arsenio Hall and more!; Ben Younger’s PRIME (US, a Universal Pictures release) is a sophisticated character comedy about Rafi (Uma Thurman), a recently divorced 37-year-old career woman from Manhattan, and what happens when Dave (Bryan Greenberg), a talented 23-year-old painter from Brooklyn, falls in love with her - Also featuring performances by Meryl Streep and Jon Abrams; Penetrating, lively, and invigorating, MRS. HENDERSON PRESENTS (UK, a Miramax release) is a love note to a famous London theatre, an homage to Britain's wartime experiences, and an evocation of the great musicals that lit up the screen during the thirties and forties. Directed by Stephen Frears, who has offered up so many delights over the years, it features the incomparable Dame Judi Dench and Bob Hoskins, as well as the introduction of a fresh face, Britain's 2001 Pop Idol, Will Young; Writer-director Shane Black takes THE BIG SLEEP, mixes it with CHINATOWN and tosses in some LETHAL WEAPON (for which he wrote the screenplay that rocketed him to fame), gives the whole thing a good shake and pours it into the sleazy bars, stylish hotels, glam Hollywood parties, and dark alleyways of contemporary Los Angeles. The result is KISS KISS, BANG BANG (USA, a Warner Brothers release), featuring Robert Downey Jr., Val Kilmer and Corbin Bernsen, a clever comedy-thriller that sends up the American noir while retaining its twisting suspense; Set in the 1930s on the beautiful shores of the Italian Riviera, Lions Gate Films’ A GOOD WOMAN (Spain/Italy/UK/Luxembourg/USA, a Lions Gate release), Directed by Mike Barker and starring Helen Hunt, Scarlett Johansson, and Tom Wilkinson in an elegant and witty romantic comedy based on Oscar Wilde’s classic play, “Lady Windermere’s Fan”; The ever-ubiquitous Michael Winterbottom has turned his attention to the canon of English literature in TRISTRAM SHANDY: A COCK AND BULL STORY (UK, a Picturehouse release), this breezy and witty love poem to the cinema. After two relatively classical adaptations of Thomas Hardy standouts, Jude from "Jude the Obscure" and The Claim from "The Mayor of Casterbridge," Winterbottom approaches Laurence Sterne's unruly "The Life and Opinions of Tristram Shandy, Gentleman" in a very different manner.

This year’s World Cinema Features include: Steven Silver & Andrew Quigley’s unflinching documentary DIAMETER OF A BOMB (Canada/UK, US Premiere, a THINKFilm release), an unsparing examination of a 2002 suicide bombing aboard a Jerusalem bus; In 1943 Germany, there were some who had the courage to stand up to the Nazi authorities. In director Marc Rothemund’s moving story of a real-life heroine, SOPHIE SCHOLL: THE LAST DAYS (Germany, East Coast Premiere, a Zeitgeist release), follows the 21-year-old member of the resistance group The White Rose; The consensus in Director/Producer Peter Rosen’s WHO GETS TO CALL IT ART? (USA, World Premiere) a kaleidoscopic ride through the ragged, jagged art scene of post-war America is that the late Metropolitan Museum of Art curator and historian Henry Geldzahler fills the bill; On July 3rd, 2002, Doug Bruce lost his mind. A successful British stockbroker with a posh loft in New York City, Bruce woke up one night on a subway train bound for Coney Island with no memory of who he was or how he got there. In UNKNOWN WHITE MALE (UK, a Wellspring/Court TV release), this riveting portrait, filmmaker Rupert Murray retraces the terror, confusion, and exhilaration of his friend's sudden bout with starting-over; Mystelle Brabbée’s HIGHWAY COURTESANS (India, New York Premiere, a Women Making Movies release) follows one young Bachara woman, Guddi Chauhan, over a ten-year period starting in 1995. Through incisive interviews with Guddi, her family and her friends, it becomes clear that these girls grow up with the same dreams as most: love, marriage and family; but end up instead in “the business,” somehow enduring as the years pass and their dreams fade; In cinéma-vérité style, and within a classic whodunit, Åke Sandgren’s FLIES ON THE WALL (Denmark, US Premiere) explores a documentarian’s relationship to an inevitable disconnect from her subject, and exposes the power, perhaps corrosive, of media to inform – or misinform; FROZEN LAND (Finland, East Coast Premiere) written and directed by Aku Louhimies, opens with a eulogy that asks the question, “What is the point of living, if life is hell?” Set in Helsinki and its environs, this circular, episodic film connects the troubled lives of numerous deeply uneasy characters through a butterfly effect of misfortune, distress, and despair; Nanouk Leopold’s GUERNSEY (Netherlands, East Coast Premiere) is the story of a woman who begins to look at her own life, questioning how she became estranged from the people who mean the most to her; Powerfully acted and intimately felt, Doug Sadler’s SWIMMERS (USA, New York Premiere) sensitively captures the throes of familial conflict and the vulnerable places where young girls, as well as adults, often dwell; Per Fly’s MANSLAUGHTER (Denmark, USA Premiere) is beautifully filmed, and replete with deeply resonant portrayals of characters only tenuously staying aloft in a flawed world where things sometimes turn out all wrong; In Maria Essén and Stefan Ahnhem’s DOUBLE SHIFT (Sweden, US Premiere), Jonas (Eric Ericson) tries to juggle his commitment to his girlfriend Emma (Lisa Werlinder), to be a stay-at-home dad, and keep the promise to his garage mates that he’ll continue driving a taxi; As Amanda Gusack’s IN MEMORIUM (USA, World Premiere) begins, Dennis (Erik McDowell) is dying, suddenly. He’s been diagnosed inexplicably with late-stage cancer, the same that killed his mother. Resigned but not defeated, he sets up house with his lover Lily (Johanna Watts) in a short-term rental he has wired throughout for sound and video to record his last days; With extraordinarily graphic scenes of genital piercing and subcutaneous implants, tongue and penile bisection, skin cutting and branding, cosmetic and sexual reassignment surgery, as well as various other forms of body alteration, MODIFY (USA) by Greg Jacobson and Jason Gary, shows and tells the stories of men and women who go to incredible lengths to express on the outside who they are on the inside; Written and directed by brothers Arnaud and Jean-Marie Larrieu, PEINDRE OU FAIRE L'AMOUR (TO PAINT OR MAKE LOVE) (France, North American Premiere) shifts from conventional French pastoral to something far more intriguing: a sly, unsettling portrait of a middle-aged couple whose humdrum lives are momentarily interrupted by the thrills of sexual adventure; Jaeckie happily left everything Jewish behind him decades ago, but when word comes that his mother has died and left him a sizeable inheritance, it's a stroke of luck. There is one catch: Jaeckie must first reconcile with his long-estranged brother Samuel, who has become an Orthodox Jew and is arriving, family in tow, for a traditional funeral and shiva at Jaeckie's house in Dani Levy’s madcap adventure GO FOR ZUCKER! (Germany, New York Premiere, a First Run Features release); The life of a truly desperate housewife begins to unravel in Jason Ruscio’s LAURA SMILES (RKO) (USA), an intricately layered exploration of the vulnerabilities of the human heart; Writer-director Alan Hruska offers a modern spin on the familiar tale of the brave knight rescuing a damsel in distress in THE WARRIOR CLASS (USA, World Premiere), starring Anson Mount and Erica Leerhsen, a legal thriller with romantic overtones; Israeli filmmaker Menora Hazan tells a first-person story of her decision with new husband Ariel to settle in the secluded hilltop Jewish settlement of Homesh, in THE SKIES ARE CLOSER IN HOMESH (Israel, USA Premiere), an exploration of faith, in a situation of unfathomable complexity; Interlocking affairs of the heart bleed into one another in the third iteration of the same raw material from Oscar winner Claude Lelouch (A MAN AND A WOMAN). The refashioned romantic fable, LE COURAGE D'AIMER (THE COURAGE TO LOVE) (French, East Coast Premiere) weaves together the stories of a talented street singer, the shoplifter and chanteuse who first captures his heart, sensitive twin sisters, an actress and a wealthy food magnate; Filmmaker Elle Flanders’ ZERO DEGREES OF SEPARATION (Canada, US Premiere) tells the stories of two gay couples struggling to live together in modern Israel.

For the 6th consecutive year, the $25,000 Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Film Prize in Science and Technology for a feature-length film that explores science and technology themes in fresh, innovative ways and depicts scientists and engineers in a realistic and compelling fashion will be presented at the Hamptons International Film Festival. This year's recipient of the Sloan Feature Film Prize is KARDIA, a Canadian film written and directed by Su Rynard, produced by Paul Barkin. KARDIA weaves fable, fiction, science and metaphor to tell the story of Hope, a pathologist who embarks on an unusual journey of reconciliation. Hope discovers that the experimental heart operation she underwent as a child has mysteriously linked her life with another. To unlock the secret of her past, Hope revisits the curious tale of her childhood and explores the landscape of love, loss ands the human heart. KARDIA was produced with the participation of Telefilm Canada in association with CHUM Television, TMN-The Movie Network an Astral Communications Network, Movie Central a Corus Entertainment Company, Rogers Telefund and with the support of The Canada Council for the Arts, the Ontario Arts Council and Chalmer's Arts Fellowship.

The Hamptons/Sloan feature Film Prize comes from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation’s program in public understanding of science and forms part of a broader effort to stimulate leading artists in film, television, and theater to create more credible works about science and technology. The program aims to enhance people’s lives by providing a better understanding of the increasingly scientific and technological environment in which we live. It also strives to convey some of the challenges and rewards of the scientific and technological enterprise, and of the lives of the men and women who undertake it.

Films of Conflict and Resolution We are proud to present the seventh annual Films of Conflict & Resolution program, consisting of films that are unique in their multi-faceted portrayals of conflict around the world. This year’s Films of Conflict & Resolution section is a showcase for works that use the medium of film to promote transformation. Every film in this program was made against industry odds, but with the belief that these stories, once viewed by audiences, would resonate with a potent message. Our mission is to utilize the power of cinema to increase awareness and understanding of the human realities of war and conflict. We present current and archival work made by filmmakers from around the globe, who in the face of intense conflict, strive to illuminate the realities of the world around them -- and thus foster the process of peace and conflict resolution through their vision and their art. Films of Conflict and Resolution is sponsored in part by Dan and Ewa Abraham and Tammy Abraham, and the Brizzolara Family Foundation.

Films of Conflict and Resolution in Competition: Sometimes the truth is too hard to handle, and that is what beautiful young Kaju’s mother must have thought in Shonali Bose’s AMU (USA/India, US Premiere), as she misleads her daughter about who she really is. But when Kaju (Konkona Sen Sharma) returns to India after being raised in Los Angeles her curiosity consumes her, and she begins a search for her real identity; Looking beyond abstract political policies, ASYLUM (UK, East Coast Premiere), directed by Nigel Roffee-Barker, personalizes the experiences of three Kurdish refugees seeking asylum in Britain. Leaving loved ones behind and risking their lives on the way, they register for political asylum in London. But once their papers are lost in the system the police seek their arrest and possible deportation. Knowing they will face death if they are forced to return to their homeland, they hide in a church and are offered sanctuary by Father Michael (Dai Bradley). The confrontation between police, church, refugees and press that follows brings to the foreground the truly desperate situations these men face. From a tortured and oppressed past and facing bleak futures, they have nothing to lose and risk even their lives in pursuit of the happiness and freedom so many take for granted; Produced prior to the Israeli pullout from Gaza, AT THE GREEN LINE (USA, US Premiere)is a soul-searching documentary, by Jesse Atlas, about the Israeli occupation of lands seized after the 1967 war – examining the crisis of conscience faced by soldiers in the Israeli military on the frontlines of the conflict; Jay Jonroy’s DAVID & LAYLA (USA, World Premiere) is a film about an impossible romance that gets at the heart of the hypocritical stereotypes and illusions we all have about differing cultures and religions. David (David Moscow), a young Jewish man finds Layla (Shiva Rose McDermott), a beautiful Muslim immigrant, and can’t get her off of his mind. But her Kurdish culture doesn’t mix with his Upper East Side origins, and both lovers can’t help but mislead their families about one another as they try to begin their affair. A true comedy of errors ensues from temple to mosque, from perversion to conversion, and all the while their passions increase regardless of their unlikely attraction; Roberta Grossman’s HOMELAND: FOUR PORTRAITS OF NATIVE ACTION (USA, East Coast Premiere) tells the stories of five brave Native American activists who are fighting a war of survival for their culture and lives. This is not simply a tale of environmentalists, but of communities of people driven almost to extinction after hundreds of years of aggression by non-native people, who are courageously standing up against those who seek to exploit the remaining resources on their land; An inspirational documentary on the frontlines in a war for justice, SISTERS IN LAW (UK/Cameroon, US Premiere, a Women Making Movies release) by Kim Longinotto, is the story of women lawyers and judges in rural Cameroon, Africa. In a male dominated society where women are frequently seen as property and children can be used for cheap labor, these women are standing firm on feminist ideals of equality and respect for all.

Jurors for the Films of Conflict and Resolution in Competition include: Academy Award-Nominated Actor Debra Winger; Co-President, Paramount Classics, David Dinerstein; Managing Director of Ruth Diskin Films Ltd., Ruth Diskin,

Films Of Conflict And Resolution Out Of Competition: With remarkable access to both Fujimori and his family, filmmaker Ellen Perry presents both archival footage and first hand accounts in order to build a more honest and probing picture of the unbelievable situation surrounding Fujimori’s presidency, in FALL OF FUJIMORI (USA/Japan/Peru, East Coast Premiere); Set in the shantytowns that rise helter-skelter above Rio de Janeiro, Directors/Producers Jeff Zimbalist and Matt Mochary’s FAVELA RISING (USA) moves to a decidedly Brazilian beat in telling the story of Anderson Sá and the growth of AfroReggae, the pulsing music and dance that became the springboard for social change; In MY LAND ZION (Israel, US Premiere, a Women Making Movies release), Sixth-generation Israeli, Yulie Cohen Gerstel, poses difficult questions without simple answers in this highly personal odyssey to understand the burden of her country’s history; Helen Klodawsky’s NO MORE TEARS SISTER (Canada) is a beautiful documentary about the civil conflicts in Sri Lanka and one family’s profound experiences of loss and inspiration in the fight for freedom; In OFF TO WAR (USA) Filmmakers Brent and Craig Renaud follow fifty-seven National Guard soldiers from Arkansas throughout their experiences in Iraq; Teresa De Pelegrí & Dominic Harari’s ONLY HUMAN (Argentina, a Magnolia Films release), a charming and sexy romantic comedy, set in Spain, about a Jewish woman and a Palestinian man working out their love for each other.

Films of Conflict and Resolution Shorts Program: In AZADI (Australia, North American Premiere), by Writer/Director Anthony Maras, An Afghani father and son, searching for safety after persecution under Taliban rule, have made it to an Australian refugee camp, but security proves more difficult to find than they hoped; WEST BANK STORY (USA), a 22-minute musical by Ari Sandel and Kim Ray, brings Romeo and Juliet to the West Bank via West Side Story, with grand musical numbers, and plenty of laughs.

Films For Families is a selection of films devoted to delighting the child in all of us. Kinderfilmfest - A section of the Berlin International Film Festival for twenty eight years, has been presenting a rich and exciting selection of new films from around the world to young Berlin audiences and to international film experts. This year, the director of Kinderfilmfest, Thomas Hailer, has compiled a unique series from previous Kinderfilmfest programs especially for the 13th annual Hamptons International Film Festival. The selection of four features and two short film compilations offers something special for the younger generations, from four to fourteen years. This exclusive series includes: SHORTS 4 years old and up - Director Susanne Seidel’s PANTOFFELHELDEN (A SLIPPERY TALE) (Germany), is the story of a good-looking frog who falls for the velvety skin of an imitation lady frog that graces a pair of slippers belonging to the farmer’s wife; Anita Killi’s TORNEHEKKEN (THE HEDGE OF THORNS) (Norway) follows Florian and Malene, two good friends who play together everyday. One day, war breaks out and they are forbidden to play with each other any more because now, all of a sudden, they are on opposing sides; LE TROP PETIT PRINCE (PIPSQUEAK PRINCE) (France), by director Zoia Trofimova, begins as the sun rises on the horizon, revealing some marks on its surface. With dogged persistence, a tiny tenacious boy tries to clean off these stains using every conceivable method at his disposal; DE OLIFANT EN DE SLAK (THE ELEPHANT AND THE SNAIL) (Netherlands) Director Christa Moesker’s film about the day the elephant met the snail and the world comes tumbling down, but when the snail wakes up in the middle of the night and she opens her eyes, she sees the stars twinkling above; Director Ingo Panke’s TROMP L’OEIL (Germany), about a little worm who enjoys a wonderful view from his new home. But then, all of sudden, his peace and quiet is disturbed by a loud, penetrating noise; LE CHAT D'APPARTEMENT (France) directed by Sarah Roper. SHORTS 7 years old and up - Set far away in a foreign and apparently merciless world, water plays an ambiguous role in Holger Ernst’s moving and deeply humane story, RAIN IS FALLING (Germany), where a little girl struggles to carry water pots that are far too heavy for her; THE DJARN DJARNS (Australia) by director Wayne Blair follows eleven-year-old Frankie Dollar, who is the leader of the Djarn Djarns, a group that performs traditional Aboriginal dances. Frankie is really in the doldrums because one year ago to the day, his father died. Now he needs his friends more than ever; Erik van Schaik’s VENT (Netherlands) is a short comical animation about a man struggling against a storm; In Director Michael Walker’s DOES GOD PLAY FOOTBALL? (UK), Tommy has never met his begetter and believes that God is his father. And if God is his father, Tommy must be Jesus. But Tommy’s claim soon leads to a great number of questions that he finds impossible to answer; Wandering about the hospital by night, Lucia comes across several x-rays. The image of a skull fires her imagination and before long, dreams and reality begin to blur…in Director Felix Goennert’s LUCIA (Germany); In Director Kara Miller’s HOW TO MAKE FRIENDS (UK), a mother persuades two girls in her neighborhood to make friends with her lonely eleven-year-old son. Even she is surprised at the result. FEATURES 8 years old and up - Set in London during 1960, WONDROUS OBLIVION (UK), Directed by Paul Morrison, focuses on David a Jewish boy who lives in a respectable, thoroughly British working-class part of town. David’s one passion is cricket, though he is simply hopeless at the game. All of that changes however, when a family from Jamaica moves into the house next door and replaces the obligatory rose bed in their back garden with a cricket green; Director Terrance Odette’s SAINT MONICA (Canada), follows ten-year-old Monica, who lives in Toronto’s Portuguese quarter. Monica dreams of being an angel, or, if she can’t be a real angel, at least an angel in the Lady Day procession that is due to march through “Little Portugal.". FEATURE 12 years old and up - Director Dominique Standaert’s HOP (Belgium) - Justin and his father, Dieudonné, have come to Belgium as illegal immigrants, but Dieudonné is caught by the police and deported. Justin is offered a place to stay by die-hard anarchist Frans, who tells the boy he shouldn’t stand for the way his father has been treated and urges him to take up the struggle to get him back to Belgium. As luck would have it Frans even has quite a stock of explosives, and Justin begins to believe that people might begin to sit up and take notice of him after a big bang. The dam might well be the perfect target and Frans has enough dynamite for an explosion that just might make it onto the evening news. FEATURE 14 years old and up - Bea is sixteen years old and the last one in her clique who hasn't already "done it". In BARE BEA (JUST BEA) (Norway/Sweden), Directed by Peter Naess, Bea is standing on the thin ice between lust and love, first sex, eternal faithfulness, butterflies in the stomach, and a buzzing head. She is swaying between the gorgeous Daniel and Anders who is really different. What does she actually want? To get into bed as fast as possible or go to Canada to study? Of course it all turns out differently than expected.

PUT ON YOUR SHORTS, KIDS is a colorful exploration of short films by filmmakers from around the globe. This series includes: DIN (CHAHUT) (France/Belgium, Director: Gilles Cuvelier) A “Carnavaleux” wanders the empty streets of his town. Where has everyone gone? FELLOWS (BONHOMMES) France/Belgium, Director: Cecilia Marreiros Marum) A little boy decides to make a snowman and is determined to keep him around for as long as possible; STRONG HOLD (Norway, Director: Morten H. Evelid) A boy’s new hairstyle has a sweet effect; TOM AND THE POOR LITTLE GIRL (Germany, Director: Andreas Hykade) Tom craves strawberry jam and honey and receives help getting it; THE TWELVE MONTHS (Australia, Director: Jonathan Nix) Based on a Russian fairytale, a young girl finds something unusual when she is sent into the woods by her evil stepmother and stepsister; THE DOT (USA, Director: Gary Goldberger, John Lechner) Based on the Peter H. Reynolds book, a young girl learns how to make her mark; FROG (USA, Director: Christopher Conforti) A frog tries to find relief from the heat with some crazy results; GOOD RIDDANCE! SNAILS (Australia, Director: Nick Hilligoss) An organic farmer’s snail infestation turns out to be a good thing.

The Panasonic 48-Hour Film Challenge pits four award winning alumni filmmakers in a unique challenge: write, shoot, edit, and present a short film at the festival in just 48 hours! The inaugural participants are: Ryan Eslinger (Sloan Award Winner '03 for MADNESS AND GENIUS); Savannah Haske (Rising Star '03 for PIGGY); Greg Pak (Golden Starfish Winner '02 for ROBOT STORIES); Marty Sader (Golden Starfish Winner '04 for MOST HIGH). Each participant will lead a team of no more than five. Together they will attempt to include several required elements that will only be revealed on the first day of the festival. The final shorts will be judged by our audiences, and the winning team leader will receive a new Panasonic camera. Watch for the teams as they roam throughout the festival, and maybe you’ll get a chance to act for one of these accomplished and exciting directors!

For the second year, the Festival will partner with indie/WIRE for the Industry Toast. Here we celebrate a person who best exemplifies the spirit of independent film and whose energy, vision and acumen enhances the industry. The 2nd Hamptons/indieWIRE “Industry Toast” will be presented to Picturehouse President Bob Berney. "An honoree like Bob Berney is the best rationale for our decision to toast one of our own at the Festival each year,” says Kasell. “Bob was the champion of indies that were considered "difficult to market" and became huge hits. He is that rare pro who trusts the audience to do the right thing. We are thrilled that he has accepted our invitation."

"Bob is a fearless champion of risk-taking filmmakers, and has inspired a new wave of enthusiasm for truly independent film, states The Hamptons programmer Rajendra Roy. “Over the last decade he has provided the shot in the arm this business needed, and we look forward to experiencing the rewards of his expanding vision."

The popular View From Long Island section presents a group of films made by filmmakers from the area, highlighting the wealth of creativity and film resources on Long Island. For more than 60 years, the best seafood shop in Sheepshead Bay, Brooklyn, belonged to the Giorgio family. Now, the business faces grave financial danger, but patriarch Frank, a bull-headed traditionalist forcefully played by Danny Aiello, refuses to concede that other measures may need to be taken, in BROOKLYN LOBSTER (USA, US Premiere) directed by Kevin Jordan, also featuring Jane Curtin; When you're stuck in a tent with a couple that are always making out, depressed, your isolation is building up, and everyone you meet treats you like an alien, there is only one thing to do: invent an imaginary girl as your traveling companion, and try to buck up a little, in TREASURE (USA, World Premiere), written and directed by Gabriel Nussbaum.

View From Long Island Shorts: In Eric Smith’s IRENE WILLIAMS: QUEEN of LINCOLN ROAD (USA) a gay man strikes up an unlikely friendship with an eccentric elderly woman who has an inventive sense of style; A stranger's interruption into a conversation ignites a parody that explodes with the pressures and expectations society puts on women to get married in Elise Bennett’s empowering film, BEYOND THE LADIES ROOM DOOR (USA, World Premiere); Nine women golfers, who range in age from 39 to 77, laugh, cry and party their way through life in Joan Brooker’s THE LOUD LADIES OF SOUTH FORK (USA, World Premiere), about the small but internationally known village of East Hampton, New York. They call themselves the Loud Ladies, or the LLs for short, and give each other an amazing and often touching show of friendship and support; HORSEPLAY (US), director Alex Rachel, THE VIDEO PROJECT: Student Filmmakers 2005 High school winner is a witty take on Sergio Leoni and the game of Horse. Brilliant cinematography leads the audience through a mysterious game of basketball.

SHORTS PROGRAM 1: DIMMER (USA), directed by Talmage Cooley, a short documentary of four blind teens, defies the stereotypes of the blind and upholds those of the suburban teen. In the tradition of cinèma vèritè, the band Interpol commissioned this energizingly chaotic and shocking perspective of life on the fringe in Buffalo, New York; In LAST MEN STANDING (UK, US Premiere), Directed by Sasa Maja Durkovic and Zillah Bowes, the impact of the government closing mining factories in Ireland demolishes the workingman’s pride and the village’s heart; CHEEKS (USA), a dark documentary, by Tal Sharon, follows the life of a teenage boy living in an ordinary town with an un-ordinary family; Part meditative post-disaster drama, part when-animals-attack genre, FLOTSOM/JETSAM (USA), by brothers: David & Nathan Zellner renders a jolt to the audience with the tranquility and perils of the open sea; In Jeremiah Zagar’s, CONEY ISLAND, 1945 (USA), pen and ink becomes nostalgia for an old man as he recalls his mother, his boyhood and the joy of the Brooklyn seashores; Found footage and interviews are combined with home movies from director, screenwriter, producer, cinematographer and editor, Jay Rosenblatt’s past in PHANTOM LIMB (USA) a poetic and metaphoric film about the struggle and misunderstanding surrounding the death of his nine-year-old brother.

SHORTS PROGRAM 2: In Brendan Mulddowney’s THE TEN STEPS (Ireland), Katie must reach the fusebox after a power-failure knocks out the lights, she is seized by panic as she descends into the darkness….; True love is pure and strong, but a forbidden love does not have the strength to lift the curse of jealousy, in THE CRIMSON SNOWDROP (UK, East Coast Premiere), Directed by Simon Miller; WILDERNESS WITHIN (Greece, North American Premiere), Directed by Vangelis Maderakis is a lovely film on the reflection of regret through the eyes of an old Greek man as he admits to stealing happiness from the woman he claims to love more then anything in the world; Disturbing sexual obsession consumes and confuses a young boy living in poverty in Poland. With no one to guide him, Tadek cannot distinguish between deviant lust and natural love, in Filip Marczewski MELODRAMAT (Poland, US Premiere), THE LAST FARM (Iceland, US Premiere) Writer/Director Runar Runarsson’s story of an old man who mourns the recent death of his beloved wife and makes a decision to never leave her; Alex Budovsky turns a bouncy Geoff Mulder tune into a black and white parade of whistling pirates, singing monkeys, and dancing crabs in RETURN I WILL TO OLD BRAZIL (USA, New York Premiere).

SHORTS PROGRAM 3: The journey from the Mexican border to the United States becomes a perilous and ravaging experience in VICTORIA PARA CHINO (USA), Directed by Cary Fukunaga, as 80 immigrants crowded into the back of a truck; a frightening portrayal of real events that occurred in 2003; In TORTE BLUMA (UK, World Premiere) Written by Barry Langford and directed by Benjamin Ross, the fine line of human nature in both its most compassionate and destructive evil is depicted through the complex relationship between a servile prisoner and a Commander of the Treblinka concentration camp; GOODNIGHT BILL (USA) Written and Directed by John Mitchell is the story of an older man who, after several attempts to be left alone, gives up and lets his guard down as he recognizes he still has room in his heart for a new old friend; A pensive offbeat humor marks the confrontation between the whimsical and the mundane in THE TOURIST (USA, East Coast Premiere), by James and Jeff Israel; In Caerthan Banks’ THE MOOR (USA, World Premiere), two old lovers cross paths for the first time in thirty years. After all that time, there is still a spark in the eye of an old flame; Trouble looms in the hills when a young boy on his dune buggy encounters the corrupted cast of a casino heist, in THE WAY DOWN (USA, World Premiere), by Writer/Director Justin Francis.

Shorts Before Films: BROKEN (USA, New York Premiere), Director Danica McKellar’s dark and beautiful fantasy of a woman who would do anything to mend her broken heart... Anything; The filmmaker turns the camera on her chubby (and hilarious) family as they diet, choke down protein shakes, and "anxiously wait for lunch”, in Director/Producer Avishag Leibovich’s DIET LIEBOVICH (Israel, US Premiere); HAM AND THE HOTSPURS (USA, World Premiere), Director/Screenwriter Justin Nowell’s story of a 32-year old Brit living on Long Island, dividing his time between coaching the Hotspurs, an under-13 boys soccer squad, and charming his players’ moms; In a Florida condominium community, Ruth and Harry spend their time doing romantic things like going to the podiatrist, playing bridge, and having dinner at the early bird special in Director/Screenwriter Melissa Berman’s LUCKY (USA, World Premiere). All is bliss until one day Harry brings home the wrong tuna; In SYD SOLOMON: The Man The Artist (USA, World Premiere), by Director/Producer/Editor: Linda Tesa-Olken, the noted abstract expressionist, reveals his artistic inspiration and his fascination with technique along with “a little help from his friends” Bud Schulberg, Eli Kazan, John Chamberlain, and others. In February, 7,503 “Gates” were installed in Central Park by artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude. Comprised of thousands of individual stills, through photo-animation, THE SAFFRON LIMITED (USA, World premiere), by Director/Editor: Phillip Schopper, transforms that sprawling, international event into an exhilarating personal experience. Starting at dawn and ending at nightfall, the audience is whisked through New York's "GATED" winter park as though on a fast moving train; THE FAN AND THE FLOWER (USA) by Director: Bill Plymton an Producer/Screenwriter: Dan O'Shannon is an ill-fated and unconsummated romance between a fan and a flower with a fairy-tale ending.

Undergraduate and Graduate Student Film/Video Awards The student film category is a juried competition where eight young filmmakers receive $1,000 cash each sponsored by Ray-Ban. And, our audience will be able to get the jump on seeing the films of some remarkable young filmmakers at the beginnings of their careers (and the filmmakers will be able to experience a first-class venue before a savvy audience, not to mention all those glamorous parties). This year’s program includes: THE DEBT Director Levan Koguashvili (New York University) - Immigrants from the former Soviet Union fight for their survival in the streets of Brooklyn; Young punks, scheming husbands, and jealous housewives all collide in 5G Director: Alessandro Tanaka, Columbia University; BREACHED Director: Laura Richard, (New York University) - A Mexican woman nearing delivery is determined to have her baby on American soil; CHICLE Director: Josh Hyde, (Ohio University) - Addresses the innocence and incorruptibility of a young boy; TADPOLES Director: Miguel Alvarez, (University of Texas in Austin) - A young boy’s curiosity leads him to discover the terrible realities of war; MISSING Director: Jeremiah Friedman, (Wesleyan University) - A recent widower and loving father, as he struggles to rescue his kidnapped son; NASSER Director: Adam Yeremian, (New York University) - This documentary follows a month in the life of a Palestinian-American; OUTSIDE A DREAM Director: Warren Jenson, (University of Southern California) - A man in his late seventies, struggles to cope with the effects of Alzheimer’s; THE FAITH OF JOEY RAIL Director: Matt Robertson, (University of Texas in Austin) - Little kids, big questions, and the time in between; LIMINALITY Director: Jessica Manafort (New York University) - A coming-of-age drama that explores the dynamics of a best friendship between two fifteen-year-old girls.

The Youth Media Program, curated by Children’s Media Project since 1999, brings the creative perspectives of videomakers from across the globe to the Hamptons International Film Festival. This year’s program includes animations, live-action narrative videos, documentaries and experimental works from the United States, Colombia, Sierra Leone, Mexico, and Croatia. Through curation of the Youth Media Program we have been allowed to witness the growth of individual filmmakers, youth media organizations, and the youth media movement. Increasingly, each year we find that youth are taking more control of youth-produced media - discovering their own artistic styles and choosing their own subject matter. With this creative control young people around the world are producing video works that not only demonstrate their technical skills, imagination, intelligence, and artistry, but that truly set them apart from other media makers.

Gray Matter: In the second year of our celebration of innovative risk-taking cinema dedicated to Spalding Gray, we chose to integrate the works in all sections of the festival. In life, new visions surround us constantly. It is always just a matter of perspective. These are a few that took us to a place we hadn’t expected to go, challenged our notions of truth, and opened new avenues of thought…WELCOME TO CALIFORNIA; ZERO DEGREES OF SEPARATION and THE NAKED BROTHERS BAND.

Rising Stars: Conceived as a means of celebrating the key role actors play in the making of independent films, Rising Stars program has grown into a dynamic, enriched program. It feeds on the tremendous, expanding energy of the Hamptons festival both domestically and internationally to provide a platform for extraordinary acting talent. We have invited six actors to participate, each with a diversity of experience, each uniquely gifted and talented. For 2005, we have continued to expand the program to include more informal, intimate gatherings in which Rising Star participants can meet and share creative ideas in a personal setting with the directors, producers, writers, veteran actors, and prominent industry executives who will be at the Festival this year. This year’s Rising Stars are Eugene Byrd (Confess, GSA Narrative Competition), Kip Pardue (Laura Smiles, World Cinema), Emily Blunt (Gideon’s Daughter, Spotlight Films), Florian Lukas (One Day In Europe, GSA Narrative Competition), Elizabeth Reaser (Sweet Land, GSA Narrative Competition) and Jake Muxworthy (Piggy Banks, Spotlight Films). We are pleased that the participating actors will be invited again in February 2006 to the Berlin International Film Festival’s Talent Campus for the opportunity to develop further contacts with other artists working abroad. Once again, we invite Festival-goers to see in advance, and access in the depth, the work in independent films that will turn some of today’s finest actors into tomorrow’s Stars. Each year the Rising Stars are shepherded throughout the festival by an established mentor. This year we are honored to have Alec Baldwin and Miranda Richardson serve as mentors to our Rising Stars. The Hamptons International Film Festival takes distinct pleasure in honoring Mr. Baldwin and Ms. Richardson with the Golden Starfish Award for Career Achievement in Acting. The Rising Stars program is directed by Lina Todd and Rajendra Roy.

Each year, the Festival presents A Conversation With… (sponsored by New Line Cinemas/Fine Line Features) Past guests have included Ms. Gena Rowlands, Anthony LaPaglia Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Quincy Jones, Isabella Rossellini, Anjelica Huston, Richard Dreyfuss, Roy Scheider, Barry Sonnenfeld, Danny Aiello, Julian Schnabel, Harvey Keitel, Betty Comden, Faye Wray and Patricia Neal. Who will this year’s guest be? Find out Saturday, afternoon at 4:00pm, at Guild Hall

Cinematography Master Class: Please join David Schwartz, Chief Curator of The Museum of the Moving Image, in conversation with cinematographer Declan Quinn. In 1986, Mr. Quinn photographed his first feature film, Clash of the Ash in Ireland with director Fergus Tighe, going on to photograph The Kill-Off, Vanya on 42 Street, The Ballad of Little Joe, Leaving Las Vegas and Kama Sutra. Mr. Quinn returned to Ireland to complete a special family project called This is My Father, which he co-produced with two of his brothers, Aidan Quinn and Paul Quinn.

TO THE POINT: Women Telling Stories through Media is a joint venture of the Hamptons International Film Festival and New York Women in Film & Television (NYWIFT). In its third year, this series of shorts honors women’s voices and visions through film — narratives, documentaries, animated and experimental — and video. No more than 20 minutes long, these works explore the unique, personal stories of women — past, present, and future. THE DREADED BEARD (US), Director: Carolyn Macartney; EVERYDAY THINGS (US), Director: Stuart Goldstein; HAND SUM (Canada), Director: Eva Colmers; KYLIE GOLDSTEIN, ALL AMERICAN (US), Director: Eva Saks; MÉNAGE A TROIS (US), Director: Kimberly M. Wetherell; MURPHY’S LAW OF DATING (Canada), Director: P.R. Montgomery; ON THE CLIFFS (US), Director: Lisa M. Perry; PETALS (UK), Director: Heena Trivedi; THE SCIENCE OF LOVE (US), Director: Joyce Draganosky; SMALL BEAUTIFUL HANDS (US), Director: Elizabeth Ladd Lee; THIS MOMENT (US), Director: Leena Pendharkar.
The Sam Spiegel Film & Television School – Jerusalem: The Sam Spiegel Film & Television School - Jerusalem, was founded by the Jerusalem Foundation and the Israeli Ministry of Education and Culture in 1989. Ranked among the leading film and television schools in the world, the mandate of the Sam Spiegel School has always been to relentlessly pursue the goal of setting new, world-class standards for training young Israeli filmmakers. The 10 Best Shorts DVD is the flagship project marking the Sam Spiegel School’s 15th Anniversary. This Year the Hamptons Film Festival will present the top 5 chosen films. SEA HORSES (SUSEI YAM) Director: Nir Bergman; SABBATH ENTERTAINMENT (ONEG SHABBAT) Directors: Mihal Brezis and Oded Binnun; COCK FIGHT (KRAV TARNEGOLIM) Director: Sigalit Liphshitz; HOME (BAYIT) Director: David Ofek; BEDOUIN SAND (CHOL) Director: Omri Levy

The Hamptons International Film Festival is proud to offer a number of interative events including Festival Panels, Bookhampton Talks sponsored by Time Warner Books, a Daily Town Hall at the Festival Lounge and Industry Mentor Forum. The Panels are located at Southampton Inn and include: The Number One Topic in the Film Business: How to Finance and Produce Movies that Matter - Panelists: Multiple award-winning film producers Ted Hope (THUMBSUCKER, 21 GRAMS, THE ICE STORM); John Sloss (PIECES OF APRIL, FAR FROM HEAVEN); Dany Wolf (LAST DAYS, JUNEBUG, FINDING FORRESTER); and Jeff Sharp (PROOF, BOYS DON'T CRY), Christine Vachon (THE NORTORIOUS BETTIE PAGE, HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH, KIDS) – Moderated by Peter Belsito.

Hidden Agendas? Dangerous Liaisons? Disturbing Trends? How Business Shapes our Film Culture - Panelists: Jarrod Moses CEO & President, Alliance Marketing Agency; a representative from the New York State Department of Health; Steven C. Beer, legal representative, producers’ rep, producer (THE HEBREW HAMMER, BLUE VINYL, L.I.E.); Meredith Finn, Vice President of Production and Acquisitions, Newline Cinema; producer and president of Antidote Films Jeff Levy-Hinte (THIRTEEN, HIGH ART). Moderated by Anthony Kaufman.

Icons in the Making: The Process of Creating and Maintaining a Superstar Status - Panelists: Academy Award Winning director Norman Jewison; director Susan Seidelman (DESPERATELY SEEKING SUSAN, THE BOYNTON BEACH BEREAVEMENT CLUB); actress Dyan Cannon (BOB & CAROL & TED & ALICE, HEAVEN CAN WAIT). Moderated by Steven Gaines.

Fashion in Film from Cleopatra to 2046 - Panelists: Vivienne Tam, Zac Posen, Alexandra Posen…Moderated by Judy Licht.

WHY WE FIGHT? - Celebrated television host Charlie Rose will engage filmmaker Eugene Jarecki (THE TRIALS OF HENRY KISSINGER) in a conversation about his riveting, new award-winning documentary “Why We Fight?” which features interviews with John McCain, Gore Vidal, William Kristol, Chalmers Johnson, and Richard Perle.

Putting Together Your First Short Film on the Road to your First Feature

Tribute to Spalding Gray: a series of readings from his last work LIFE INTERRUPTED: THE UNFINISHED MONOLOGUE - Roy Scheider, Joe Pintaura, Steven Gaines and Bob Balaban will read excerpts from his last book.

The Wrong Animals! A Panel for Kids

Rising Stars Roundtable With Alan Cumming - Panelists: Kip Pardue (LAURA SMILES), Eugene Byrd (CONFESS), Emily Blunt (GIDEON’S DAUGHTER), Florian Lukas (ONE DAY IN EUROPE), Elizabeth Reaser (SWEET LAND), Jake Muxworthy (PIGGY BANKS). Moderated by Lina Todd.

The Hamptons International Film Festival was founded to celebrate the American Independent film - long, short, narrative and documentary - and to introduce a unique and varied spectrum of international films and filmmakers to our audiences. The festival is committed to exhibiting films that express fresh voices and differing global perspectives, with the hope that these programs will enlighten audiences, provide invaluable exposure for filmmakers and present inspired entertainment for all.

Presenting Sponsors:
American Airlines and Altour International
Host Sponsors:
Panasonic, Time Warner Cable Media Sales
Patron Sponsors: Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, FHM Magazine, Kinray, New Line Cinema, Nick Movies, Plum TV, Post Factory, NY State Department of Health; Regal Entertainment Group; Silvercup Studios

Ticket Information:
Passes and tickets can be ordered beginning September 23rd, 2005 through the festival website, www.hamptonsfilmfest.org or through the new Festival Box Offices at 126 N. Main Street, East Hampton, or The South Hampton Inn, 91 Hill Street, South Hampton.
Tickets by phone - 1.866.HIFF.TIX (443-3849)
Founders Pass- $1000; Preferred Pass- $500; Family Festival Pass for 4 (New!) - $800; Family Festival Pass for 2 (New!) - $400; Southampton Express Pass (New!) - $300; Saturday Night Independents Ball $150, Opening Night party - $75; Conflict and Resolution Package- $60; Starfish Package- $60; A Conversation With - $25; Spotlight Films - $20 - $35; Panel Discussions- $10; Films- $12; Early Bird Screenings - $9, (New!) Children 12 and under - $8.

Festival Venues:
United Artists Theatres - 30 Main Street, East Hampton
Guild Hall - 158 Main Street, East Hampton
Sag Harbor Theater – 90 Main Street, Sag Harbor
Parrish Art Museum - - 25 Jobs Lane, Southampton
Montauk Movie - 3 Edgemere Road, Montauk
Hospitality Suite at The Huntting Inn - 94 Main Street, East Hampton
Press Office at The Huntting Inn - 94 Main Street, East Hampton
East Hampton Box Office & Festival Lounge - 126 N. Main Street, East Hampton
Southampton Box Office & Hospitality Center - The Southampton Inn, 91 Hill Street, Southampton
Panasonic VIP Screening Rooms Southampton Inn, 91 Hill Street, Southampton
BookHampton, 20 Main Street, East Hampton

For further information on the 2005 Hamptons International Film Festival please visit www.hamptonsfilmfest.org.