HIFF Movies Earn Oscar Gold

The Hamptons International Film Festival had some high-profile moments in the spotlight during the Academy Awards ceremony on Sunday night. Three films the organization screened this past festival—“The King’s Speech,” directed by Tom Hooper and starring Colin Firth; “Black Swan,” starring Natalie

Portman; and the animated feature “Toy Story 3,” starring the voices of Tom Hanks and Tim Allen—nabbed the most coveted prize in all of Hollywood: the Oscar.

“The King’s Speech” earned Oscar gold for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor and Best Original Screenplay. “The Black Swan” won for Best Actress and “Toy Story 3” won for Best Animated Feature Film.

All three films generated critical buzz early on. And as Hamptons International Film Festival Executive Director Karen Arikian noted in a statement released on Monday, this year’s Academy Award success stories were ones East End audiences saw coming.

“We are thrilled with the fact that The King’s Speech won four major awards last night at the Oscars,” she said. “Our inquisitive, intelligent audiences handed the film an early win in October with HIFF’s Audience Award, which was accepted by director, Tom Hooper.”

Sunday night’s televised Oscar ceremony offered up more than a few local tie-ins, including when ceremony hosts Anne Hathaway and James Franco kicked off the glitzy gala with a satirical send-up of longtime East End mover and shaker Alec Baldwin, who hosted the ceremony last year with comedian Steve Martin. Mr. Baldwin was the focus of an “Inception”-inspired spoof where the fresh-faced emcees attempted to glean a better understanding of how to host the Academy Awards by getting into Mr. Baldwin’s dreams, and his subsequent dreams within dreams.

Mr. Baldwin, a Hamptons International Film Festival board member, recently hosted a HIFF screening of John Frankenheimer’s “Seconds” at Guild Hall in East Hampton in February.

Mr. Franco was also nominated for Best Actor on Sunday night for his portrayal of survivor and mountain climber Aron Ralston in the film “127 Hours,” which screened at HIFF this past year. Additionally, his directorial debut, the short film “The Clerk’s Tale,” was also screened at the festival and Mr. Franco participated in the popular “Conversation With...” HIFF film discussion series as well.

Another notable East End Oscar connection: Melissa Leo, who won Best Supporting Actress for her performance as the overbearing mother of Irish boxer Mickey Hart in “The Fighter,” is the daughter of Arnold Leo of East Hampton. She was recently profiled by Tom Clavin in The Press.

And though the Oscar’s red carpet was rolled up only a few days ago, Ms. Arikian reported that the higher-ups at the Hamptons International Film Festival are already looking for the next best and brightest films.

“Our program director David Nugent and his team are already hard at work searching out this year’s gems to bring to the beautiful East End later this year,” she said.