HIFF’s Opening Night Film Is ‘Living’

On September 9, HamptonsFilm announced that Oliver Hermanus’s film, “Living,” will open the 30th Hamptons International Film Festival (HIFF) on October 7. The film, distributed by Sony Pictures Classics, follows a story of an ordinary man, reduced by years of oppressive office routine to a shadow existence, who at the 11th hour makes a supreme effort to turn his dull life into something wonderful. Making its East Coast premiere at HIFF, it stars Bill Nighy, Aimee Lou Wood, Alex Sharp and Tom Burke.

HIFF also announced that actress Stephanie Hsu, star of the film “Everything Everywhere All At Once” will be awarded with the festival’s 2022 Breakthrough Artist Award. Hsu is also known for her role as Mei in “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel,” for which Hsu and the cast were awarded the 2020 Screen Actors Guild Award for Outstanding Performance by an Ensemble in a Comedy Series. More recently, “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” was nominated for the 2022 Emmy Award for Outstanding Comedy Series.

“We could not be more thrilled to continue highlighting the rising careers of talented young artists by honoring Stephanie Hsu with this year’s award,” said Anne Chaisson, executive director of HamptonsFilm. “It is an amazing honor that HIFF can give deserving performers a platform to showcase their talents and work here in the Hamptons.”

Other newly announced films screening at the festival will be Centerpiece film “The Son” directed by Florian Zeller. A Sony Pictures Classics release, the film tells the story of a family as it falls apart and tries to come back together again and stars Hugh Jackman, Laura Dern, Vanessa Kirby, Zen McGrath and Anthony Hopkins. Also screening in the Spotlight selection will be “The Banshees of Inisherin” directed by Martin McDonagh, an Academy Award-winning director, producer, playwright and screenwriter, who will also participate in an “A Conversation With …” discussion as part of the festival program. Distributed by Searchlight Pictures, “The Banshees of Inisherin” follows two lifelong friends who find themselves at an impasse when one abruptly ends their relationship, with alarming consequences for both of them, starring Colin Farrell, Brendan Gleeson, Kerry Condon and Barry Keoghan.

The 30th anniversary edition of the Hamptons International Film Festival will run as an expanded 10-day event from October 7 to 16. For more information, visit hamptonsfilmfest.org.