HIFFS SummerDocs Series Begins On June 29 With A Screening Of ‘Maiden’ At Guild Hall

The Hamptons International Film Festival (HIFF) SummerDocs series is returning to Guild Hall in East Hampton for its 11th year to present entertaining and engaging documentary filmmaking from revolutionary storytellers.

The series begins on Saturday, June 29, at 7 p.m. with a screening of “Maiden,” a film about an all-female racing yacht team directed by Alex Holmes. In 1989, the very idea of a competitive all-female sailboat crew was nearly inconceivable to the manly world of open-ocean yacht racing. They’d never make it to the start of the Whitbread Round the World Race, much less survive to the finish. They’d never find funding. They didn’t have the strength or skill. They’d die at sea. Did that many professional female sailors even exist?

But 24-year-old skipper Tracy Edwards proved everyone wrong. In her second-hand racing yacht, Maiden, Edwards and her seasoned crew not only became the first-ever all-woman challenge to the Whitbread, they proved able competitors in the famously grueling race, besting male crews in their class. By the time they returned to their starting point at Southampton, England, after 32,000 miles of global racing, they had shocked, inspired, and transfixed the sailing world and the British nation. Tracy Edwards was awarded the 1990 Yachtsman of the Year Award, the first woman ever to receive the accolade, and was named a Member of the Order of the British Empire.

Following the screening, HIFF Co-Chairman Alec Baldwin and HIFF Artistic Director David Nugent will lead a conversation with the film’s director. Tickets for the screening are $25 at hamptonsfilmfest.org, guildhall.org or 631-32-4050. Guild Hall is located at 158 Main Street, East Hampton.