Third Time's A Charm For The Take 2 Film Festival

The inclusion of documentaries by legendary directors Nigel Noble and Howard Kanovitz would seem to make any film festival worthwhile, but what makes this year’s edition of the “Hamptons Take 2 Film Festival” even more special is its passing-of-the-torch aspect in that several of the filmmakers are the children of East Enders who have been associated with the arts for many years.

What also distinguishes the third annual documentary film festival, which will be held on Saturday and Sunday, November 20 and 21, is that it has grown so much that it will be screened at two high-profile venues this year—the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center on Saturday from noon to 9:30 p.m. and Bay Street Theatre in Sag Harbor on Sunday from noon to 9 p.m.

“We had done it two years in a row in Sag Harbor and it was standing room only,” said Jacqui Lofaro of Bridgehampton, the founder and executive director of the festival. “When the folks in Westhampton Beach reached out to us, we thought it would be great to show our films to that audience. But rather than divide the program, we’re showing all 11 films in both places.”

While the “Hamptons International Film Festival” includes films connected to the East End, it is indeed an international event and thus shows films from all parts of the world. But the “Take 2 Festival” is unabashedly local, said Ms. Lofaro.

“It is the only festival I know of, certainly in this area, that is dedicated to and celebrates the art of the documentary, and those films made by people who live here,” she said. “As much as I love narrative film, it is a whole other place. Documentary is our focus and our passion.”

“Passion” is a word used again and again in connection with documentary film. Ms. Lofaro, a documentary filmmaker herself, said that those who create such films “have to be passionate about it because it is no easy path to follow. You have to find your own funding. You have to get a crew together, do your own marketing and distribution. All of that and more is completely your responsibility. So you really have to be committed to this kind of art.”

The 11 documentaries to be shown at this year’s festival range in length from 45 seconds—Daniella Magnani’s “Such Great Heights,” a high-speed dream sequence—to the 86-minute “Dad’s In Heaven,” a film by Tom Murray set in Southampton about his mother’s struggle to heal his brother’s autism.

Additionally, Ms. Lofaro said the festival is celebrating the work of two “legends:” the late Howard Kanovitz of East Hampton, whose 30-minute film “Hamptons Drive-In” is to be shown with his daughter, Cleo, who will be participating in a Q&A afterward and Nigel Noble, also of East Hampton, who will be on hand for the showing of “Close Harmony,” a 30-minute documentary about a joint elementary school/senior citizens concert that won the 1982 Academy Award for Best Short Film.

However, in what Ms. Lofaro termed “a happy coincidence,” the “Hamptons Take 2 Film Festival” will also focus on the work of a new generation of local filmmakers who have sprung from strong creative roots.

One of the films in the program is “Wildlife” by Tucker Marder, of the Bridgehampton family who owns the Silas Marder Gallery at Marders. Another is “Nascence” by Devon Leaver, whose mother, Jacqui, is a stage actress and director and whose father, Graham, co-produced the Oscar-nominated movie “In the Bedroom.” And a third is “Lessons for the Living,” a 53-minute documentary on East End Hospice volunteers by Lily Henderson of Springs, the daughter of writer and Pushcart Press publisher Bill Henderson and writer and LTV contributor Genie Chipps Henderson.

“I guess it was subliminal, in a way,” said Ms. Henderson, “I had always liked photography and learned a lot from Ken Robbins. Then while in college I accidentally walked into a film class and I was hooked after that.”

Ms. Henderson, who points to the influence of the filmmaker Frederick Weisman, has had a documentary in each of the festival’s three years. For this year’s entry, she filmed interviews with and the activities of the people who work for East End Hospice who comfort the dying and their family members.

“I was struck by how these people come from different walks of life yet they share the same goal of giving compassionate care to, for the most part, total strangers,” she said. “One volunteer could be a corporate lawyer, another a high school student and another a social worker. It was so moving to hear their stories and tell the hospice story and how it has an impact on our area.”

True to the purpose of the festival, Ms. Henderson’s film, as many of the others to be screened, truly encourages and supports the talent—both behind and in front of the lens—that is here on the East End.

A full-festival pass is $20. An evening-only pass for 7 to 9:30 p.m. is $15. For more information on the “Hamptons Take 2 Film Festival,” visit ht2ff.com. Passes can be purchased at whbpac.org or by calling 288-1500 for Saturday at the Westhampton Beach Performing Arts Center or at baystreet.org or by calling 725-9500 for Sunday at Bay Street Theatre.