We all were the real winners at the Hamptons International Film Festival, the film goers who had the chance not only to see moving, provocative, educational, and entertaining films but to interact with actors, writers, directors, producers, and industry executives.  It’s not every day that you can discuss rabbits and the Berlin Wall with Alec Baldwin.

 

“The Misfortunates” and Director Felix Van Groeningen won three Golden Starfish Awards for best narrative feature, screenplay and cinematography, at the 17^th Annual Hamptons International Film Festival in East Hampton.  This film is also the official selection by Belgium for the Academy Awards.

 

The Audience Award at this year’s festival went to Jean-Marc Valee’s Young Victoria which will be in theaters in a limited release as of December 18^th.

 

Awards were handed out Sunday night during a ceremony at Guild Hall in East Hampton.  Rachel Dratch was on hand to present the awards along with Alec Baldwin and Barry Sonnenfeld.

 

“It is has been a fabulous year, with an extraordinary amount of talent at the festival”, says Executive Director Karen Arikian. “We have welcomed a lot of new faces and seen many of our friends from the past as well. Our non-profit festival continues to grow in a year that is financially challenging but thanks to our board, our sponsors and a very hard-working team, it all seems to have come together in a wonderful way.”

 

This year the festival was honored to present a newly created annual award in memory of Wouter Barendrecht, Founder and Co-Chairman of Fortissimo Films. The award was presented by Fortissimo’s Winnie Lau to John Maringouin for Big River Man.

 

According to Karen Arikian, ” We are very touched, and proud, to present the inaugural Wouter Barendrecht Pioneering Vision Award as his legacy means so much to us, and the film community at large.”

 

“I’d like to congratulate all of this year’s filmmakers on their films as they are what really makes the festival special”, said Director of Programming David Nugent. “It is always fascinating to see what films are chosen for awards from both the audience and jury. I think that they both made great choices this year”.

Congratulations to the winners.  The full list is below.

 

Best Narrative Feature, Zicherman Award for Best Screenplay, and Kodak Award for Best Cinematography- The Misfortunates, Felix Van Groeningen

Outstanding Achievement by an Actor- Paprika Steen for Applause

Best Documentary Feature- Long Distance Love, Elin Jonsson & Magnus Gertten
Special Jury Award- Mugabe and the White African, Andrew Thompson & Lucy Bailey

Best Film of Conflict & Resolution- Rabbit a la Berlin, Bartek Konopka
Special Jury Award- How to Fold a Flag, Michael Tucker & Petra Epperlein
Conflict & Resolution Development Award- The Harvest, Robin Romano

Best Short Film- Dust Kid, Yumi Jung

Audience Awards
Best Narrative- Young Victoria, Jean-Marc Vallee
Best Documentary- Waking Sleeping Beauty, Don Hahn
Best Short- This is Her, Katie Wolf

Kanbar Indie Award- Adventures in Women’s Lingerie, 4th Floor, Antonio Campos

Alfred P. Sloan Feature Film Prize- Agora, Alejandro Amenabar

RoC(c) Gold Standard in Filmmaking for a Feature Female Director- Cheryl Hines for Serious Moonlight

Student Awards
Akash, Ash Bhalla
Blackwater, Konstantinos Frangopoulos
Christopher Dispossessed, Matthew Watts
Sinkhole, Eric Scherbarth
tran si tions, Mark Lee

Outstanding Achievement in Acting- Sharon Stone

The Wouter Barendrecht Pioneering Vision Award- Big River Man, John Maringouin

 

The Jurors

Narrative
Terrie Sultan, Director of Parrish Art Museum
Barry Sonnenfeld, Director
Thelma Adams (Critic, US Weekly)

Dococumentary
Eugene Hernandez (Editor in Chief, Indiewire)
Annie Sundberg (Filmmaker, THE TRIALS OF DARRYL HUNT)
Nancy Buirski (Founder, Full Frame Film Festival)

Conflict and Resolution
Alec Baldwin
Josh Gladstone (Artistic Director, Guild Hall)
Megumi Sasaki (filmmaker, HERB AND DOROTHY)