The Hamptons International Film Festival was founded to celebrate independent film—long, short, fiction and documentary—and to introduce a unique and varied spectrum of international films and filmmakers to our audiences. The festival is committed to exhibiting films that express fresh voices and differing global perspectives to enlighten audiences, educate, provide invaluable exposure for filmmakers, and present inspired entertainment.
The 26th Annual Hamptons International Film Festival: October 4-8, 2018.
The Hamptons International Film Festival (HIFF) is a year-round 501(c)3 non-profit organization celebrating 26 years with year-round first-run screenings, student film workshops, a Screenwriters Lab, a renowned summer documentary program, over 40 free summer screenings, and an annual film festival each October showcasing 150 films.
The Festival is the premiere film event on New York State’s east end, and is an intimate showcase of some of the year’s best offerings in contemporary cinema from around the world. With cash and in-kind prizes handed out totaling more than $180,000, HIFF’s annual Film Festival hosts four distinct competitions, focused specifically on early-career filmmakers, bolstering their work at an important juncture, and gives six other awards: Conflict & Resolution, The Tangerine Female Filmmaker award, Social Justice award, Lifetime Achievement award, Creative Impacting in Acting award, and monetary awards for shorts by college students.
HIFF also partners with numerous international and national organizations, including Variety’s 10 Actors to Watch, an internationally recognized program showcasing breakthrough actors, an educational initiative with the United Nations, a long-standing partnership with the New York Film Critics Circle (NYFCC) who serve on the jury and moderate Q&A’s, and the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS), to bring industry titans to each year’s festival.
HIFF’s robust educational initiative, named HIFF Jr. includes summer student film camps for ages ranging from 8-15, an in-school quarterly program in conjunction with our Compassion, Justice & Animal Rights initiative to screen and make films about the fair treatment of animals, and a United Nations partnership program for area middle school and high school students that are introduced to films created by young international filmmakers that focus on issues of migration, diversity, and social inclusion.