Hamptons 2018: Documentary Overview

Festival:
The 26th Hamptons International Film Festival

Dates:
October 4-8

About:
This well-respected Long Island event presents 30 documentaries out of its 70 feature offerings.

The fest’s five-strong Documentary Competition includes work like Shannon Service and Jeffrey Waldron’s GHOST FLEET, an exposé of modern day slavery among the Thai fishing industry; and the world premiere of Jesse Sweet’s CITY OF JOEL, which explores the deep division between an expanding Hasidic community and their secular neighbors in upstate New York.

Themed sections include Air, Land & Sea, with Sasha Friedlander and Cynthia Wade’s GRIT, following the aftermath of a toxic mudlfow in East Java due to careless energy industry drilling; Compassion, Justice & Animal Rights, with the world premiere of Rob Fruchtman and Steven Lawrence’s THE CAT RESCUERS, a profile of animal welfare activists attempting to help the street cats of Brooklyn; and Conflict & Resolution, with Chris Martin’s UNDER THE WIRE, which recounts the story of war correspondents Marie Colvin and Paul Conroy.

Additional nonfiction appears in the World Cinema Documentary section, which includes the world premieres of Peter Kenneth Jones’ HENRI DAUMAN: LOOKING UP, on the celebrated, self-taught photojournalist; and of Alex Winter’s THE PANAMA PAPERS, a far-ranging exploration of the impact of the largest data leak in history. Among the other films in the section are DOC NYC Opening Night Film, John Chester’s THE BIGGEST LITTLE FARM, which follows the filmmaker and his wife over several years as they build up their own farm in harmony with natural forces; Tom Donahue’s THIS CHANGES EVERYTHING, an exploration of gender inequality in Hollywood; and Maxim Pozdorovkin’s THE TRUTH ABOUT KILLER ROBOTS, a cautionary look at our growing dependence on robots.