EXCLUSIVE: Elsinore and La Bola Negra were two of the standout films to collect awards at the just-concluded 34th edition of the Hamptons International Film Festival.
Audiences who attended 205 screenings of the fest’s 140-plus features and shorts from October 2 to 11 selected La Bola Negra as Best Narrative Feature. The film, which is directed by Javier Calvo and Javier Ambrossi, is Spain’s official nominee for the Best International Feature Film category at the upcoming Academy Awards. It emerged from the Toronto Film Festival with heat after winning the audience award, often an Oscar bellwether.
Another hopeful with a presence at the Hamptons is Elsinore, which made its East Coast premiere at the event. Directed by Simon Stone, the film starring Andrew Scott won the international people’s choice award at Toronto, along with prizes at other festivals in recent weeks.
Because of its timing in between larger fall festivals and the surge of campaign season later in the year, the Hamptons has built a reputation as a fest of note. It doesn’t hurt that it takes place near the beaches of Long Island’s East End about 90 miles from New York City, long a vacation destination and a place to see and be seen.
Naza, which has drawn packed screenings and ovations but also protests and controversy for its documentary portrait of Israeli military attacks on Palestinian communities, also collected an award. The film, directed by Yuval Abraham and Rachel Szor, received the Victor Rabinowitz & Joanne Grant Award for Social Justice. The film recognizes a film that exemplifies the values of peace, equality, global justice and civil liberties.
Burgundy, directed by Michael Dweck and Gregory Kershaw, captured HIFF’s documentary audience award.
La Bola Negra was described in a statement by HIFF Narrative Competition jury members Cara Cusumano, Jeremy O. Harris, and David Rooney as a “triptych of queer desire, queer memory and queer resistance weaves together an epic story using revisionist history and builds to an emotional climax that rips to the core.”
The narrative jury also gave a Special Mention to The Guest, which is directed by Mads Mengel.
Best Documentary Feature honors went to If Pigeons Turned to Gold. Documentary Competition Jury members Carlos A. Gutiérrez, Mark Obenhaus, and Sky Sitney called it “a bold, deeply personal story of the filmmaker’s own family struggles with addiction. It is told with provocative rawness and inventiveness.”
Other HIFF honors included the Junior Jury Award, from a panel from East Hampton High School, given to Mouse; the Artemis Rising Foundation Raise the Vibration Award for Social Impact, to The Drug in Our Pocket and A Song for the Snow Lion; the Peter Macgregor-Scott Memorial Award, to Laser-Gato; the Sherzum Award, for films tackling LGBTQ+ people, issues and concerns, to What Will I Become? and Welcome to Paris; the Brizzolara Family Foundation Award for Films of Conflict & Resolution to The Choice; the Suffolk County Next Exposure Grant to Barbizon; and the Zelda Penzel “Giving Voice to the Voiceless” Award, to Wild Inside.
Ben’Imana and The Drug in Our Pocket won the documentary and narrative categories, respectively, of the New York Women in Film & Television’s awards for excellence.