The acclaimed Hamptons International Film Festival is known for its impressive film lineup. This year, amidst a global pandemic, festivals everywhere have pivoted programming to shift online.
Programmer Megan Costello discussed what to expect from HIFF 2020, especially with its short film selections. “We tried to keep our curation based on how we’ve always done it,” Costello told The Knockturnal via phone. “The only real change is the scale of our program. Because of the logistics of putting together a virtual festival and transitioning HIFF into a virtual space, we decided to scale down our program pretty significantly.”
The slimmer lineup–while still including multiple New York, U.S., and world premieres–has placed an even greater emphasis on curation. The uneasiness of the global pandemic also made for a changed submission process. “Over the course the summer, as more trust in this new virtual landscape for festivals began to deepen, we then were able to access more films,” Costello explained. “We are very happy with the final lineup this year, and are really proud to present this to our audience.”
Costello has been programming short films for five years at the festival, and 2020 marks a significant shift in her short film selections. This year, the festival showcases 21 shorts, cut down by almost two-thirds from last year’s sixty. “There’s certainly a lot of pressure with the curation when you’re only going to have a small number of films,” Costello opened up. “You really feel the weight and intention behind each film that you program when you only have 20 slots. As a result, it was very difficult because there were so many wonderful short films this year that we just didn’t have space for. But also to me it just brings confidence to the program itself because it’s like every film that’s there had to fight really hard for the slot that it has.”
The narrative and documentary short film Academy Awards-qualifying competitions feature five respective shorts. Each winner from the jury competitions receives a $500 cash prize.
The annual university short films showcase offers a separate category for young filmmaker inclusion. Curated by a group of industry professionals and members of the HIFF advisory board, the program annually spotlights five student filmmakers and has an illustrious alumni network, including Palm Springs director Max Barbakow whose college thesis film was screened in 2016.
The fourth curated program, titled “On the Road to Find Out,” is a 78-minute series of six independent short films that share a common theme. This year’s focus came through organically during the submission process. “I don’t know if it was the nature of this year but what emerged from a lot of films that we were seeing were themes of uncertainty, transition, and self-discovery,” Costello explained. “It certainly reflected a lot of things that we were feeling, and the films can speak to the universal experiences that we’re all going through right now.”
A mix of narrative and documentary shorts, “On the Road to Find Out” includes artist biography Betye Saar: Taking Care of Business and Broken Bird, a coming-of-age story about a biracial girl preparing for her Bat Mitzvah. “Individually these short films are all wonderful, but together they become something else altogether in the way that they work off each other. Their similarities and differences can play off one another which is really lovely,” Costello continued.
The large international focus, particularly with the documentary shorts, further adds to the thoughtfulness of Costello’s selections. From Palestine to France to Syria, the documentary shorts boast a global awareness. “I do consider pretty significantly the balance of where these stories are coming from and what perspective is being told,” Costello said. “We want to make sure we’re not just getting all our stories from the U.S. or Western Europe.”
This year’s shift online has made international films even more accessible to both filmmakers and viewers. “We’ve really been able to come together in ways that we might have under normal circumstances,” Costello admitted. “We’ve talked about this with other programmers, but I think being exposed to the varying perspectives of these films build a lot of empathy and insight into how everyone else lives in the world. It’s something I hope our audience is open to as well.”
Costello’s passion for short films stems from the creative storytelling that smaller budgets and limited time inspire. “There’s more creative independence around [shorts], and so much more room for creativity and diversity both in the storytelling and from the storytellers,” Costello said. “I am always just constantly amazed by how bold and experimental and risk-taking these filmmakers are.”
HIFF 2020 honors this risk-taking in 2020 with the inaugural Peter Macgregor-Scott Memorial Award, which continues Peter’s mentorship and memory for a new generation of filmmakers. Sponsored by Susan Macgregor-Scott, the $10,000 award recognizes a narrative short filmmaker who had to overcome a challenge on set.
“It’s an award that really kind of honors the spirit of independent filmmaker,” Costello described. “We’re just delighted that they wanted to give this award to a short film because short filmmakers are often have the least amount of resources and need the most support.” The winning filmmaker will be announced Sunday, October 14th during the festival awards ceremony.
Until then, Costello pointed to the vast array of short films available for HIFF attendees to stream virtually. From narrative offerings to documentary shorts, the festival spotlights diverse films from across the world– elevating passionate voices and perspectives in a year that needs them.
The Hamptons International Film Festival is October 8 – 14th, both with drive-in screenings and streaming.