by Debbie Tuma
Photos by Debbie Tuma & Regina Jacina
This year’s 34th annual Hamptons Film Festival took place October 2-12, and showcased many East End based movies. One of these, called “Not Dead Yet,” was filmed in Springs and Amagansett, and was very popular with the audiences. It was a mutual project of a father and son—Eric Weber and Nick Weber of East Hampton. New York City ad man Eric Weber, 84, wrote the movie based on his own experience of age discrimination in this youth obsessed field.
He said that after spending most of his life in advertising, he began to feel like he wasn’t as important, but he knew he wanted to still be active and creative, so made this film about a man just like himself, played by actor Richard Kind. In the film, Kind’s character gathers a group of seniors like himself and takes a gamble on opening a small restaurant in Springs named “The Blueberry Cafe.” These characters include Tovah Feldshuh, Polly Draper, Paul Raci, Toby Huss, Seth Herzog, Bill Smitrovich and Ed German. Micheal Goodin produced the film. They are all unique and interesting, and together they invent a successful, community gathering place with delicious blueberry pancakes!
At an after party at Sam’s Restaurant in East Hampton, locals and visitors gathered to share pizza and discuss the film. Nick Weber said how much fun it was to make this film with his dad. “I knew what my father was going through in the ad business, and we just decided to make a film about it,” he said. “We got some great actors to play the parts.”
This year, the “Views From Long Island” selection of short films was especially great, showcasing fascinating stories in different towns across the island. Starting with Montauk, Michael Cuomo had a wonderful movie about his drone scouring the ocean waters for migrating fish. The film, called “Bounty Uncharted: Empire of the Atlantic,” was filmed entirely from the air, showing the ocean as it’s rarely seen. He followed all kinds of fish and sea life as they moved through the water. The film is directed by Cuomo and Jeff Ragovin.
Another short film, called “B-Camera Footage from the Documentary ‘Piping Plovers: A Coastal Migration,’” was filmed on the beaches of Amagansett. An ornithologist narrated this film to explain the urgency of protecting these endangered piping plovers, which is an ongoing issue in the Hamptons. Lots of good information for bird and nature lovers, and beautifully filmed. Directors Jack Wasserstein and Andrew Penn. Yet another great short film about the family history of the famous Round Swamp Farm, created by the Lester family. It started in Springs, East Hampton, with a small farm stand selling tomatoes, and grew over the years to be a full scale market with everything from home baked goods, to fruits, vegetables, desserts, take out meals, flowers, and more. Today they also have a market in Montauk. This short film is a beautiful portrait of a local farming family.
Another Hamptons related short film was “Pentimento,” about a young male artist assistant in New York City, who drives out to the Hamptons to bring paintings to his boss, abstract painter Richard Tinkler. As this assistant is trying to find his way in the art field, grappling with his own identity, he makes a big mistake and brings out the wrong painting, forcing him to drive all the way back to the city.
Hunter Gause, who made this film, grew up in an art family in the city and the Hamptons. “I was always interested in artist assistants, because it’s a job you usually get out of college, and you would think a film would be about the artist, rather than their assitstant.”
One of the best events at the Hamptons International Film Festival is the “Conversation With,” where top stars are interviewed about their careers on stage. This year, they had some big names, from Ron Howard, to Amanda Seyfried, to Jesse Eisenberg, and John Turturro. I was at Guild Hall in East Hampton when Ron Howard pulled up and walked toward the crowd of photographers lined up outside. Smiling under a baseball cap, he posed for photos before his interview with a reporter from People Magazine.
Sitting on the stage later, Howard talked about his long career in TV and film, starting as Opie on the famous Andy Griffith Show, he parlayed into filmmaker and director, with dozens of great movies, like Oscar winning “A Beautiful Mind,” “Apollo 13,” “Splash,” and “Parenthood.” He also came to discuss his latest documentary, “Avedon,” about the life of yet another Montauk icon, photographer Richard Avedon. In doing this film, Howard spent much time with the family, and Avedon’s foundation, and going through Avedon’s extensive archives. “I saw great images, and there were stories behind the photos,” said Howard. “I only wish I had met Richard Avedon. But my documentary is about the journey of an artist.” Howard added that Avedon “ was a great story teller, but he didn’t get interviewed that much.” But Howard enjoyed his interview with Avedon’s son John the most, saying, “He brought a human perspective to his father’s work.”
On the last Sunday, the New York Women in Film and TV (NYWIFT) held their fabulous annual brunch on the lawn of the Mulford Farm in East Hampton. A crowd of women dined on an amazing spread of food and networked about their movie projects. CEO Cynthia Lopez and Board President Kim Jackson both greeted guests.
“This is the most remarkable organization, giving awards to women making great films,” said Lopez. Later, the women filmmakers showed their short films at East Hampton movie theater. These included great films about everything from freezing of women’s eggs, called simply, “Eggs,” to a documentary called “Boobs” about an art exhibition of different woman’s breasts.
Don’t miss the big 35th Anniversary of the Hamptons International Film Festival next October!!