Hamptons Film Festival 2026 Week 1: Your Guide to the Films, Stars and Events Making Sparks

From I Play Rocky and Amanda Seyfried to Chris Rock’s Misty Green, Spotlight films, documentaries, shorts and conversations, here’s what’s lighting up HIFF’s first six days.

The Hamptons International Film Festival is back — and with 11 days of premieres, documentaries, shorts, conversations and enough screenings to make even the most devoted moviegoer start negotiating with the clock, a little editing is in order.

The 34th annual HIFF opens Friday, Oct. 2, and runs through Monday, Oct. 12, with screenings and events across the Hamptons.

So where to begin?

For the festival’s first stretch — Opening Night through Wednesday — we’ve broken down some of the biggest films, starriest screenings, conversations and a handful of films that made us stop and look twice.

THE BIG FILMS

I Play Rocky — Opening Night
Friday, Oct. 2, 6:30 p.m. | East Hampton Middle School

HIFF opens with the East Coast premiere of Peter Farrelly’s I Play Rocky, the true story behind Sylvester Stallone’s fight to play Rocky Balboa after writing the screenplay that would change his life. Anthony Ippolito stars as the young Stallone, alongside Matt Dillon, AnnaSophia Robb, P.J. Byrne, Toby Kebbell, Tracy Letts, Jay Duplass, Stephan James and Kiki Seto. Ippolito will receive one of HIFF’s FLYTE Breakthrough Performer Awards.

The Life and Deaths of Wilson Shedd — Centerpiece
Saturday, Oct. 3, 5:15 p.m. | East Hampton Middle School

Amanda Seyfried stars opposite Scoot McNairy in the U.S. premiere of Tim Blake Nelson’s drama, inspired by actual events, about a teacher in an abusive marriage who takes a job teaching creative writing at a maximum-security prison and begins falling for an inmate. Seyfried, McNairy and Nelson are scheduled to attend.

A Conversation With Amanda Seyfried
Sunday, Oct. 4, 11 a.m. | East Hampton Middle School

Seyfried takes center stage Sunday morning for a festival conversation, with Alec Baldwin scheduled to moderate. Tim Blake Nelson and Scoot McNairy are also expected to participate.

SPOTLIGHT: STAR POWER ON SCREEN

HIFF’s Spotlight section is where some of the festival’s biggest casts turn up.

The Lightkeeper
Saturday, Oct. 3, 2 p.m. | East Hampton Regal UA
Sunday, Oct. 4, 11:15 a.m. | East Hampton Regal UA

Dominic Cooper plays a lighthouse keeper living with a painful past in 1920s Ireland whose solitary life begins to shift after encounters with a mysterious American widow, a hard-headed priest and his devoted housekeeper. Sarah Gadon, Aidan Quinn and Sarah Bolger also star. Cooper, Bolger and director Vic Sarin are expected at Saturday’s international premiere.

Wild Horse Nine
Sunday, Oct. 4, 4:45 p.m. | East Hampton Middle School

Martin McDonagh directs a cast that includes John Malkovich, Sam Rockwell, Steve Buscemi, Tom Waits and Parker Posey. That lineup alone puts this one firmly on the first-week radar.

Paper Tiger
Sunday, Oct. 4, 8 p.m. | East Hampton Middle School

James Gray brings together Adam Driver, Scarlett Johansson and Miles Teller in one of the weekend’s most star-packed films.

Love of Your Life
Tuesday, Oct. 6, 8 p.m. | Guild Hall

Margaret Qualley and Patrick Schwarzenegger star in Rachel Morrison’s Spotlight selection.

Misty Green
Wednesday, Oct. 7, 7:45 p.m. | Guild Hall

Chris Rock writes, directs and co-stars in this A24 film about an actress fighting for a second act after her career stalls. Rosalind Eleazar stars alongside Rock, Adam Driver, Daniel Kaluuya and Anna Kendrick. Eleazar will receive a FLYTE Breakthrough Performer Award at the screening.

FILMS WITH SOME SPARK

Not necessarily the films with the biggest names or the splashiest premieres — just a few that made us stop and look twice.

Mouse — North American Premiere
Saturday, Oct. 3, 2:15 p.m. | East Hampton Regal UA
Sunday, Oct. 4, 11:45 a.m. | East Hampton Regal UA

Longtime best friends Minnie and Callie head into senior year with Minnie accustomed to living in the protective shadow of her charismatic best friend. When their relationship is suddenly upended, Minnie is forced to figure out who she is on her own — and forms a complicated bond with Callie’s mother, played by Oscar nominee Sophie Okonedo.

Katherine Mallen Kupferer and Chloe Coleman also star. There’s a nice HIFF connection here, too: Kelly O’Sullivan’s screenplay was supported by the HamptonsFilm Screenwriters Lab before the film went on to premiere at the Berlin International Film Festival. Q&As are expected after both HIFF screenings.

The Drug in Our Pocket — World Premiere
Saturday, Oct. 3, noon | East Hampton Regal UA
Sunday, Oct. 4, 2:45 p.m. | East Hampton Regal UA

Timely is an understatement. Anne Sundberg’s documentary examines how smartphones — designed to connect us — have reshaped childhood, adolescence and mental health through conversations with young people, parents and experts.

Director Sundberg and producer Beth Kojima are scheduled to attend, with a post-screening panel for the world premiere that includes tech and education experts and supermodel Ashley Graham, an executive producer of the film.

House of Criticism
Saturday, Oct. 3, 1:45 p.m. | East Hampton Regal UA
Sunday, Oct. 4, 11:30 a.m. | East Hampton Regal UA

Legendary New York art critics Roberta Smith and Jerry Saltz are married — which is already a pretty good setup for a documentary. Director Alison Chernick follows the couple at work and at home in a film about art, criticism, taste, influence and marriage.

Artists including Cindy Sherman, Lena Dunham and Mickalene Thomas reflect on the pair’s influence. The film is preceded by the short documentary Cindy Sherman: Picture This, with Smith and Sherman among those expected at Saturday’s screening.

The Grid Unplugged — World Premiere
Saturday, Oct. 3, 11:45 a.m. | East Hampton Regal UA

What happens when the power grid we depend on starts to fail? Director Rick Cutter looks at a system strained by climate-fueled wildfires, AI, data centers and growing demand — and asks whether it can be fixed faster than we’re breaking it. Ed Begley Jr. is an executive producer and is expected to attend.

The Second Life of Freddie Nole
Sunday, Oct. 4, 5:45 p.m. | East Hampton Regal UA
Part of the Conflict & Resolution Shorts program

After spending 50 years in prison, Freddie Nole now spends his days meeting people at prison gates as they are released, helping them navigate their first hours of freedom and begin the difficult process of reentry.

The documentary short follows him over the course of a single day, gradually revealing Nole’s own remarkable story while exploring redemption, second chances and the difference one person can make. Nole and the film’s director Dana Nachman are expected to attend the screening and Q&A.

MORE DOCUMENTARIES TO KNOW

Carl Sagan: We Are Made of Star Stuff
Saturday, Oct. 3, 4:15 p.m. | Sag Harbor Cinema
Sunday, Oct. 4, 11 a.m. | East Hampton Regal UA

Director Nanette Burstein examines the life and legacy of the astronomer, author and television personality who helped make the cosmos understandable — and fascinating — to millions.

Musk
Monday, Oct. 5 | Guild Hall

Oscar-winning documentarian Alex Gibney turns his lens on Elon Musk. Gibney is scheduled to attend, making this one of Monday’s notable festival stops.

SHORTS — AND SOMETHING LOCAL

Don’t overlook the shorts. They’re often where a festival turns up filmmakers you’ll be hearing about later.

The University Short Films Showcase screens Saturday, Oct. 3, at 11:15 a.m. at Sag Harbor Cinema.

The Conflict & Resolution Shorts program — including The Second Life of Freddie Nole — screens Sunday, Oct. 4, at 5:45 p.m. at East Hampton Regal UA.

And the Views From Long Island Shorts program screens Wednesday, Oct. 7, at 5:30 p.m. at East Hampton Regal UA, bringing together short films with Long Island connections.

AND THERE’S MORE COMING

HIFF continues through Oct. 12, with plenty still ahead after Wednesday: Jesse Eisenberg and The Debut, Pedro Pascal in Behemoth!, Sara Bareilles with Good Grief, Ron Howard’s Avedon, John Turturro in The Only Living Pickpocket in New York, Bob Balaban receiving HIFF’s Lifetime Achievement Award and Closing Night film Wicker, starring Olivia Colman, Alexander Skarsgård and Peter Dinklage.

Richard Kind and cast in "Not Dead Yet"

Bob Balaban in "Best In Show"

John Turturro, The Only Living Pickpocket in New York

Sara Bareilles Good Grief

Also still to come is Not Dead Yet, a world-premiere comedy starring Richard Kind, Paul Raci, Polly Draper and Tovah Feldshuh. It follows a veteran ad man pushed out by a youth-obsessed industry who joins forces with a rebellious Hamptons senior breakfast club to launch a second act. That one screens beginning Friday, Oct. 9 — so we’re saving it for next weekend.

IF YOU GO

What: 34th annual Hamptons International Film Festival

When: Friday, Oct. 2-Monday, Oct. 12

Where: Screenings and events take place across East Hampton, Sag Harbor and Southampton.

Key venues: East Hampton Regal UA, 30-38 Main St., East Hampton; East Hampton Middle School, 76 Newtown Lane, East Hampton; Guild Hall, 158 Main St., East Hampton; Sag Harbor Cinema, 90 Main St., Sag Harbor.

Opening Night: I Play Rocky, Friday, Oct. 2

Tickets: Individual tickets, passes, packages and the complete screening schedule are available through HamptonsFilm.

Getting around: HIFF offers a free East Hampton Jitney Shuttle Loop on Saturdays and Sundays during the festival.

Full schedule, tickets and updates: HamptonsFilm

Angela LaGreca

Editor, Co-Founder/Publisher

Angela LaGreca, Editor-in-chief and co-Founder/Publisher of Spark Hamptons, is a four-time Emmy Award-winning journalist, producer, writer and comedian/host. Her TV credits include NBC’s “Today,” ABC’s “The View,” and, most recently, the primetime cable news program “Cuomo” on NewsNation. On the East End, she was the Creative Director at LTV, VP Features/Events/Photo Editor at Dan’s Papers, and has performed at Guild Hall, Bay Street Theater and the WHBPAC. Her publishing career began at Modern Photography, where she was managing editor. LaGreca lives in Manhattan and East Hampton and can be reached at angelatvmedia@gmail.com and angela@sparkhamptons.com .