HT2FF Offers All Docs All Day

By Jessica Mackin-Cipro

“All Docs All Day” is the theme of the Hamptons Take 2 Documentary Film Festival. While the festival holds its annual main event every fall, the entity has grown to have a year-round presence on the East End.

“Our ‘FilmArts + Forum’ programs have expanded from a few libraries into many South and North Fork libraries, arts centers, museums, and theaters,” HT2FF founder Jacqui Lofaro explained. “They provide movie-goers with the chance to see provocative award-winning films that they missed at past festivals, and also an exciting second chance to meet many of the filmmakers.”

East Enders will have a chance to view an exciting group of documentary films, now through May.

Tomorrow at the John Jermain Library in Sag Harbor, the documentary All Me: The Life and Times of Winfred Rembert will be screened at 7 PM. The film is about the African-American artist and will be followed by a Q&A with filmmaker Vivian Ducat.

As part of the Hamptons THAW Fest weekend, Milton Glaser: To Inform and Delight will screen at the Southampton Arts Center on Friday at 8 PM. The film tells the story of the iconic American graphic designer of the “I Love New York” campaign and the founder of New York Magazine. Filmmaker Wendy Keys and designer Walter Bernard will be on hand for a Q&A.

On Sunday, as THAW Fest weekend continues, Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor will screen I Know a Man, Ashley Bryan, at 2 PM. The film is about the African-American poet, children’s book illustrator, and puppet-maker. It was also the winner of the HT2FF’s 2017 Hector Leonardi Art & Inspiration Award.

Two doc screenings will take place on Monday. Bridgehampton’s Hampton Library hosts The Children of Chabannes at 7 PM. The film is about the remote French school that sheltered hundreds of Jewish children during World War II.

A screening of The Last Fix: An Addict’s Passage from Hell to Hope is sponsored by the Hampton Bays Civic Association at the Hampton Bays Senior Center at 7 PM. Judge Deborah Kooperstein from the Southampton Drug Court will speak after the film.

On Friday, April 13, HT2FF will partner with the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill to screen Human Flow. The film is by Chinese artist and filmmaker Ai Weiwei and it will be followed by a discussion with Ninette Kelley, director of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees’ New York office.

HT2FF will also offer its annual Spring Docs Day, which this year celebrates Earth Day, on Sunday, April 22, with a double feature at Bay Street starting at 2 PM.

From directors Fisher Stevens and Robert Nixon, the Emmy Award-winning film, Mission Blue, will be viewed. The film’s cinematography showcases the majesty and imperiled status of the world’s aquatic life. It also highlights the work of renowned oceanographer, marine biologist, and activist Dr. Sylvia Earle. Ecologist Dr. Carl Safina will be there for a post-film Q&A.

The New York premiere of Bird of Prey, by director Eric Liner, will also screen. It’s a doc from the Cornell Lab of Ornithology about the rare Philippine Eagle that faces extinction.

Soft Vengeance: Albie Sachs and the New South Africa will be shown on Monday, April 26, at Bridgehampton’s Hampton Library. The documentary tells about the life of the anti-apartheid leader who helped write the South African Constitution.

Heading into May, the festival brings even more documentaries to the East End. On Friday, May 18, filmmaker Josh Howard will attend a screening and Q&A for The Lavender Scare at the Southampton Arts Center. This eye-opening film is about the persecution of government homosexuals during the Cold War panic of the Eisenhower administration. It won the Sloane Shelton Human Rights Award at HT2FF’s 2017 festival.

Hampton Library is also the site for the screening of Two: The Story of Roman and Nyro, about Curtis Shaw and songwriter Desmond Child raising twin boys, on Thursday, May 21.

Rounding out the documentary offerings is the poignant When People Die They Sing Songs, which will be shown at the John Jermain Library in Sag Harbor on Thursday, May 24.

For more information and a complete schedule, visit www.HT2FF.com.

Jessica@indyeastend.com

@HamptonDaze