Hamptons International Film Festival Will Honor Brian De Palma & Founder Toni Ross

The Hamptons International Film Festival (HIFF) announced today that this fall they will be honoring American director and screenwriter Brian De Palma with the 2019 Lifetime Achievement Award and HIFF founder Toni Ross with the Dick Cavett Artistic Champion Award.

The 27th Hamptons International Film Festival, where these honors will be awarded, will take place this fall from October 10–14. In addition to accepting the Lifetime Achievement Award, De Palma will also participate in “A Conversation With” panel alongside HIFF co-chair and Amagansett local Alec Baldwin.

De Palma has had a long and prosperous film career within the suspense and psychological thriller genres. Some of his most prominent directorial credits include Blowout, Scarface, The Untouchables and Carrie.

“Brian De Palma’s filmography suggests one word: excitement. Few directors in movie history have generated the kinds of feelings found in Brian’s films,” Baldwin says of this year’s honoree. “Although he often worked with big stars and great writers, Brian is responsible for most of the excitement in his films.”

HIFF also announced that festival founding board member Toni Ross will receive this year’s Dick Cavett Artistic Champion Award. The award was created in 2017 and first given to its namesake, Montauk’s Dick Cavett, to honor those in the creative arts who not only excel in their field, but who also support the arts and artists, particularly in film, television and related media.

Ross, who served as a founding board member of HIFF in 1993, is an artist whose paintings, sculptures and installations have been showcased all over the world.

“Toni Ross has been an instrumental champion of the arts and the East End community where she works and lives. She helped to launch the Hamptons International Film Festival and is the reason we are all here today,” HIFF Artistic Director David Nugent says. “We look forward to honoring her at the festival in October.”

In other HIFF news, the festival has announced the festival’s 2019 poster artist. Late Springs abstract expressionist Lee Krasner’s “Vernal Yellow,” from her solstice series, will be the official artwork on this year’s posters and related materials.

Visit hamptonsfilmfest.org for more info about this year’s festival.