Alec Baldwin does a spot-on, hilarious Donald Trump, grimacing his way through his current vulgarity against women. That's why SNL called him back to Manhattan this weekend even while he was hosting his baby, the Hamptons International Film Festival. By Sunday he was back east, at the annual chairman's reception, addressing the crowd including Alex Gibney, Mariska Hargitay, Bob Balaban and many others. This is, after all, his first year as co-chairman. And now he's announced that he wants to make a documentary about Peggy Siegal!
In its 24th year, the festival thrives. On the second full day of screenings, panels, and other gatherings, the crowd was ebullient. Baldwin especially noted the 10th anniversary of David Nugent at the festival. The programmer has had a special knack for bringing top films to the festival; many have gone on to Oscars and other big awards. Some of the highlights of this year's festival are Manchester by the Sea, Lion, La La Land, Moonlight, 20th Century Women, and Julieta. Documentaries include D.A. Pennebaker and Chris Hegedus' Unlocking the Cage, a film that underscores the festival's animal rights initiatives. Disturbing the Peace, a film offering a vision of paths to peace in the Middle East was awarded a prize in the Conflict and Resolution category.
Present for screenings were locals Candice Bergen, Blythe Danner, Michael and Ninah Lynne, Alessandro Nivola and Emily Mortimer, the star of a gem of a short fiction narrative, Wig Shop, Kat Coiro's film, the first to come out of Through her Lens: The Tribeca Chanel Women's Filmmaker Program. You could say, and despite Trump's retrograde remarks, featuring talented women filmmakers is a given at this state of the art festival.
A version of this post also appears on Gossip Central.