As awards season nominees continue to emerge, the Hamptons International Film Festival announced its 33rd annual winners in a luxurious beach haven.
Director Hassan Hadi’s “The President’s Cake” won the Best Feature Film award. The feature film, distributed by Sony Pictures Classics, follows an Iraqi girl who is chosen to bake a celebratory dessert at her school to commemorate Saddam Hussein’s birthday. As he scrambles to collect ingredients in a rare landscape, the reality of dictatorship becomes clear.
Sponsored by the Artemis Rising Foundation, HIFF awarded Hadi a $2,500 cash prize and a film production package of $92,500 worth of in-kind goods and services from TCS, Neon Diesel Finishing, Hamptons Locations and On Location Education.
“Through the eyes of a young girl torn between tradition and survival, Hassan Hadi’s epic drama shows what is really at stake in a dictatorship dominated by violence and fear,” Narrative Competition judges Jodi Arrington, Brian Burns and Variety’s Matt Donnelly said in a statement.
Among non-fiction programs, “To The West, In Zapata” won Best Documentary Feature. In addition to a $2,500 cash prize, David Bim’s film about Cuba’s terrible struggles during the pandemic received a $50,000 film production package from Neon Diesel Finishing, TCS and Greenslate.
“No film took the jury’s breath away” like Bim’s, said documentary advisors Monica Castillo, Agnes Chu and Lauren Hammonds. They called the film a “masterpiece of black-and-white film verité style” and “a heartbreaking depiction of the struggles of everyday Cubans in the face of insurmountable odds.”
In the short story category, Layne Machelson’s “Sammy Can Separate Body Parts” won the award for best short story. “Correct Me If I’m Wrong” won the award for Best Short Documentary. Each winner received a $1,000 cash prize and an Academy Award for Best Live-Action Short Film and Best Short Documentary.
The Audience Award went to Joachim Trier’s “Sentimental Value” in the narrative category and “Ghana’s Eyes” in the non-fiction category. Zane Pais’ “Lightning Bug” and CeCe King’s “Island Willing” won Best Narrative and Short Documentary, respectively.
Other special jury awards included the narrative recognition of Mehmet Akif Büyükatare’s “intellectually stimulating” feature-length screenplay, “Hysteria.” Director Sheherezad Maher praised the short story “The Curfew” for “subverting expectations with a short story that proves that communication transcends language.” Director of the short documentary “Andre Is an Idiot” directed by Tony Bena. Glenn Kaino’s “Hoops, Hopes & Dreams” was recognized for its innovative storytelling through animation, social commentary and interviews.
