Hamptons International Film Festival: Views From Long Island Shorts Series

In a partnership with the Suffolk County Film Commission, the Hamptons International Film Festival plays host to a special series of short films that were shot on and focus on topics important to Long Island. This year’s series featured four shorts, of them three were documentaries and one was a narrative short, all about interesting topics.

Two of the documentaries were about surfing, one taking a more artistic approach focusing on sound design and acting almost as a music video, the other telling an uplifting story about how someone can use surfing to help overcome Autism Spectrum Disorder. The Rolling East illustrates the visuals of surfing across the seasons as it occurs on Long Island while Rocco Up follows Rocco as he develops confidence within the world of surfing, outside the world of his developmental disorder. The final documentary called The End tells the story of Gardiner’s Island and probably could have been longer since the history of the island’s ownership is so vast. That said, it is focused mostly on the later years of the island’s ownership and how it has become this enigma since no one is allowed to visit so a follow-up about the family’s history would be interesting as well.

The narrative short of the block previously was screened at a few festivals including Cannes and is called The Pass, which is about a man who goes swimming and encounters a threatening stranger between him and the shore. The use of tension, which comes from a combination of direction from Pepi Ginsberg and performances from Angus O’Brien and Paul Bomba, in the short is fantastic and makes it a very interesting watch.

The commitment of the Suffolk County Film Commission to highlighting shorts made on Long Island is very important as it does allow for the next generation of filmmakers to get the opportunity to move into the spotlight. If one can find one of these shorts, they are worth a watch, however as of right now there is no clear availability to stream them.