Topic: Film

You can’t help but have noticed that East Hamptonite Jerry Seinfeld has a new animated movie coming out called Bee Movie (Get it? B-Movie—laugh quietly to yourself now.)

What you may not know is that the project was conceived in the Hamptons. And not just in the Hamptons, but at a dinner at Steven Spielberg’s house on Georgica Pond with Matthew Broderick and SJP also in attendance. See aspiring cineastes? All it takes is a dinner at Spielberg’s to turn an off-the-cuff joke into a blockbuster animated film. (As Premiere wryly noted, it probably helped that the off-the-cuff joke was made by Seinfeld.)

Bee Movie [Premiere]

In retrospect, Plum's coverage of the Hamptons International Film Festival was startlingly prescient. We talked to almost every winner of every award at the festival. (Sometimes we're just that good.) Here, Jesse Kornbluth talks with Famke Janssen (who won the Best Actress Award) and Chris Eigeman about Turn the River.

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As they say in the biz: That's a wrap. The film festival is over. They laughed, they cried, they gave away a bunch of prizes. So who won? Who's headed towards inevitable stardom and future walks down red carpets? All the glorious details below:

Winning is nice, winning a bunch of money is even nicer. While the Golden Starfish Awards recognize the accomplishments of the filmmakers who have come to show their films, they also give them a nice headstart on their next project with prizes ranging from $185,000 in cash and services for the top prize to $1,000 for student filmmakers. So who are the next up and comers and who took home the awards?

Golden Starfish Awards:.

Best Feature: VALERIE (Germany, East Coast Premiere) Directed by Birgit Möller. “A very accomplished first film about a woman's struggle to survive at the margins of society while maintaining her dignity.”
Best Cinematography: KINGS (UK, US Premiere) Directed by Tom Collins and photographed by PJ Dillon. “For the beauty and texture, intermixing the past and present.”
Best Screenwriter: Writer/Director Chris Eigeman for TURN THE RIVER (US, World Premiere). “For it's unflinching realism, pitch perfect dialogue and 3 dimensional characters in a world that is so often given to stereotypes.“
Special Jury Best Actress Prize: Famke Janssen “For a brave and touching portrayal of a woman fighting for her child and her life.”
Documentary Feature: I AM AN ANIMAL: THIS STORY OF INGRID NEWKIRK AND PETA (US, World Premiere) Directed by Matthew Galkin.
Short Film: AT THE END OF THE SENTENCE (Scotland, 2005) directed by Marisa Zanotti.
Woozyfly.com Award for Best Music: Mark Mancina for AUGUST RUSH.
Career Achievement in Acting Award: Vanessa Redgrave.

Films of Conflict and Resolution:

BEHIND FORGOTTEN EYES (US, East Coast Premiere) Directed by Anthony Gilmore.
SOLDIERS OF CONSCIENCE (US, NY Premiere) Directed by Catherine Ryan and Gary Weimberg.