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SUMMERDOCS: THE LION QUEEN

The divorce of the century turned Jocelyne Wildenstein – often referred to in the media as ‘The Catwoman’ – into a 90s tabloid obsession, bringing the private Wildenstein art empire into the spotlight. THE LION QUEEN explores the life of a woman shaped by extraordinary wealth and scrutiny, offering a revealing look at the personal cost of fame and fortune.

The screening will be followed by a conversation with producer, Caroline Baron, HamptonsFilm Co-Chair, Alec Baldwin, and HamptonsFilm Chief Creative Officer, David Nugent.

FEEL GOOD FILMS: NATIONAL LAMPOON’S CHRISTMAS VACATION

Celebrate the season with big laughs at Guild Hall’s Feel Good Films screening of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation. Chevy Chase’s Clark Griswold is determined to deliver the perfect family Christmas, but twinkling lights, surprise relatives, and festive chaos have other plans. Don’t miss this funny holiday classic full of cheer and mayhem.

FEEL GOOD FILMS: PLANES, TRAINS, AND AUTOMOBILES

Celebrate Thanksgiving with laughter at Guild Hall’s Feel Good Films series featuring John Hughes’s beloved comedy Planes, Trains, and Automobiles. When uptight Neal Page teams up with shower-curtain-ring salesman Del Griffith for a chaotic journey home, mishaps multiply and hearts warm. This holiday classic is about gratitude, friendship, and getting home.

FEEL GOOD FILMS: YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN

Close out Halloween weekend with Mel Brooks’s hilarious classic Young Frankenstein in this continuation of Guild Hall’s Feel Good Films series. Gene Wilder leads a brilliant comic cast in this loving spoof of classic monster movies, packed with iconic gags, unforgettable lines, and spooky fun—proof that even the undead can deliver monstrous laughs.

SUMMERDOCS: THE LAST FIRST: WINTER K2

Co-Presented by HamptonsFilm & Guild Hall

In THE LAST FIRST: WINTER K2, Amir Bar-Lev tells a complex, harrowing, and moving story that unpacks the industry of extreme mountain climbing and its changing culture.

Focusing on a 2021 expedition, mountaineers John Snorri Sigurjónsson, an Icelander, and Pakistani father-son team Ali and Sajid Sadpara set out to be the first to summit K2 in the winter, when the mountain’s conditions are the cruelest. The men soon find themselves sharing the treacherous ascent with influencer climbers and their film crews, commercial expedition clients, and Nims, a Nepalese celebrity mountaineer, and his team of Sherpas.

THE LAST FIRST: WINTER K2 takes us to the icy heights and unpredictable weather of K2 and reveals a surprising and layered story — one of strategy and determination, class and caste, money and power — all under life and death circumstances.

The screening will be followed by a conversation with director, Amir Bar-Lev, HamptonsFilm Co-Chair, Alec Baldwin, and HamptonsFilm Chief Creative Officer, David Nugent.

Amir Bar-Lev’s directorial credits include FIGHTER (2001), MY KID COULD PAINT THAT (2007), the Emmy-winning THE TILLMAN STORY (2010), HAPPY VALLEY (2014), and LONG STRANGE TRIP (2017). Bar-Lev also co-produced TROUBLE THE WATER, which was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 2008 Academy Awards.

SUMMERDOCS: KNIFE—THE ATTEMPTED MURDER OF SALMAN RUSHDIE

Co-Presented by HamptonsFilm & Guild Hall

More than 30 years after Iran issued a fatwa, a religious decree calling for author Salman Rushdie’s death over The Satanic Verses, Rushdie traveled to Chautauqua to speak about the United States as a sanctuary for exiled writers and artists. The event marked the 20th anniversary of a writer-refuge program—a setting meant to celebrate safety and creative freedom. It was there, in an unrelated incident, that a young man rushed the stage, intent on killing him with a knife. Using excerpts from Rushdie’s works, including his powerful memoir Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder, Alex Gibney’s documentary is both a striking testament to freedom of expression and a defiant response to the attempt on Rushdie’s life.

The film incorporates never-before-seen footage shot by Rushdie’s wife, Rachel Eliza Griffiths, in the days and weeks following the attack. This material offers a graphic, unflinching, and deeply intimate account of what happened. It also traces Rushdie’s physical and spiritual recovery, including the challenges he continues to face, from losing an eye to the reduced use of one hand.

Knife blends reportage with fictionalized dialogues to explore the mindset of the attacker, probing the “why” behind the violence. At its core, the film is a portrait of resilience—of Rushdie’s own extraordinary strength and the love that carried him through—and a call to action against censorship and hatred. It argues that art itself can be a form of resistance.

In Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie, Gibney, working with longtime collaborators Andy Grieve (editor) and Will Bates (composer), crafts a poetic dreamscape that reflects how Rushdie views his writing as his own “knife,” a tool to fight back, reclaim his story, and respond to violence with imagination and art.

The screening will be followed by a conversation with Knife director, Alex Gibney, HamptonsFilm Co-Chair, Alec Baldwin, and HamptonsFilm Chief Creative Officer, David Nugent.

Alex Gibney is an Oscar-, Emmy-, Grammy-, and Peabody-winning filmmaker known for incisive, gripping documentaries. His works include TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE, GOING CLEAR, ENRON, IN RESTLESS DREAMS, and forthcoming films on Elon Musk and Luigi Mangione.

FEEL GOOD FILMS: PEE WEE’S BIG ADVENTURE

Guild Hall’s Feel Good Films series continues, bringing the joyful absurdity of Pee-Wee’s Big Adventure to the big screen. When Pee-Wee Herman’s beloved bicycle is stolen, he embarks on a wildly imaginative cross-country quest to get it back. Packed with quirky humor and unforgettable moments, this quotable cult classic promises big laughs and pure moviegoing fun.

FEEL GOOD FILMS: RUSHMORE

Guild Hall’s new Feel Good Films series kicks off with Wes Anderson’s Rushmore, the offbeat coming-of-age comedy that launched a distinctive cinematic voice. Follow eccentric student Max Fischer as ambition, friendship, and first love collide in hilarious fashion. Join us for a witty, heartfelt screening celebrating youthful optimism and Anderson’s signature style.