‘Just Mercy’ To Open Hamptons Film Festival; ‘Ford V Ferrari’ Set As Centerpiece

Dade Hayes

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The Hamptons Film Festival will open with Just Mercy, a legal drama that Warner Bros. plans to release commercially this Christmas, and will also screen Disney’s Ford v Ferrari as its Centerpiece selection.

The 27th annual edition of the fest will be held over Columbus Day weekend, October 10-14.

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Along with the two tentpole titles, the festival will feature Sundance prize-winner Clemency, along with a conversation with star Alfre Woodard, who plays a prison warden troubled by presiding over inmates’ executions. Marking her well-received performance in director Chinonye Chukwu’s film, the festival will feature Woodard in a conversation reflecting on her career, which has yielded Emmy and Golden Globe wins plus an Oscar nomination.

Four world premieres of documentaries were also announced by fest organizers. They are: Conscience Point, about the Shinnecock Nation’s fight for ancestral rights in Southampton; National Enquirer portrait Scandalous; mass-shooting exploration In Memoriam; and water-crisis examination Flint.

Just Mercy, directed by Destin Daniel Cretton, follows a young lawyer played by Michael B. Jordan battling a legal system stacked against him and his clients. Jamie Foxx, Rob Morgan, Tim Blake Nelson, Rafe Spall, O’Shea Jackson Jr., Karan Kendrick and Brie Larson also star.

Ford v Ferrari, directed by James Mangold, is one of the Fox film releases inherited by Disney after the companies’ merger closed in March. Screening as the festival’s Saturday Centerpiece title, the film tells the true story of American car designer Carroll Shelby, played by Matt Damon, and British driver Ken Miles, played by Christian Bale. The pair built a revolutionary race car for Ford, taking on the dominating race cars of Enzo Ferrari at the 24 Hours of Le Mans in France in 1966.

“We are honored to have Alfre Woodard at this year’s festival and look forward to a captivating and engaging conversation, with her as well as our Lifetime Achievement Award recipient Brian De Palma,” said Anne Chaisson, Executive Director of the Hamptons International Film Festival.

“Each of these films tell a unique, thrilling story and we are excited to share them with our passionate audiences out east, with a truly remarkable lineup of some of the year’s most anticipated films, events and world premiere screenings,” said David Nugent, Artistic Director of the Hamptons International Film Festival.

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