In honor of Earth Day (April 22), Hamptons Doc Fest holds its annual Docs Equinox, a three-day documentary film festival, starting this weekend at Southampton Arts Center.
Often considered an unofficial welcome for the spring season, this year’s films include award-winning Sundance Film Festival movies, championed by the late actor and activist Robert Redford. For this year, films are centered around the theme of “Wildlife 360°: Celebrating All Creatures Great and Small,” honoring animals of the planet from horses to huskies to hummingbirds, and all the other animals in between.
“Sigmund Freud is famous for saying ‘Time spent with cats is never wasted.’ Aldo Leopold, the great environmentalist wrote ‘I’m glad I will not be young in a world without wilderness.’ Whatever your sentiments are about the creatures we live with, remember that we share our planet with them,” says Jacqui Lofaro, Hamptons Doc Fest executive director.
The festival kicks off this Friday, April 24, with “Folktales,” set in the Nordic landscape a couple of hundred miles north of the Arctic Circle where students learn the challenges of Arctic Life, particularly by caring for a pack of loyal Siberian huskies. While the film starts at 7 p.m., professor, ecologist and naturalist Carl Safina will present a keynote address beforehand. The film will be followed with a Q&A from co-director Heidi Ewing, via Zoom.
(Left) A Norwegian Pasvik Folk High School student and his beloved Siberian husky can be seen in the film “Folktales”; (Right) The red-eyed tree frog. (Photos courtesy of Hamptons Doc Fest)
Continuing into the weekend, on Saturday, April 25, it’s “Buck,” following the story of real-life horse whisperer Buck Brannaman. According to a press statement from Hamptons Doc Fest, the film who was the subject of Nick Evan’s novel and the Sundance Audience Award-winning film in 2011. It’s also widely considered to have greatly honored the spirit of Redford, who directed, produced and starred in “The Horse Whisperer,” back in the late 90’s. After the screening, which starts at 7 p.m., director Cindy Meehl will conduct a Q&A, via Zoom.
The festival ends on Sunday, April 26, with a presentation of “Every Little Thing” at 11 a.m., a film about hummingbird rehabilitator Terry Masear. Using slow-motion photography to capture the busy lives of the baby hummingbirds — tiny but mighty creatures — the film was a Sundance favorite of 2024. After the screening, director Sally Aitken will be in a Zoom Q&A.
An Earth Central Hub — an additional feature for this year’s festival — will feature informational tables and live animal visits during Friday and Saturday receptions, by the Evelyn Alexander Wildlife Rescue Center, the South Fork Natural History Museum, the Turtle Rescue of the Hamptons. Canio’s Books will also be on hand once again, offering books for sale that promote this year’s festival theme as well as some authored by Safina. Additionally, there’ll be raffles for the Hamptons Classic Horse Show in August as well as for the Hydrant Hotel for dog owners.
There’ll be wine receptions on Friday and Saturday at 5:30 p.m., with a Sunday coffee/scone reception at 10:30 a.m.
Tickets are $20 for each day, $15 for SAC members, $10 for students and children. Three-day passes are available for $50, $45 for SAC members. Southampton Arts Center is located at 25 Jobs Lane, 631-283-0967.
