Overview
The Hamptons International Film Festival (HIFF) is a competitive fall festival held annually in October on Long Island's East End. The 34th edition (HIFF 34) runs October 2 to 12, 2026. HIFF programs approximately 60 films over 10 days and has awarded close to $5 million in cash and in-kind prizes across its 34-year history. The 2026 edition offers $196,500 in cash, goods, and services.
HIFF's audience density is what separates it from other American festivals. The Hamptons has one of the highest concentrations of entertainment industry professionals outside Los Angeles, and the October timing places the festival squarely in awards season. Films featured at the 2025 festival received 43 Academy Award nominations. Over the last 17 editions, HIFF films have received 665 Oscar nominations total. Variety has called HIFF "Telluride East" and noted the festival "has grown a reputation for being able to read the Academy voting tea leaves and routinely promotes Oscar race front-runners."
HIFF is one of MovieMaker Magazine's 25 Coolest Film Festivals in the World and one of 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee. Two of its short film competition categories (Best Narrative Short and Best Documentary Short) are Academy Award-qualifying, meaning winners automatically qualify for Oscar consideration without a standard theatrical run, provided they meet all other Academy requirements.
Submission Details
Submissions are made through FilmFreeway. For the complete rules, eligibility requirements, and technical specifications, visit the HIFF FilmFreeway page.
HIFF 34 (2026) submission deadlines:
- Submissions open: February 26, 2026
- Earlybird deadline: March 16, 2026
- Regular deadline: April 2, 2026
- Late deadline: April 23, 2026
- Extended deadline: May 14, 2026
HIFF 33 (2025) submission deadlines (for reference):
- Earlybird deadline: March 17, 2025
- Regular deadline: April 3, 2025
- Late deadline: April 24, 2025
- Extended deadline: May 15, 2025
Submission questions: email programming@hamptonsfilmfest.org
Key Sections
- Narrative Feature Competition - emerging directors competing for Best Narrative Feature
- Documentary Feature Competition - new voices in documentary competing for Best Documentary Feature
- Narrative Short Competition - Academy Award-qualifying category
- Documentary Short Competition - Academy Award-qualifying category
- Films of Conflict & Resolution - films focusing on human conflict and injustice, with a $5,000 award from the Brizzolara Family Foundation
- Compassion, Justice & Animal Rights - films raising awareness about social concern and animal rights
- Air, Land & Sea - environmental and nature programming
- Views From Long Island - films with Long Island connections, with a $3,000 Suffolk County Next Exposure Grant
- Conversations With - in-depth filmmaker talks
- Special Events - tributes and special screenings
- Year-Round Programming - additional events held throughout the year in New York City and the Hamptons, including Summer Movies screenings
What Filmmakers Should Know
HIFF accepts open submissions through FilmFreeway for its competition categories. The festival's competitions focus specifically on early-career filmmakers, with the goal of supporting emerging directors at a critical juncture and generating discussion around their work within the film community.
The competition awards carry significant material value. The Best Narrative Feature winner receives a $2,500 cash prize plus a film production package of in-kind goods and services valued at $92,500, for a total award value of $95,000. The Best Documentary Feature winner receives $2,500 cash plus $50,000 in in-kind goods and services. The 2025 Narrative Feature award went to The President's Cake by Hasan Hadi. The 2025 Documentary Feature award went to To the West, in Zapata by David Bim.
The short film categories are Academy Award-qualifying. Best Narrative Short receives a $1,000 cash prize and qualifies for consideration at the Academy Awards for Best Live Action Short Film. Best Documentary Short receives $1,000 and qualifies for Best Documentary Short Film. The 2025 Narrative Short winner was Sammi, Who Can Detach His Body Parts by Rein Maychaelson.
HIFF also offers several themed awards with significant cash prizes. The Raise the Vibration Award for Social Impact provides $10,000, sponsored by the Artemis Rising Foundation. The Peter Macgregor Scott Memorial Award provides $10,000 for narrative short filmmakers who demonstrate creative approaches to solving practical production challenges. The Sherzum Award provides $10,000 for films about LGBTQ+ people and communities. The Brizzolara Family Foundation Award for Films of Conflict & Resolution provides $5,000. The Suffolk County Film Commission Next Exposure Grant provides $3,000 for films in the Views From Long Island section that have completed 50% of principal photography within Suffolk County. The Zelda Penzel "Giving Voice to the Voiceless" Award provides $2,500 for films in the Compassion, Justice and Animal Rights section. The Victor Rabinowitz & Joanne Grant Award for Social Justice provides $2,000 for films embodying values of peace, equality, global justice, and civil liberties.
For awards contenders, a HIFF selection generates coverage in Variety, The Hollywood Reporter, and other trades that reach Academy voters directly. HIFF runs alongside Chicago and the tail end of NYFF in the October festival circuit, making it a component of the fall awards strategy.
Past Winners
2025 (HIFF 33) Competition Winners:
- Best Narrative Feature: The President's Cake, dir. Hasan Hadi. The film won the Camera d'Or at Cannes earlier in 2025 and was acquired by Sony Pictures Classics. It was selected as Iraq's official submission for Best International Feature Film at the 98th Academy Awards. HIFF awarded Hadi a $2,500 cash prize plus a $92,500 in-kind production package.
- Best Documentary Feature: To the West, in Zapata, dir. David Bim. A Cuban documentary receiving its $52,500 award package at HIFF.
- Best Narrative Short: Sammi, Who Can Detach His Body Parts, dir. Rein Maychaelson. Academy Award-qualifying win, $1,000 cash prize.
- Best Documentary Short: Correct Me If I'm Wrong, dir. Hao Zhou. Academy Award-qualifying win, $1,000 cash prize.
- Audience Award, Narrative Feature: Sentimental Value, dir. Joachim Trier. Distributed by Neon, the film received 9 Academy Award nominations including Best Picture and Best International Feature Film.
2021 (HIFF 29) Competition Winners:
- Best Narrative Feature: Murina, dir. Antoneta Alamat Kusijanovic. Also won the Camera d'Or at Cannes. Distributed by Kino Lorber, executive produced by Martin Scorsese.
- Best Documentary Feature: Ascension, dir. Jessica Kingdon. Won Best Documentary at Tribeca. Distributed by MTV Documentary Films and Paramount+. Oscar shortlisted for Best Documentary Feature.
Notable Alumni Films and Where They Ended Up
HIFF's October placement in awards season means many films screen here as part of their Oscar campaign trajectory. Several HIFF competition winners and selections have gone on to significant downstream success:
- Slumdog Millionaire (2008 HIFF selection) - Danny Boyle's film went on to win 8 Academy Awards including Best Picture. Distributed by Fox Searchlight, it grossed $377 million worldwide.
- I, Tonya (2017 HIFF U.S. Premiere) - Distributed by Neon. Allison Janney won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress. The film grossed $53 million worldwide on a $11 million budget.
- The President's Cake (2025 HIFF Best Narrative Feature) - Won the Camera d'Or at Cannes, acquired by Sony Pictures Classics, submitted as Iraq's Oscar entry for Best International Feature.
- Sentimental Value (2025 HIFF Audience Award) - Joachim Trier's film, distributed by Neon, earned 9 Academy Award nominations including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best International Feature Film.
- Murina (2021 HIFF Best Narrative Feature) - Camera d'Or at Cannes, distributed by Kino Lorber for U.S. theatrical release, executive produced by Martin Scorsese.
- Ascension (2021 HIFF Best Documentary Feature) - Tribeca Best Documentary winner, distributed by MTV Documentary Films, Oscar shortlisted.
- Thoroughbreds (connected via HIFF Screenwriters Lab alum Cory Finley) - Released by Focus Features, nominated for Independent Spirit and Gotham Awards.
The HIFF Screenwriters Lab has served as an incubator for filmmakers who later achieved distribution. Cathy Yan developed Dead Pigs at the 2016 Lab and went on to direct Birds of Prey for Warner Bros. Cory Finley developed Thoroughbreds through the Lab and later directed HBO's Bad Education, which won an Emmy.
Submission Tips Specific to This Festival
HIFF's competition categories are restricted to early-career filmmakers. The Narrative Feature Competition and Documentary Feature Competition specifically target emerging directors, so established filmmakers should look at the non-competition sections instead. If you are a first or second-time director with a completed feature, the competition is your primary entry point.
The festival programs only about 60 films total, and MovieMaker Magazine noted that only 13 competition films were selected from roughly 1,400 submissions in a recent year. The acceptance ratio is tight. Your film should be festival-circuit ready and ideally have some premiere status (U.S. premiere or East Coast premiere at minimum) to stand out.
HIFF's themed sections have specific curatorial focuses. The Films of Conflict and Resolution section wants films from or about political hotspots and social justice conflicts. The Air, Land and Sea section programs environmental and nature content. The Compassion, Justice and Animal Rights section targets animal rights and social concern films. If your film fits one of these themes, submitting to the relevant section can improve your odds compared to the general competition pool.
For awards contenders, HIFF is best used as an Oscar campaign stop rather than a premiere destination. The festival's audience includes Academy voters from the New York area, and trade coverage from Variety and The Hollywood Reporter reaches Oscar voters directly.
Industry Reputation Notes
Variety has called HIFF "Telluride East," and the festival has earned this nickname through its consistent ability to screen films that go on to receive Academy Award nominations. Over the last 17 editions, HIFF films have received 665 Oscar nominations total, and the 2025 edition alone saw 43 nominations for films that screened at the festival.
HIFF is not primarily an acquisitions festival. Unlike Sundance or Toronto, where distribution deals are a central activity, HIFF functions more as an awards-season showcase and an audience festival. The program is small (approximately 60 films) and selective, with industry attendees from Netflix, A24, NEON, Sony Pictures Classics, and ESPN coming to screen Oscar contenders rather than hunt for pickups. MovieMaker Magazine described it as "more of an audience festival than a moviemaker's festival."
Among fall regional festivals, HIFF sits alongside Middleburg and Mill Valley as a curated awards-season stop. Compared to Middleburg (which runs the same October weekend and has a similarly small, selective program), HIFF has a longer history and more established industry relationships. Compared to Chicago International Film Festival (which runs concurrently), HIFF has a stronger awards-season positioning and a more intimate setting that draws New York-based industry professionals for weekend trips.
The festival's industry value for emerging filmmakers comes from the in-kind production packages attached to the competition awards. The $92,500 production package for Best Narrative Feature, provided by TCS, Neon Diesel Finishing, Hamptons Locations, and On Location Education, has real material value for a filmmaker planning their next project.
Awards / Accreditation
Competition awards:
- Best Narrative Feature - $2,500 cash + $92,500 in-kind production package ($95,000 total value)
- Best Documentary Feature - $2,500 cash + $50,000 in-kind production package ($52,500 total value)
- Best Narrative Short - $1,000 cash, Academy Award-qualifying
- Best Documentary Short - $1,000 cash, Academy Award-qualifying
Audience awards (voted by festival attendees):
- Audience Award for Best Narrative Feature
- Audience Award for Best Documentary Feature
- Audience Award for Best Short Film
Festival awards:
- Raise the Vibration Award for Social Impact: $10,000
- Peter Macgregor Scott Memorial Award: $10,000
- Sherzum Award (LGBTQ+ stories): $10,000
- Brizzolara Family Foundation Award for Films of Conflict & Resolution: $5,000
- Suffolk County Film Commission Next Exposure Grant: $3,000
- Zelda Penzel "Giving Voice to the Voiceless" Award: $2,500
- Victor Rabinowitz & Joanne Grant Award for Social Justice: $2,000
Academy Award qualifying status: Two of HIFF's short film categories, Best Narrative Short and Best Documentary Short, are Academy Award-qualifying. Winners automatically qualify for Oscar consideration without a standard theatrical run, provided they meet all other Academy requirements.
Festival History
HIFF was founded in 1993 by Denise Kasell. The festival has grown from a regional Long Island event into a strategically positioned fall festival with national industry significance. The festival's 34-year history reflects the sustained appetite among the Hamptons community for serious cinema and the consistent ability of HIFF to attract major films during awards season.
The festival has awarded close to $5 million in cash and in-kind prizes to emerging filmmakers over its history. The competition structure focuses on early-career directors rather than established names, differentiating HIFF from festivals that program primarily for premiere status. The four signature programs (Films of Conflict & Resolution; Compassion, Justice & Animal Rights; Air, Land & Sea; and Views From Long Island) give the festival a thematic identity beyond general programming.
HIFF also operates year-round programming in New York City and the Hamptons, including Summer Movies screenings and other events that extend the festival's footprint beyond the October dates.
Watch
See Also
To calculate the return on your festival submission spending, use the Festival ROI Calculator. For awards season strategy and festival circuit planning, see Film Festival Strategy. For understanding distribution timing and deal structures, see Distribution Deals Explained. For full submission rules and technical specifications, visit the HIFF FilmFreeway page.
