On the heels of their Toronto International Film Festival screenings, Jeff Nichols’ Loving and Ewan McGregor’s American Pastoral are set to make their New York premieres at the Hamptons International Film Festival, it was announced Tuesday.
Loving, starring Joel Edgerton and Ruth Negga as the interracial couple whose love story led to the landmark Supreme Court case Loving v. Virginia, will serve as the fest’s opening-night film on Oct. 6, with Nichols set to attend. Nick Kroll, Michael Shannon and Marton Csokas also appear in Loving. The film — which earned rave reviews following its screenings at Cannes and Toronto — is set to be released on Nov. 4 in select theaters and expand across the country in November.
American Pastoral, adapted from Philip Roth’s 1997 novel of the same name, stars McGregor, Dakota Fanning, Jennifer Connelly, David Strathairn, Rupert Evans and Valorie Curry. Set against the unrest of the 1960s, the drama follows a father as he watches his seemingly perfect life fall apart as his daughter’s political activism threatens to destroy the family. American Pastoral will serve as the festival’s closing-night film on Oct. 10, with Fanning set to attend. Lionsgate will release the pic in select theaters on Oct. 21.
“We are thrilled to have such powerful and thought-provoking films as Loving and American Pastoral as our opening and closing nights at the festival this year,” HIFF artistic director David Nugent said in a statement. “Jeff Nichols and Ewan McGregor are two tremendously talented filmmakers with impressive careers and we look forward to screening their projects.”
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Added HIFF executive director Anne Chaisson: “Every year the festival aims to bring topical, timely and entertaining programming to our audiences, and both of our opening and closing night films fit this bill. Loving and American Pastoral will showcase the filmmaking talent and programming that we strive to bring to the festival attendees each fall.”
The 24th edition of the Hamptons International Film Festival is set to run Oct. 6-10. For the past six years, HIFF has been the only East Coast film festival to have screened the eventual best picture winner at the Oscars.
