Hamptons Doc Fest is back for nine days of documentary film on the South Fork, running Thursday, December 3, through Friday, December 11, at Bay Street Theater and the Sag Harbor Cinema in Sag Harbor, with a closing night at the Southampton Playhouse. Tickets for the general public go on sale on Thursday, November 12, and they are sold online only.

The festival programs dozens of films, discussions, awards and receptions across those three rooms, all within walking distance of the shops and restaurants of Sag Harbor's Main Street. Here is what is on the schedule and how tickets work.

Opening night: Darlene Love and a film about the wild

The festival opens on Thursday, December 3, at Bay Street Theater. At 5 p.m., director Penny Lane's Wild Inside screens with the Nancy Nagle Kelley Environmental Award, named for a former Nature Conservancy director. At 7:30 p.m. the opening night film is Darlene Love: I Know Where I've Been, directed by Barry Avrich, who receives the festival's Art and Inspiration Award. The opening night ticket includes a reception.

The award evenings

  • Friday, December 4, 7:30 p.m., Sag Harbor Cinema: the Impact Award goes to HBO Documentary Films, presented with a screening of When A Witness Recants, directed by Dawn Porter.
  • Saturday, December 5, 6:30 p.m., Bay Street Theater: the Pennebaker Award for career achievement goes to filmmaker and producer Abigail E. Disney, whose directorial debut, The Armor of Light, won an Emmy. The evening opens with a cocktail and buffet reception and is followed by her film The American Dream and Other Fairy Tales.
  • Sunday, December 6, 2 p.m., Sag Harbor Cinema: the Veritas Award goes to Ava DuVernay, with a screening of her film 14th, co-presented with New York Women in Film and Television.
  • Sunday, December 6, 4:30 p.m., Sag Harbor Cinema: the Human Rights Award goes to Barbara Kopple for Union Town, co-presented with the cinema.

Films with an East End angle

Several titles are close to home. Plum Island: A Reckoning with Public Land screens on Tuesday, December 8, at 1:30 p.m. at Bay Street, and Boatbuilders plays on Friday, December 11, at 4 p.m. Other dates include Carl Sagan: We Are Made of Star Stuff on Wednesday, December 9, at 7 p.m., and Nuisance Bear on Friday, December 4, at noon at the Sag Harbor Cinema. Two weekend mornings, December 5 and 6 at 9:30 a.m., are given to short films served with breakfast at Bay Street.

The festival closes on Friday, December 11, at 7 p.m. at the Southampton Playhouse with Maverick: The Epic Adventures of David Lean.

Tickets and prices

  • General admission: $20
  • Shorts and Breakfast Bites: $25, breakfast included
  • Opening night film: $35, reception included
  • Impact Award film: $35, reception included
  • Pennebaker evening: $70, cocktail and buffet reception included
  • Festival pass: $400, covering general films, award films, receptions, opening night and the Pennebaker evening

Pass holders and the festival's Academy Circle members got first pick on November 5. Everyone else can buy starting Thursday, November 12, at hamptonsdocfest.eventive.org. The festival does not sell tickets at the theater box offices, though a limited number may be available at the festival check-in desk, credit card only. Pass holders still have to reserve a seat for each film. Sales are final.

Before you go

Seating is open, with no reserved seats. The festival asks ticket holders to arrive 15 minutes before a screening to check in, and 30 minutes early to wait in line for a sold-out film. Bay Street Theater and the Sag Harbor Cinema are a short walk apart in Sag Harbor village. Questions go to the festival at 631-237-8055.

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