Alec Baldwin, Co-Chair of the Hamptons International Film Festival was passionate enough about his future North South Seaside Screening series to leave his home in East Hampton for one night and present his idea. Knowing that there are no movie theaters in Palm and West Palm, the cinephiles with homes in the Hamptons and Palm Beach could enjoy curated screenings with the talent, lively discussions and terrific dinner parties to follow in the future.
Last night was a tasting of what HamptonsFilm can offer. Baldwin, a Beatles aficionado brought Menemsha Films’s Midas Man to the Norton Museum of Art. The film chronicles the life of Brian Epstein (portrayed by Jacob Fortune-Lloyd), who transformed history by discovering The Beatles in Liverpool in 1961, thus shaping the sound of a generation. The film ends in 1967 with Epstein’s tragic death.
Peggy Siegal also spoke about discovering the movie at the opening night of a film festival in New York City. Observing the Oscar campaign for A Complete Unknown, with Academy Award-nominee Timothée Chalamet portraying Bob Dylan, she realized Midas Man is a “companion film” exploring a similar musical phenomenon.
Sitting in the audience was photographer Harry Benson who actually was in the George V Hotel in Paris photographing the Beatles now-iconic pillow fight. The moment is memorialized in the film.
After the screening, Baldwin hosted a dinner party at Pizza Al Fresco in the garden. He was joined by Mila Mulroney, Ghislain d’Humieres, Nacho Figueras, Bobbi Brown, Emma Jane Holzer, Ashley and Rusty Holzer, Gabby and Gianpaolo de Felice, Lisa and Richard Perry, Ambassador Earle Mack, Olga and George Votis, Jill and Avie Glazer, Katherine Bryan, Kara Ross, Dixon Boardman, Pamela Gross, Somers and Jonathan Farkas and Wilbur and Hilary Ross, among others.
Midas Man will open in Lake Worth and Delray Beach in two weeks, and nationally this spring. Scroll through the slideshow below to see photos from the dinner.
