Emmy Award-winning actress Mariska Hargitay will be honored with the 2022 Dick Cavett Artistic Champion Award at the 30th Anniversary Hamptons International Film Festival in October.

Created in 2017 by HamptonsFilm Chairman Emeritus Alec Baldwin, this award honors those in the creative arts who not only excel in their field, but who also support the arts and artists in other fields, such as education, related media, and other arts disciplines.

In 2017, Hargitay executive-produced I AM EVIDENCE, an Emmy-winning documentary feature on the rape kit backlog, which received the Victor Rabinowitz & Joanne Grant Award for Social Justice at HIFF25. The film tells the stories of survivors whose rape kits remained untested for years, as well as the law enforcement officials leading the charge to pursue long-awaited justice in these cases. Joyful Heart was the social action campaign partner for the film.

Hargitay also co-produced EMANUEL, about the murder of nine churchgoers at Emanuel AME Church in 2015, and executive produced MY BEAUTIFUL STUTTER, about the attendees at Camp SAY, a summer camp for youth who stutter.

“We are so thrilled to be able to honor Mariska Hargitay at this year’s anniversary,” said HamptonsFilm Executive Director Anne Chaisson. “A role model for many across the globe for her acting career and her championing of causes around domestic violence, Mariska embodies everything the Dick Cavett Artistic Champion Award was created to represent. She is also a huge supporter of local Hamptons causes and we are lucky to have her as part of our community.”

Previous recipients of the Dick Cavett Artistic Champion Award include Cavett, Alan Alda, and Toni Ross,
all incredible humanitarians and arts advocates.

As part of this year’s programming the Hamptons International Film Festival will host the the world
premiere screenings of five films, including the locally shot WHO INVITED CHARLIE?, directed by Xavier
Manrique, screening as both a Spotlight selection, and as part of the Signature Program Views from Long Island section. The feature, which was shot out East, stars Jordana Brewster, Adam Pally, and Reid Scott, and follows a family hiding out in the Hamptons as their bubble is popped when a Bloody Mary-swilling, pot-smoking ‘Charlie’ from their past shows up seeking refuge.

Additional world premieres at this year’s festival include discovery+’s JANUARY 6TH, directed by Jules and Gédéon Naudet and screening as part of the World Cinema Documentary section, which examines January 6th from the unique perspective of the heroes, first responders, and survivors of the attack as they reveal their first-hand experience of the stand; World Cinema Narrative selection PINBALL – THE MAN WHO SAVED THE GAME, directed by Austin and Meredith Bragg and starring Mike Faist, Crystal Reed, and Dennis Boutsikaris, which follows an unsettled writer and his journey to save the game of pinball while also facing life’s challenges; discovery+’s A RADICAL LIFE, directed by Ricki Stern and screening as part of the Films of Conflict & Resolution section, which takes an unfiltered look at the former First Lady of ISIS, Tania Joya, who for 12 years was married to John Georgelas, the highest ranking American in ISIS; as well as World Cinema Documentary selection THE VOLCANO: RESCUE FROM WHAKAARI, directed by Rory Kennedy and distributed by Netflix, which shares a minute-by-minute account of unsuspecting tourists caught in a tragic volcanic eruption while sightseeing on an island off New Zealand in 2019, and celebrates the survivors, as well as the everyday people who courageously came to their rescue.

The festival also announced the first group of narrative and documentary films that will screen as part of
the World Cinema sections.

In the World Cinema Narrative section, HIFF will screen MUBI’s DECISION TO LEAVE, directed by HIFF alum Park Chan-wook, about a detective investigating a man’s mysterious death in the mountains who finds himself emotionally entwined with the man’s suspicious widow; as well as the previously mentioned PINBALL – THE MAN WHO SAVED THE GAME.

The World Cinema Documentary section will feature DESPERATE SOULS, DARK CITY AND THE LEGEND OF MIDNIGHT COWBOY, directed by Nancy Buirski, which tells the unlikely story of MIDNIGHT COWBOY, a film that captured the zeitgeist of the country and connected with American audiences despite a host of obstacles, due to the unwavering vision of its director; Prime Video’s GOOD NIGHT OPPY, directed by Ryan White, which revisits Opportunity, the Mars rover sent to Mars on a 90-day mission, that subsequently captivated the world by surviving 15 years and sending back invaluable images and information about the red planet; as well as the previously mentioned JANUARY 6TH and THE VOLCANO: RESCUE FROM WHAKAARI.

Additional programming includes the Spotlight feature CALL JANE, directed by Phyllis Nagy and
distributed by Roadside Attractions. This film follows the story of a brave group of women who ran an
underground abortion clinic before the passage of Roe vs. Wade, when women’s reproductive rights were severely restricted. In this year’s Signature Programs, the festival will host Cannes Jury Prize winner EO, in the Compassion, Justice & Animal Rights section, which is directed by Jerzy Skolimowski and follows a donkey exploring a vision of modern Europe, experiencing joy and pain as he encounters good and bad people along his journey; as well as the previously mentioned A RADICAL LIFE in the Films of Conflict & Resolution section.

The 30th Annual Hamptons Film Festival will run as an extended 10-day event from October 7-16, 2022.