On Saturday, December 5th, Hamptons Take 2 Documentary Film Festival (HT2FF) will pay tribute to documentarian Stanley Nelson during its Gala at Bay Street Theater, where HT2FF will award the famed filmmaker with the Career Achievement Award.
“It is a great privilege to present our 2015 Career Achievement Award to Stanley Nelson,” shared HT2FF founder and executive director Jacqui Lofaro. “His award-winning documentary films on social justice issues were early windows into race relations.”
Throughout his 25-year film career, Nelson has chronicled African-American life in America, depicting “people-based movements,” as well as social injustice. Some of his notable films include “The Black Press: Soldiers Without Swords,” “The Murder of Emmett Till,” “Freedom Riders,” “Freedom Summer,” and his newest film, “The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution.”
“His latest film continues the provocative dialogue,” noted Lofaro. “We honor his commitment to honesty, truth and artistic rigor.” Nelson’s impressive resume, which features 35 films, has earned him five Primetime Emmys, two George Foster Peabody Awards, two awards from the Sundance Film Festival, a MacArthur Genius Fellowship, membership in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, and the National Endowment for the Humanities (NEH) National Medal, presented by President Barack Obama in 2014. He also serves as the co-founder and executive director of Firelight Films and co-founder of Firelight Media, and is currently in production on “Tell Them We Are Rising: The Story of Historically Black Colleges and Universities,” which is the second of three films he is directing for a PBS’ “America Revisited.”
The Gala will begin with a cocktail reception at 7 p.m., followed by opening remarks and the award presentation by HT2FF Advisory Board member Julie Anderson, the Executive Producer of Documentaries & Development at PBS/WNET, at 8 p.m. The evening will conclude with a viewing of Nelson’s “The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution” at 8:15 p.m.
Tickets to the Gala are $45.
Bay Street Theater is located at 1 Bay Street in Sag Harbor. For more information, visit www.ht2ff.com.