HamptonsFilm Announces Lineup for 2026 SummerDocs Series

HamptonsFilm announced today that its annual SummerDocs series will return for its 18th edition in partnership with Guild Hall. This summer’s lineup will feature a selection of the year’s most anticipated documentary features from some of the industry’s leading storytellers.

The series will open with Alex Gibney’s KNIFE: THE ATTEMPTED MURDER OF SALMAN RUSHDIE on Saturday, June 27, HBO Original documentary THE LION QUEEN, directed by Alden Nusser and Ben Fries on Saturday, August 1, and will close with Apple Original Films’ THE LAST FIRST: WINTER K2, directed by Amir Bar-Lev, on Saturday, August 29.  All screenings will begin at 7:00 PM at Guild Hall, located at 158 Main Street in East Hampton.  HamptonsFilm Chief Creative Officer David Nugent and Co-Chair Alec Baldwin will lead post-screening conversations with attending filmmakers.

“In its 18th year, our SummerDocs series continues to spotlight compelling films that challenge, inspire, and engage audiences, and our 2026 lineup is no exception,” said HamptonsFilm Chief Creative Officer David Nugent. “These films have already generated tremendous audience response, and we’re thrilled to bring them to East End audiences this summer.”

The SummerDocs series includes a wide array of both inspirational and thought-provoking documentaries from award-winning filmmakers.

• Inspired by acclaimed author Salman Rushdie’s memoir Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder, Oscar, Emmy, Grammy, and Peabody-winning filmmaker Alex Gibney’s KNIFE: THE ATTEMPTED MURDER OF SALMAN RUSHDIE follows not just the physical rehabilitation, but also the restoration of Rushdie’s spirit and optimism in the years following his 2022 attack. Gibney is known for incisive, gripping documentaries. His works include TAXI TO THE DARK SIDE, GOING CLEAR, ENRON, IN RESTLESS DREAMS, and forthcoming films on Elon Musk and Luigi Mangione.  Gibney will be present for a post-screening conversation.
• THE LION QUEEN, The divorce of the century turned Jocelyne Wildenstein – often referred to in the media as ‘The Catwoman’ – into a 90s tabloid obsession, bringing the private Wildenstein art empire into the spotlight. THE LION QUEEN explores the life of a woman shaped by extraordinary wealth and scrutiny, offering a revealing look at the personal cost of fame and fortune. Producer Caroline Baron will join for a post-screening conversation.
• THE LAST FIRST: WINTER K2, directed by Amir Bar-Lev, follows a team of mountaineers who, in 2021, attempt to make the first successful winter ascent of K2, the second-highest mountain on Earth. Bar-Lev’s directorial credits include FIGHTER, MY KID COULD PAINT THAT, the Emmy-winning THE TILLMAN STORY, HAPPY VALLEY, and LONG STRANGE TRIP.  Bar-Lev also co-produced TROUBLE THE WATER, which was nominated for Best Documentary Feature at the 2008 Academy Awards.  Bar-Lev will be present for a post-screening conversation.

Many past SummerDocs Series selections have continued down the awards path and have gone on to be shortlisted, receive a nomination, and even win an Academy Award® for Best Documentary Feature Film, including MY MOM JAYNE (2025), SUPER/MAN: THE CHRISTOPHER REEVE STORY (2024), THE ETERNAL MEMORY (2024), NAVALNY (2023), FIRE OF LOVE (2023), SUMMER OF SOUL (2021), ICARUS (2017), TWENTY FEET FROM STARDOM (2013), SEARCHING FOR SUGAR MAN (2012), and THE COVE (2009). The series has also featured films from filmmakers including Maite Alberdi, Fisher Stevens, Rory Kennedy, Rachel Grady and Heidi Ewing, Davis Guggenheim, Andrew Rossi, Daniel Roher, Chiemi Karasawa, Morgan Neville, Marina Zenovich, Louie Psihoyos, Steve James, Ian Bonhôte, and Peter Ettedgui.

HamptonsFilm also announced the return of their FREE Outdoor Screening Series, featuring a lineup of classic crowd pleasers presented on Wednesday evenings throughout the summer. Films screenings this season include MAMMA MIA! (July 8) at Main Beach, THE BIGGEST LITTLE FARM (July 15) at Amber Waves, HOME ALONE (July 22) at Herrick Park, WALL-E (August 5) at LongHouse Reserve, COCO(August 12) at Herrick Park, in partnership with Ola, and JAWS (August 19) at Main Beach, and more. Rain dates will be the Thursday of each week. Find more information and RSVP on the HamptonsFilm website. Additional titles to be announced.

Additional HamptonsFilm summer programming includes Film Camps for students ages 8-18, taking place July 6-12 in East Hampton and July 13-17 in Southampton. Registration can be found here.

The SummerDocs series is sponsored by Luminara Alcohol-Removed Wines and E2AC.

 The Free Outdoor Screening Series is sponsored by Serhant, with support from NYSCA (New York State Council on the Arts).

Tickets for the 2026 SummerDocs Series individual screenings are now available for purchase on Guild Hall’s website. HamptonsFilm members receive a ticket discount. Learn more.

As previously announced, the 34th annual Hamptons International Film Festival will take place from October 2 – 12, 2026, as an 11-day event. Please visit www.hamptonsfilmfest.org for further information on the SummerDocs series, the Hamptons International Film Festival, and all year-round programming.

2026 SummerDocs Series Lineup

Sponsored by Luminara Alcohol-Removed Wines and E2AC

KNIFE: THE ATTEMPTED MURDER OF SALMAN RUSHDIE

Directed by Alex Gibney

Saturday, June 27th, at 7:00PM at Guild Hall in East Hampton

More than 30 years after Iran issued a fatwa, a religious decree calling for author Salman Rushdie’s death over The Satanic Verses, Rushdie traveled to Chautauqua to speak about the United States as a sanctuary for exiled writers and artists. The event marked the 20th anniversary of a writer-refuge program—a setting meant to celebrate safety and creative freedom. It was there, in an unrelated incident, that a young man rushed the stage, intent on killing him with a knife. Using excerpts from Rushdie’s works, including his powerful memoir Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder, Alex Gibney’s documentary is both a striking testament to freedom of expression and a defiant response to the attempt on Rushdie’s life.

The film incorporates never-before-seen footage shot by Rushdie’s wife, Rachel Eliza Griffiths, in the days and weeks following the attack. This material offers a graphic, unflinching, and deeply intimate account of what happened. It also traces Rushdie’s physical and spiritual recovery, including the challenges he continues to face, from losing an eye to the reduced use of one hand.

KNIFE blends reportage with fictionalized dialogues to explore the mindset of the attacker, probing the “why” behind the violence. At its core, the film is a portrait of resilience—of Rushdie’s own extraordinary strength and the love that carried him through—and a call to action against censorship and hatred. It argues that art itself can be a form of resistance.

In KNIFE: THE ATTEMPTED MURDER OF SALMAN RUSHDIE, Gibney, working with longtime collaborators Andy Grieve (editor) and Will Bates (composer), crafts a poetic dreamscape that reflects how Rushdie views his writing as his own “knife,” a tool to fight back, reclaim his story, and respond to violence with imagination and art.

THE LION QUEEN

Directed by Alden Nusser and Ben Fries

Saturday, August 1st, at 7:00PM at Guild Hall in East Hampton

The divorce of the century turned Jocelyne Wildenstein – often referred to in the media as ‘The Catwoman’ – into a 90s tabloid obsession, bringing the private Wildenstein art empire into the spotlight. THE LION QUEEN explores the life of a woman shaped by extraordinary wealth and scrutiny, offering a revealing look at the personal cost of fame and fortune. Producer Caroline Baron will join for a post-screening conversation.

THE LAST FIRST: WINTER K2

Directed by Amir Bar-Lev

Saturday, August 29th, at 7:00PM at Guild Hall in East Hampton

In THE LAST FIRST: WINTER K2, Amir Bar-Lev tells a complex, harrowing, and moving story that unpacks the industry of extreme mountain climbing and its changing culture.

Focusing on a 2021 expedition, mountaineers John Snorri Sigurjónsson, an Icelander, and Pakistani father-son team Ali and Sajid Sadpara set out to be the first to summit K2 in the winter, when the mountain’s conditions are the cruelest. The men soon find themselves sharing the treacherous ascent with influencer climbers and their film crews, commercial expedition clients, and Nims, a Nepalese celebrity mountaineer, and his team of Sherpas.

THE LAST FIRST: WINTER K2 takes us to the icy heights and unpredictable weather of K2 and reveals a surprising and layered story—one of strategy and determination, class and caste, money and power—all under life and death circumstances.

2026 FREE Outdoor Screening Series Lineup

Sponsored by Serhant, with support from NYSCA (New York State Council on the Arts)

MAMMA MIA!

Wednesday, July 8, at sunset at Main Beach in East Hampton Village

THE BIGGEST LITTLE FARM

Wednesday, July 15, at sunset at Amber Waves in Amagansett

HOME ALONE

Wednesday, July 22, at sunset at Herrick Park in East Hampton Village

WALL•E

Wednesday, August 5, at sunset at LongHouse Reserve in East Hampton Village

COCO

Wednesday, August 12, at sunset at Herrick Park in East Hampton Village

JAWS

Wednesday, August 19, at sunset at Main Beach in East Hampton Village