The Hamptons International Film Festival was packed with movies, parties, and schmoozing from East Hampton to Sag Harbor and Southampton. Chairman Stuart Match Suna and Silvercup Studios teamed up with a group of sponsors, including The New York Observer, Shine Global, American Airlines, Regal Entertainment Group, and Altour, to bring filmmakers of the future to the festival.

The focus was on films with an independent spirit (114 were showcased), opening with The Situation (starring Connie Nielsen and Damian Lewis) and closing with The Astronaut Farmer (starring Billy Bob Thornton and Virginia Madsen). The excitement was nonstop from there—including spotlight films (such as Canvas, Gray Matters, Who the $#%& Is Jackson Pollock, and I Am the Other Woman) and the after parties that followed, the signature series Films of Conflict and Resolution, an industry toast to Ted Hope, a “Conversation With Robert Altman” (who recently passed away), Ellen Burstyn receiving the Golden Starfish Award for Career Achievement in Acting, and a crop of fresh new talent (such as up-and-coming directors Arden Wohl and Austin Stark). The centerpiece of this year’s fab festival was Michael Lynne’s dinner party at Nick and Toni’s for New Line Cinema and Picturehouse.

In the throng: Alec Baldwin, Marcia Gay Harden, Heather Graham, Bridget Moynahan, Darren Aronofsky, Carmen Chaplin, Philip Haas, Tom Cavanaugh, Mido Hamada, Damon Dash, Don Hewitt, Ted Hope, Famke Janssen, Ron Livingston, Rachel Roy, Mercedes Ruehl, Rosie Perez, Roy Scheider, James Schamus, Molly Shannon, John Waters, and Bruce Weber.