The Purist Fall 2024 Issue by The Purist

AN ADVENTURE IN WELLNESS

BREAKOUT STAR ADRIA ARJONA

DAZZLES IN LOS FRIKIS

Love your hair through menopause.

MICHAEL MUNDY

E DITOR ’ S L E TT E R FROM SECULAR TO SACRED

So often we get to a place where what we have done thus far to heal, whether physically or emotionally, reaches a limit. In those moments, we stand at a threshold and sometimes choose to look further into the realm of the spiritual. We find ourselves praying when we didn’t used to pray. Lately, I have been on a quest for discovery and understanding of a branch of philosophy that deals with the first principles of things— concepts like being, knowing, identity, space and time, which seem less abstract when we connect to something bigger than ourselves. And I am sure I am not the only one to turn to the metaphysical.

We can all agree the world is in pain and turmoil. So in this issue, I asked our wellness editor, Amely Greeven, to peel the many layers of healing available to us in “Angel at My Table.” In the vibrational layer—we are made of matter, energy and consciousness, and vibration is the mechanism that turns energy into sound and light— we can be healed through spiritual connection. But how do we get there? As she reveals, angels are all around

It is a gift to have watched such a beautiful human whom I celebrate to the moon and back. My inspired songbird Bella’s new singles are available on Spotify and Apple Music.

@bellavcuomo

Photo by Diana Frank

us, in everything, poised and ready to help. We need only communicate with them to invoke their power, their support. Many find this mysterious, and it is. But consider this:

In Lee Carroll’s The Twelve Layers of DNA, the revelation is that our chemical blueprint comes with quantum instructions. A mystical journey can help us surrender to what is imprinted in our DNA through generations, centuries, lifetimes, universes, and even help clear disturbances, aiding in our healing. Spiritual healing is a personal odyssey. There is no one right way to do it. It can start with a very simple ask. I like to take a page from my 21-year-old daughter Bella’s songbook. In her new release, Gecko, she incants, “A shooting star once passed me by, i’d been staring at the sky, thinking about you. So i thought to myself, whoever’s up there please send help.”

@cristinacuomo @thepurist

FEATURES

64 ALL ABOUT ADRIA

The charismatic star of the Hamptons International Film Festival’s Los Frikis and the face of Armani Beauty, Adria Arjona shares the importance of community, family, personal heritage and staying well.

70 WORKING-CLASS HERO

Iconic actress Patricia Clarkson graces this year’s HIFF in support of her new film, Lilly

72 ON THE ROAD WITH MARY HEILMANN

The peripatetic East End artist creates a classic poster for the Hamptons International Film Festival.

73 BREAKTHROUGH ARTIST

Sing Sing star Clarence Maclin on the importance of breaking beyond societal bounds

74 HONORING A LEGACY

Hollywood heir Malcolm Washington takes the spotlight as director in The Piano Lesson.

76 HAMPTONS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

The Hamptons comes alive with movie magic as the annual fest takes over for 11 days and nights of movie magic. A look at the mustsee films in this year’s lineup

Adria Arjona

MINDFUL

18 THE WAY IN Spiritual teacher Rev. Jolene Star shares tips for keeping your cool amid chaos.

19 BIG PICTURE THINKING

Change-maker Katya Fels Smyth paves the way for belonging.

20 RAISING THE BAR FOR RESILIENCE

How parents can lighten their load by embracing imperfection

22 ANGEL AT MY TABLE

Channeling tools for the soul

24 ALL ABOUT BALANCE

Dwight-Englewood School teaches that curiosity is the key to excellence.

HEALTH

26 PUTTING GOOD INTO NIGHT

Melissa Errico shares the importance of making peace with sleep.

28 HAIL TO THE CHIEF

Introducing Stony Brook

Southampton Hospital’s new leader, Emily Mastaler

30 HORMONES, MENOPAUSE AND YOUR HAIR

Master your hormones to achieve the hair of your dreams.

SPACE

33 THE PHOTOGRAPHIC MEDIUM

Artist Diana Frank uncovers the unshakeable strength of women.

34 UPSTATE GLORY

An ultimate oasis for relaxation, rejuvenation and outdoor family fun at Silo Ridge

36 MAGIC CARPETS

Ashley Stark Kenner helps clients create comfort, coziness and wellness underfoot

38 COLOR MY WORLD

Painter Sally Egbert’s vivid, dramatic works, on view at Tripoli Gallery

Brittany Ambridge

Carpet maven

Ashley Stark Kenner

SOUTHAMPTON · PALM BEACH · LAKE TEGERNSEE · SYLT · MUNICH

39 EDITOR’S PICKS

Cristina Cuomo’ s autumnready favorites

40 PIVOT TO WIN

Real estate attorney Adam M. Miller’s mindful methods GLOW

42 THE NATURAL

Speaking with William P. Lauder about Origins’ holistic approach to skin care

44 MAP OF THE FACE

A natural way to skin healing from within

WEEKEND

48 MILES AND MILES BEFORE I SLEEP

The cult favorite The Ranch arrives on the East Coast.

50 LEAD WITH LOVE

Designer MoAnA Luu on creative inspiration from love and culture

52 LUXE ADORNMENTS

Jewelry designer Neha Dani on blending the modern and traditional

53 AT A GLANCE

Engaging activities to enjoy as New York transitions into fall

VIBRANT

54 A PHILANTHROPIST’S GUIDE TO GIVING

Dr. Stacie Stephenson shows how to Invite more light in as you help others.

FOOD IS MEDICINE

59 FRENCH EXCELLENCE

Delicious conversation with the co-owners of Water Mill’s beloved Bistro Été

60 GARDEN OF KNOWLEDGE

How Teens For Food Justice, an NYC nonprofit, is building a food-secure future through farming education

An open-air feast at Silo Ridge

EDITORIAL

Founder + Editor Cristina Cuomo

Executive Editor Ray Rogers

Features Editor Jim Servin

Associate Editor + Photo Editor Jenna Lebovits

Senior Wellness + Beauty Editor Amely Greeven

Beauty + Fitness Editor Beth Landman

Wellness Editor Fernanda Niven

Contributing Health Editors Dr. Jeffrey Morrison,The Morrison Center; Tapp Francke Ingolia, STANDwellness

Copy Editor Michèle Filon

Research Editor Jill Malter

Editorial Intern Aislinn MacArthur

Contributing Food Editor Peter Som

Special Project Editors Jenny Landey,TR Pescod

Contributing Fashion Editor Gretchen Gunlocke Fenton

Contributing Writers Dr. Samantha Boardman, Isaac Boots, Donna Bulseco, Candace Bushnell

Alina Cho, Camille Coy, Chris Cuomo, Dr. Gerry Curatola, Donna D’Cruz

Dimitri Ehrlich, Melissa Errico, Pamela Fiori, Marisa Fox, Steve Garbarino, Kara Goldin

Dr. Limor Goren, Seth Herzog Laura Hine, Nancy Kane, Dr. Gail King

Dr. Frank Lipman, Dr Lea Lis, Michael Mailer, Martha McGuinness, Myles Mellor

Kevin Menard, Roxanna Namavar, Dr. Eunice Park, Dr. David Perlmutter

Annelise Peterson, Kelly Posner Gerstenhaber, Dr. Christina Rahm, Leora Rosenberg

Tracee Ellis Ross, Hal Rubenstein, Jim Shi, Brooke Shields, Biet Simkin, Jolene Star

Dr. Stacie J. Stephenson, Julia Szabo, Abby Tegnelia, Edwina Von Gal

Regina Weinreich, Ali Wentworth, Constance C.R. White, Sarah Wragge

DESIGN

Contributing Design Director Ben Margherita

Contributing Art Director Mikio Sakai

Contributing Designer Seton Rossini

Web Managers Tarin Keith, Aubrée Mercure

Contributing Photographers Melanie Acevedo, Camilla Akrans, David Bellemere Justin Bettman, Cass Bird

Brian Bowen Smith, Natalie Chitwood, Bob and Dawn Davis Gregg Delman

Victor Demarchelier, Mikey DeTemple, Sophie Elgort, Francine Fleischer

Marili Forestieri, Diana Frank, Morgan Maassen, Roberto Matteo Marchese

Mary Ellen Matthews, Miller Mobley, Ryan Moore, Nino Muñoz, David Roemer

Matt Sayles, Michael Schwartz, Peggy Sirota, Simon Upton, Cathrine White

ADVERTISING

Publisher Helen Cleland, helen@thePURISTonline.com

Chief Revenue Officer Andrea Greeven Douzet, andrea@thePURISTonline.com

Head of Partnerships Nicole Levy, nicole@thePURISTonline.com

Executive Sales Directors Tova Bonem, Marisa Hochberg, Beatrice Huston, Michelle Johnson, Eden Williams

Rosalind Zukowski

Luxury Art Sales Director Lisa Rosenberg

Aspen Publisher Alexandra Halperin

Aspen Media Consultant Cheryl Foerster

MARKETING

Director of Marketing Ilene Frankel

Event Photographer Kristin Gray

OPERATIONS

Chief Financial Officer Caryn Whitman

Production Direction Digital Workflow Solutions

Purist is distributed in New York City, the Hamptons, Aspen, Miami, Palm Beach, Los Angeles, and now in Chicago and Scottsdale.

For advertising inquiries, please contact sales@thePURISTonline.com

For editorial inquiries, please contact wellness@thePURISTonline.com

For production inquiries, please contact production@thePURISTonline.com

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CONTRI BUTORS

MELISSA ERRICO, who penned “Putting Good Into Night,” on page 26.

HOW DO YOU MANAGE LATENIGHT BURSTS OF CREATIVE INSPIRATION WHILE MAINTAINING HEALTHY SLEEP?

“First thing is not to worry. Breathing.

Accepting myself, while on my pillow. See if I can let it go without judging and feeling conflicted. If the energy gets too high, I go to my bathroom and stretch on a nice floor mat from Arhaus. Somehow it’s so beautiful and feels so Greek. I’ve learned it’s smart to leave the bed so you don’t start associating bed with adrenaline.”

Melissa Errico is a Tony-nominated actress, singer and contributing writer for The New York Times since 2016, with a column called “Scenes From an Acting Life.” She tours worldwide, including a holiday run at 54 Below in NYC starting December 26 and her solo London concert hall debut next summer (July 12) at Cadogan Hall singing Sondheim.

DR. STACIE STEPHENSON, who shared about the power of giving on page 54.

HOW DOES PHILANTHROPY RELATE TO WELL-BEING?

“Philanthropy, or the practice of helping make life better for others by leveraging your own resources, whether time, talents or treasure, is surprisingly therapeutic. Giving has been linked to better physical and mental health, because giving feels good and contributes to happiness and quality of life, for the giver as well as the receiver.”

REV. JOLENE STAR, who offered a fresh perspective on chaotic times on page 18.

WHY IS IT IMPORTANT TO MAINTAIN ENERGETIC BALANCE?

“Everything is energy, and balance is key to life. The two must be in alignment, as everything is in duality. The middle path is a straight guide to your heart that you must follow to stay energetically centered and live a healthy, grounded life.”

Rev. Jolene Star is an interfaith minister, spiritual guide and healer, and the owner of The Enchanted Heart: A Color and Sound Vibrational Wellness Center. She specializes in frequency medicine, seven-year cycle soul work and miracles.

CATHRINE WHITE, who photographed MoAnA Luu on page 50.

WHAT ROLE DO EMOTIONS PLAY IN YOUR WORK?

“Emotions guide the lens, framing not just what I see and feel. They allow me to render the quiet beauty of joy, the intensity of longing, healing or the quietude of solitude. Capturing moments that resonate with universal human experiences. Emotional connections are essential for us to grow and understand compassion and empathy for others.”

Dr. Stacie Stephenson is the bestselling author of Glow: 90 Days to Create Your Vibrant Life From Within and a recognized leader in functional and integrative medicine.

Cathrine White has decades of history as a renowned photographer. She is also the founder of Axis Hats New York, a collection of unique collegiate artwork that she launched in spring 2023, along with Marilee Fiebig.

From top: Marco Vacchi, Asha Shetler, Bob & Dawn Davis Photography & Design, courtesy of Cathrine White

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MINDFUL

Simple visualization exercises can help quiet the mind and relax the nervous system. Find a comfortable seat, close your eyes and conjure a peaceful scene—a quiet beach or an empty forest.

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THE WAY IN

How to remain centered and grounded as the world turns at an unpredictable pace and mysterious rhythm.

BY REV. JOLENE STAR

We are living at a very auspicious time in human history. We might even consider this period of mystery as a space in between time. Slowing down and speeding up, with highs and lows—the world is surely very busy. As this process of heightened awareness unfolds, we will find ourselves alchemizing individually and collectively, moving from one state of being to another. Buckle up and trust the way.

From the age of human-made to AI-connected, we will be faced with many spiritual challenges as well as energetic upgrades. Ultimately, the choice is ours to raise our vibrations and take care of the soul within on this incredible journey. This means that as the world is turning and shifting, changing and growing, so too are you and so too is every human being on the planet.

This great change that is upon us will ask that we clear and clean up our relationships to ourselves, the planet and our communities. You may find that over the next few months, life and reality may look different then it has ever looked before. Though not fixed and predictable, this is actually a blessing. Since we have never experienced it, we then have an opportunity to create something that’s never been created before.

I invite you to imagine your body and soul as a part of the bigger divine plan on planet Earth. In reality, why else would you be alive at this time, if you weren’t part of this bigger vision? You are not only the creator, you are also the remover of obstacles, so don’t hesitate to clean house and honor your soul story, first and foremost.

Below are my spiritual tips for this fall season on how to maintain your center, rooted in your truth as the world turns at its own unpredictable pace:

1 Honor your boundaries, while keeping an open heart. Healthy boundaries help relationships to thrive.

2 Refine your communication skills so they match your actions.

Keynote: Action aligned with intention creates change.

3 Perform a daily cleansing using spiritual tools such as sage and incense, Aura-Soma, ritual baths, breathing and sound meditation. Move stagnant energy off your field to feel lighter and make room.

4 Allow yourself three to seven minutes a day to completely surrender to the floor like a snow angel, palms facing up Your body and mind will thank you as you give your nervous system a moment of quiet.

5 Begin to understand that you are one with the flow in life by being responsible and accountable for everything that shows up in your path. Yes, everything. It’s time to accept the lessons that are here to help you evolve and grow. The world needs your elevation and honesty, and that begins within.

6 Own your time. Give from a space of love and expect nothing in return. This helps to release ourselves from disappointment and expectations of others. Remember that no one is expected to do things the way you do them. We are all unique individuals with our own blueprint. See the beauty in other’s choices by reminding yourself of free will.

7 Make time to take time for you, because truth be told, you come in alone and go out alone, so make sure you make yourself a priority. Self-care is not a luxury, it’s a necessity.

8 Go where the love is.

9 This is your one life, in this form. Choose how you want to live it, and then bring that energy forward. Now is the time. theenchantedheart.com, @jolenestar_, or text 551.404.8022

Daniel Olah, inset courtesy of Kristin Gray Photography

Rev. Jolene Star

Paul Smyth

BIG PICTURE THINKING

Katya Fels Smyth’s Full Frame Initiative envisions a world where everyone belongs.

BY AMELY GREEVEN

How much better could life be for Americans if we closed the well-being gap? This simple, but transformative, question motivates the work of Katya Fels Smyth, a maverick whose movement, Full Frame Initiative, is devoted to solving some of the stickiest problems of our time. Poverty, oppression, social inequity, chronic disease, urban degradation, domestic violence, the epidemic of loneliness, broken juvenile justice—the weight of these problems can overwhelm. But Smyth’s organization partners with the people in the trenches, from big government systems to grassroots community groups and nonprofits, to pave a different way forward, one that can achieve long-term structural change. It starts with reframing how they are currently going about things by pulling back and asking: What is it that every human wants at their core?

Smyth’s commitment to this inquiry began three decades ago, when she founded a community organization for chronically homeless and trafficked women. “I discovered that it wasn’t about ‘fixing’ the woman. Rather, when a person is wanted, when they belong to something, they do better.”

As a fellow at the Harvard Kennedy School at Harvard University, she spent five years researching humanity’s hardwired drive for well-being—a sense of belonging, connection, purpose, agency and wholeness. She identified that the great inequity in who can easily access well-being in society today, and who cannot, is the invisible dilemma that makes existing systems ineffective at improving life for millions of Americans. But nobody was seeing it that way. Instead, most systems—from child welfare and criminal justice to things like urban planning and infrastructure— perpetuate rigid narratives and mental models, using short-term “fixes” often applied after people were harmed.

“Well-being” wasn’t exactly a zeitgeist term when Smyth launched Full Frame 15 years ago. Nevertheless, Smyth saw the urgency of centering it in the conversation. She created a science-backed well-being framework to show organizations how to reimagine programs, policies and funding, and collected a cadre of expert fellows to help teach it.

It took off. A deep-dive project in California with women survivors of violence expanded the focus of services from short-term safety alone to broader access to well-being, which ultimately shifted over $400 million in government spending toward more successful programs and inspired other states to follow. In Missouri, Full Frame Initiative helped the juvenile justice system understand how the quest to belong and to matter drove previously mystifying, and condemnable, choices made by kids in the system and their families. This led to an evolution in services that spawned positive change in other state systems as a result. Recently, a notable partnership with the city of Cleveland introduced well-being equity as a design principle in the rebuilding of the Lake Erie waterfront.

It’s not just about solving problems “over there.” Smyth believes the secret to building the better world we all know begins with how each of us chooses to see. “We so often ‘otherize’ people by assuming their actions and choices are driven by different wants than ours. But look with curiosity through a well-being lens, and you realize most people are trying to keep themselves and the people they love safe, or are trying to live with natural rhythms, or want to belong to something, just like we are. We are much more alike than different. That fuller frame is where we need to start if we want a society in which everyone gets to thrive.” fullframeinitiative.org

Katya Fels Smyth

RAISING THE BAR FOR RESILIENCE

Embracing Tovah-isms to navigate life’s storms. BY ANNELISE PETERSON

Renowned as the “Toddler Whisperer” and famous for her “Tovah-isms”— insights that make you pause and think—Tovah Klein, Ph.D., director of the Barnard College Center for Toddler Development and adjunct associate professor at Barnard College, Columbia University, since 1995, is much more than a parenting expert. In Raising Resilience: How to Help Our Children Thrive in Times of Uncertainty, published in September 2024 by HarperCollins, Klein charts a path to personal growth and well-being for the entire family. This guide not only equips parents to nurture their children, but also serves as a resource for reparenting oneself, enriching every relationship.

I will never forget the first piece of reflection Klein offered me: “You take on too much responsibility,” she said. I remember thinking, What does that even mean? Or the time she gently pointed out, “Annelise—you don’t always have to be such a good little girl.” These “Tovah-isms” always made me pause and think, much like her approach to parenting. “Advice and tools can help, but true growth comes from understanding how to show up in the way your children need,” asserts Klein. Her pillars of progress: Learn to find comfort in discomfort, bring awareness to yourself and address the hot spots that create disconnection. “Raising children isn’t about quick fixes—the journey is long and windy,” she iterates. “I help parents embrace their strengths and weaknesses, growing from those insights. The more we integrate the pieces of our own puzzle, the better we can model and guide our children toward the good.”

Tova Klein, Ph.D.

Born and raised in Cleveland to an academic family—

her mother a professor of special education, her father a theoretical physicist—Klein’s keen observational skills developed early on. “My mother had big emotions,” she recalls. “When things were good, they were great. When they were bad, they were really bad.” From a young age, Klein often thought, “Adults don’t really understand children.” Her hypervigilance, largely shaped by her environment, and innate intuition would later become her superpower. “People would say, ‘Tovah is so friendly and social,’ yet I felt like an outsider,” she continues. “I came to realize that what you see is never the whole story. A child might seem outgoing yet feel insecure, while another, quieter, more reserved child might have immense inner strength.” Her resounding mantra? Embrace imperfection, the messy, and keep it light. At the heart of her work is the belief that accepting our humanity fosters deeper connections and lifts the burdens we all carry. “Raising resilience is about trust and forgiveness—trusting yourself and your children to navigate life’s ups and downs together, and offering grace when you lose your way,” she explains. Parenting, after all, is a relationship between two people, while perfection is a singleminded pursuit. Ultimately, we all need to find a lighthouse through life’s storms—whether big or small—a calm, clear, curious, courageous, connected, compassionate, confident and creative place to feel secure. By providing a secure attachment with our children, we give them the foundation to build their ship, the courage to set sail, and the compass to find their way home through life’s changing tides.

ANGEL AT MY TABLE

In what can feel like a breaking world, spiritual tools offer repair. Amely Greeven explores the art of angelic healing.

I never thought I would be talking to angels. It started a decade ago, during my pregnancy. The veils are thin in that life stage, as the baby’s soul edges closer to taking physical shape. Serendipitously, and with my belly huge and round, I met Austrian spiritual guide Ingrid Auer, who creates subtle and beautiful tools like cards, essences and sprays for invoking angelic support. Sitting in circle with her one evening at Santa Barbara’s exquisite Alchemy Arts healing center, Auer invoked archangel Michael— one of the four angels who are “the closest to the Godhead,” and are responsible for creating the lokas, or universes of existence, according to my longtime spiritual teacher and mystic, Deirdre Hade.

My own sensory gates are usually shut quite tight, despite years of meditating. Yet I was aware of a distinct presence in the room that felt benevolent, and big, and safe. Archangel Michael is known to be the protector, the one who keeps danger and harm at bay. So I cherished that short experience, and vowed to keep the connection. As my mothering journey progressed amid a backdrop of shocking school violence, I invoked Michael’s presence often, asking him to surround my child’s school, and every educational facility, with his protective

frequency, envisioned as a pyramid of cobalt blue rays.

“Angels are packets of light,” Hade teaches, citing the ancient Hebrew word malachim. “An angel is an awareness; a clarity, a wisdom to help humanity make it through this very difficult third dimension of life and death.” She continues: “Think of them like the tools of God—because God is so great and vast, God needs multiple tools to help every soul to unlock the heart, the mind, the intuition, and so on. These are the angels, and they are rooting for us, cheering for us, caring for us, and helping us whether we want to cop to it or not.”

Much of this was news to me. At school, I never learned that stories of angelic presences have pervaded every tradition and been told by humans since the beginning of recorded time. Even growing up vaguely Christian, I hadn’t been introduced to them. Many centuries ago, the Christian church rebranded the archangels into saints, and I hadn’t made the connection. My Jewish friends reported similar. Though the Torah and the esoteric text, the Zohar, are rife with angels, modern Judaism has largely left them out. Rational, linear thinking didn’t jibe with mystical packets of light.

But now there is a longing to go beyond what

Angels are believed to assist in physical, emotional, mental and spiritual healing.

we’ve been taught, to enter into the mystery and fuse the sacred back into secular life. Auer says that healers and practitioners of all kinds are looking for spiritual tools because their existing ones don’t go far enough. “Imagine a person as a series of layers,” she says. “Practitioners have tools to treat the physical layer, and the emotional and the mental layers. Many also work with what I call the ‘energetic layer,’ or using vibrations from planet Earth, like sound bowls to balance the body’s chakras, or flower essences. But increasingly, something is missing; these things are too limited for the problems at hand. So they are seeking vibrational healing sourced in the spiritual realm, the next step.”

It’s more complex than this, obviously—Auer suggests Lee Carroll’s channeled book The Twelve Layers of DNA to explore it further—but this makes sense to me. We can feel like we are hitting what Auer calls “dead-end streets” in so many areas of life right now—in our health or relationships or parenting, or in conflicts that feel irresolvable, whether personal or global. Many of us feel on our knees and helpless, needing to source support from beyond any place we have before. I include structured invocations to the archangels in my morning prayers now, a practice I learned through Hade’s Radiance teachings, and I also lay circles of Auer’s beautiful angel symbol cards on my altar to help me with hard or upsetting situations.

Doing these things gives me comfort, inspiration and, often, support: Impossible projects have been achieved, worst-case scenarios averted and sometimes, better outcomes than I could have achieved on my own. But sometimes, I get nothing obvious—Auer counsels that angelic healing is not a “wish fulfillment exercise,” and that my angel circle may nonetheless be helping me learn the soul lesson from a difficult situation. Should desired outcomes manifest, she reminds me not to forget to show gratitude, through a gesture of some kind. I still find it challenging to know exactly who or what I

am relating to when I connect with these subtle helpers. Hade suggests I think simply. “An angel is the spirit of a thing—and there are legions of them. Every tree has an angel, every blade of grass.” It’s perfectly fine to ask the angel of, say, dogs to help your pooch, or ask the angel of books to help you finish that chapter draft. Auer suggests paying attention to little signs—soon after starting to connect with angels, I began seeing tiny sparks of blue light in response to certain “right” thoughts that helped to affirm my decisions. Will Arntz, who directed the quantum physics-informed consciousness film What the BLEEP Do We Know!? and has a robust angel practice himself, tells me that drilling down into the “what” isn’t the point. “Perhaps when we drop our bodies and get a little closer to what’s really going on, we’ll find out something we can’t imagine, like that a single archangel is a presence with a gazillion bodies scattered throughout the vast universe!” Trying to intellectually define the undefinable is the antithesis of mystical practice.

Instead, tuning in to the invisible realm of subtle spiritual support is an exercise of the heart, and of humility. Hade has worked with thousands of people who have experienced extraordinary phenomena by allowing angels to infiltrate their reality. She suggests not to worry about “believing or not believing.” Just start somewhere. Ask for help in situations from the mundane to the extraordinary. Be open to interventions in your psyche—shifts in your thinking, relief from pain—and also to miracles in your outer world. Know that your outreach may mean more than you even realize, because in what can feel like a terribly broken world, “We humans have the keys to open the gates between the veils of existence, and the more that people invoke the angels, the more their energy can be here with us.” Then pay attention to how you feel. Because when we take our healing into the metaphysical and invite the ineffable, there’s an unexpected gift. As Hade says, “Life takes on an experience of wonder and awe.”

STARTING YOUR ANGEL PRACTICE

Close your eyes and speak to angels like you would a friend. “Your honest feelings are allowed,” Ingrid Auer says. “Tears, upset, anything.” You can write a letter saying what you need help with. “If you don’t know the name of an angel you need, write to your guardian angels— every soul has at least two. They

will get the message to where it is needed.” Or, learn about the four archangels and how they provide clarity (Uriel), protection (Michael), healing (Raphael) and redemption (Gabriel), and start there. A ritual involving candles or flowers can be nice, though it is not necessary. Auer’s beautiful Angel Symbol cards,

available in the U.S. from Amazon, are intuitive tools that come with instructions for every situation. And for a deep and healing immersion into the metaphysical, discover Hade’s recorded transmission Receiving Bliss: The Prosperity of Gratitude & Healing with the Archangels, available from learningstrategies.com.

ALL ABOUT BALANCE

Through a robust curriculum and inspiring experiences, New Jersey’s Dwight-Englewood School prepares students for the real world. BY

JENNA LEBOVITS

On just about any given day at Dwight-Englewood School, you might find curious students exploring the 45acre campus, tending to the local apiary and gardens, or participating in scavenger hunts, learning how to read maps and compasses. Only one exit away from the George Washington Bridge, the coeducational independent school located in Englewood, New Jersey, guides each of its young thought leaders—from preschool through 12th grade—in finding answers to meaningful questions like: What will you discover next?

The school’s roughly 1,000 students are divided into three academic divisions—Lower, Middle and Upper School— each with its own developmentally appropriate curriculum, and a student-to-teacher ratio of 6:1. The college prep school is the most ethnically diverse in Bergen County, representing over 80 communities and 119 zip codes in New Jersey and New York. “It’s about learning to take different perspectives and learn from each other,” says director of Lower School admissions Jennifer Celiberti. “We come from a variety of socioeconomic backgrounds, races, religions and locations, bringing together unique perspectives that strengthen our community.”

This fall, prospective students and their families are invited to attend admissions events, both virtual and oncampus—including open houses, tours, and interactive curriculum nights—to witness firsthand the power of experiential learning and creative thinking.

The faculty and staff—whose skills are constantly finetuned by robust year-round professional development

programming—strike a perfect balance between the arts, athletics, academics and social-emotional growth for students. The school’s motto, “Through hard work, we arrive at the truth,” is a driving force. “Students learn how to develop a strong work ethic and executive functioning skills,” says Celiberti. In a world where there is often pressure for perfection, DE students are encouraged to strive for excellence instead, allowing them to learn and grow more deeply. “We prioritize creating a sense of belonging, joy, and engagement in our students, which helps them learn more efficiently,” shares Celiberti. “We really want the children to be curious, and we nurture that curiosity so they ask questions and think critically and deeply about things.”

Concepts such as “wellness” and “growth mindset” aren’t simply buzzwords at Dwight-Englewood School; they’re foundational concepts that are put into practice and seamlessly integrated into the curricula across all three divisions every day. Peer mentoring, caring guidance from our faculty, life skills courses, yoga, meditation, and more are available to help students maintain balance and thrive in our challenging academic environment. “We believe in nurturing the intellect and heart,” says Celiberti. Through a holistic, multidimensional approach to education, students are empowered to discover their authentic selves and feel safe trying new things, supporting a deeper, more efficient kind of learning. How differently the world might look if all children were given this space to learn and grow. To schedule a visit, call 201.227.3102 or visit Dwight-Englewood School’s admissions page. d-e.org/admissions

The campus is located 9 miles from New York City.

Hands-on learning and experiential programs are central to the DE experience.

HEALTH

PUTTING GOOD INTO NIGHT

Take time to invite rest in, and savor the art of sleep.

BY MELISSA ERRICO

Sleep for me has always been a time of “oops.” As a child, I always had one more idea at night, and would stay up indulging in a series of activities that would come into my mind. Another task for homework. Another spin of my favorite vinyl. A secretive hour listening to Dr. Ruth. My own mother tended to be creative at night; in fact, we had a saying in our house: “It’s midnight, it’s time to move furniture.”

Cut to motherhood. I was determined to have children with bedtimes who enjoyed sleeping and who would be tucked in like a Norman Rockwell painting of the perfect family. I would lead my children in a ritual of baths and books and kisses and coverlets. I would teach them to let go.

When they were really little, this worked: In fact, I was so exhausted each day that I fell asleep myself. As they got older, my natural insomnia came gradually back. I didn’t refer to it as that—I thought of it more as creativity, or energy, or hyperactivity. But the house settled each night without a drama, and quickly. One irrepressible daughter may have her reading light on a bit later than the others, but even today, all three like their evening rituals: doing face masks and wearing cute pajamas.

And alas…everyone is asleep, and I am awake. Husband snoring. Kids dreaming. And there I am, eyes open. I don’t know why, but it seems I need two hours from the moment the house gets quiet to become calm. I am a singer and started touring more and more, usually away three days to a week. Hotels and time zones complicated my already not-ideal natural rhythms. Sleep was starting to define my days in sneaky ways. I would struggle to fall asleep and then be groggy the next day. By 3PM, I hadn’t done as much as I wanted to. 4PM. 5PM…. Night seemed to approach too soon.

Then one day, I took a book off my shelf called Say Good Night to Insomnia. I’m not doing a review of that

(terrific) book, but I will say that the title alone is the point: Make friends with the night. Say hello to it and make it good. You are the hostess of your own sleep party. Greet it at the door. Say, you are welcome here. Put some Figaro Apothecary bath salts in a tub. Get the soft pajamas that your teenagers wear. I didn’t know to turn my thermostat down. The weighted blanket that makes me overheat? Throw it away. I’m finding my groove. I loved the cooling sheets I had bought (even my husband noticed them right away).

Then, the other night, that irrepressible daughter came into my room just as I was trying to figure out a second pair of sheets I had bought. I told her they were designed to help you sleep even better, though this mystified her—as I also was trying to figure out how they plug into the wall. They mystified me a little too, frankly. We followed the directions and plugged into the electrical outlet, apparently to tap into some pole that is underneath our house and will connect my bed sheets to the electrons in the Earth. My bed, the theory goes, would be swimming in a current of soporific electrons.

My daughter felt I had gone too far. “I thought you were sleeping superwell lately,” she queried. I was, but I just thought I’d try this. She said it was a TikTok thing—and that I’d fallen into a trap. I told a friend about it, and he said it might be a placebo, but that those are powerful too. Maybe self-deception and self-nurturing are related.

The point, again, is that you can invite rest in. Maybe it’s taken me all this time to redirect my creative energy at night to the art of sleep. Maybe a little humor thrown at the problem is good for it. As I lie down to dream, I’m grateful to know that with some very methodical steps, like a good book and some cool products, I can find a better rhythm, not just in my music, and say good to night. melissaerrico.com

Brigitte Lacombe

Melissa Errico, in a moment of reverie

HAIL TO THE CHIEF

Wellness warrior Emily Mastaler takes charge as chief administrative officer of Stony Brook Southampton Hospital.

PURIST: Tell us your responsibilities as chief administrative officer at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital.

Emily Mastaler: It is an exciting time for Stony Brook Southampton Hospital and Stony Brook Medicine. Construction of the East Hampton Off-Campus Emergency Department is on schedule for completion this October, and we are looking at April to officially open the emergency department. The hospital, with Stony Brook Medicine, is totally committed to providing access to the highest standards of care right here in our neighborhood. Currently, we have 190 physicians throughout the East End within 41 specialty practices—all accessible in our backyard. As part of the Stony Brook health care system, our hospital has a cath lab, is a Level III trauma center and has a primary stroke center. In May, the hospital earned an “A” Hospital Safety Grade from the Leapfrog Group, a national, independent nonprofit watchdog that sets the highest standards for patient safety in the United States. We are looking at the future and meeting the needs of our community.

PURIST: What have you learned since beginning the job in May?

EM: The clinical and health care staff at Stony Brook Southampton Hospital are awesome. They are deeply dedicated to patient care, some traveling up to three hours each way during the summer months. I have also learned how much the local community cares and depends upon this hospital. People stop me to tell me how much they appreciate the care we provide.

PURIST: What are your key priorities moving forward?

EM: Currently I am on a “listening and immersion” tour, where I meet with staff members, visit our practice sites, as well as local officials, partner organizations, etc. to learn about our community. I am working with Stony Brook as we look toward the future of health care here on the East End, and define the needs of our many diverse communities.

PURIST: Most recently, you were president and CEO of River Hospital in upstate New York. What are your impressions of the East End? Could you share with us some of the

highlights you’ve enjoyed so far—the natural beauty, favorite places to eat, cultural events?

EM: We have been visiting friends in Montauk for many years, and spend time barbecuing and going to Ditch Plains and Gin Beach. My husband is an artist, and we enjoy touring the South Fork’s many galleries and the museums. Best of all, we love walking our English bulldog, Boom Boom, in Southampton Village. He is quite the character, and already has attracted an impressive following.

PURIST: What are your favorite health benefits from living on the East End? What should residents partake in and do more of, for optimal health?

EM: Enjoy the outside. Breathe the beautiful air. Find your exercise, play, walk, surf, swim where there are lifeguards, bike—please wear a helmet—run, kayak… and use sunscreen.

PURIST: Are there any health concerns specific to life on the East End, and if so, what are they?

EM: Watch out for ticks while hiking in grassy areas. Be sure to cover up and wear long pants with cuffs tucked into socks. If you get a bite or have questions on symptoms or how to remove a tick, call our help line at 631.726.TICK (8425).

PURIST: What does wellness mean to you? What are some of your top personal wellness protocols?

EM: Work/life balance is super important. My background is in behavioral health, and I believe that it is important to have time to recharge.

PURIST: Going forward, how will Stony Brook Southampton continue to be a beacon of wellness?

EM: In addition to our commitment to easy access to clinical excellence within a growing health care continuum, we are dedicated to offering a robust list of prevention and wellness programs, administered by certified professionals, including cardiac rehab, nutritional guidance, acupuncture, massage therapy, exercise classes for all levels, tai chi, as well as many art-therapy classes offered in partnership with local museums. https://southampton.stonybrookmedicine.edu

Emily Mastaler

Mohammad Alizade, inset court esy of St ony Brook Southampton Hospital

Southampton Estate with Private Ocean Access

3 Fair Lea Road, Southampton | $18,500,000

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HORMONES, MENOPAUSE AND YOUR HAIR

How the hormones behind menopause can affect your hair health.

Hormonal changes are behind some of the most common signs of menopause, and a key root cause of hair thinning and shedding that’s common in this life stage. Purist spoke with Anjali Kasunich, ND, an in-house naturopathic doctor at Nutrafol, to learn more about the specific hormones behind menopause-related hair concerns—and what you can do about it, including supplements to take and lifestyle shifts to help you thrive through menopause.

PURIST: Which hormones are at play during menopause?

DR. ANJALI KASUNICH: Menopause is characterized by several changes to the levels of key hormones. In particular, declines in estrogen and progesterone occur, while the sensitivity to dihydrotestosterone (DHT)—a more potent version of testosterone—can increase. The shift in these hormones is behind several signs of menopause, including hot flashes, mood changes, skin elasticity, disrupted sleep, and even hair thinning and shedding.

PURIST: How can these hormones affect your hair health?

AK: These hormones are key players in the changes that women experience during menopause, including ones that affect hair health. When estrogen levels decline significantly during menopause, this can shorten the growth phase of the hair cycle, resulting in thinning hair and increased shedding. The decline in progesterone levels and increased sensitivity to DHT can exacerbate these hair concerns. Experiences like hair thinning and shedding during menopause can feel isolating, and even surprising. That’s why knowledge is power!

PURIST: How can you adjust your lifestyle for the hormonal changes that begin with menopause?

AK: The effects of these hormonal changes can often come in hot and may throw you off balance as you try to find ways to adjust. There are a few ways that you can shift your lifestyle to help you not only prepare for these changes, but also to thrive through them. For example, low-impact exercises like walking and yoga can help with hot flashes and sleep. Resting with a cold pack under your pillow and wearing loose clothing can also help with hot flashes and night sweats. And incorporating supplements to help support your hair health and whole body through menopause can be a great addition to your toolkit. I often recommend Nutrafol Women’s Balance to women over the age of 45

There are actually surprisingly few clinical studies done specifically focusing on women in menopause, and Nutrafol is the first and only hair growth supplement brand with published clinical studies on menopausal women. (Based on U.S. (placebo-controlled studies in) publications through Pubmed, Cochrane and top Google Scholar and ScienceDirect results as of December 11, 2023.)

Increasing protein and fiber intake can also be extremely beneficial during this time. Healthy protein options (for example, organic and grass-fed meats, fish, legumes, and eggs) can provide important amino acids for strong hair, muscles and bones. Fiber from vegetables, fruits and whole grains can help to support healthy digestion and absorption of hair-healthy nutrients. Finally, it’s important to have conversations about menopause with friends and family, especially with women who are going through or have experienced menopause and can understand and support your journey. nutrafol.com

Increase fiber and protein intake for better wholebody health, and consider adding a supplement into your wellness repertoire.

Courtesy of Nutraf ol

Sculpture: Hans Van de Bovenkamp

SPACE

“This image was taken of a dear friend of mine,” says Diana Frank. “It was a Saturday evening, and we had just finished a lovely dinner on one of those gorgeous steamy Hamptons summer nights. The magic is in the vulnerability and the fact that she could feel safe and comfortable in her own beautiful skin.”

“Angel Oak,” 2024, Diana Frank

THE PHOTOGRAPHIC MEDIUM

Diana Frank awakens the divine through art and photography.

BY ANNELISE PETERSON • PHOTOGRAPHY BY DIANA FRANK

An alchemist of beauty, Diana Frank uses her photographic lens to unveil the divine essence linking nature to humanity. By capturing the radiant energy within her subjects, particularly women, Frank transcends sensory perceptions, tapping into a deeper emotional truth.

Raised in rural Michigan, a selfproclaimed “nerd” and “guy’s girl,” Frank began her career in front of the camera at the age of 19—not through ambition, but by her grandmother’s design. For the next two decades, Frank traveled across continents, gracing runways and the pages of magazines. She also inspired iconic designers, including Ralph Lauren, with whom she developed a close partnership as both model and muse, collaborating with his design team on collections, particularly those featuring vintage. “Working at Ralph Lauren,” says Frank, “was like attending a university of elegance—a place where I immersed myself in a world of exquisite lifestyle and timeless beauty, the kind that draws you in and makes you want to be forever wrapped in its allure.”

It was only after meeting her former husband through Timothy Godbold, an international fashion and interior design insider, that Frank began to explore her own creative inclinations. “I had grown so accustomed to being objectified that I felt a deep calling to transform the entire photographic experience,” professes Frank. “Instead of imposing my vision, I hold space for the subject to reveal their true essence through my lens,” she continues. “There is a space—much like the sweet spot in meditation— where I believe the real magic happens.”

“Diana is a fairy. I always joke that she’s out there doing her fairy magic,” remarks one of her mentors. Indeed, Frank

weaves unseen magic into every shoot, meticulously blessing her lenses and equipment with crystals, flowers and palo santo to purify the space, inviting celestial energy to channel itself through her flash.

“When you enter the creative process with intention and humility, the ego steps aside, and you become a co-creator of a new reality,” reflects Frank. “When I’m shooting, I frolic freely in the window of mystery—sometimes causing mischief, but only the most delicious kind,” she adds with a playful smile.

One of Frank’s photographic strengths lies in uncovering the raw vulnerability and unshakable strength of women. Her “Goddess Commissions” are dedicated to awakening the divine feminine, encouraging women to see their truth, trust their innate wisdom, and reclaim their wholeness, magic and power.

“There is something incredibly sacred about a woman photographing another woman,” Frank explains. “I tell these women that through my eyes and lens, they will witness their full, luminous splendor. The false narratives they carry will dissolve; I’m merely the medium that allows them to see themselves as they were always meant to be seen.”

Through her art, Frank unveils a universe where beauty and truth collide with the mystery of creation. Her artistry captures the ethereal space where dreams meet wakefulness, revealing not only the essence of her subjects but the boundless potential of the unknown, in an intimate dialogue between subject, artist and creation. dianafrankphotography.com

From top: “Nyle Socks” 2023, “Surrender” 2024

UPSTATE GLORY

Silo Ridge Field Club offers active, and sustainable, family living on a stunning slice of the Hudson Valley. BY

ABBY TEGNELIA

The Hudson Valley’s celebrated Silo Ridge Field Club—a jewel in the Discovery Land Company portfolio—has become an unmatched real estate opportunity for families looking for five-star, amenity-packed community living just a short train ride from the city. Situated on an exquisite 850 acres, the gated community comprises five distinct neighborhoods with 24-hour security offer condos and single-family residences— and exclusive access to the world-famous Silo Ridge Field Club and Discovery Land Company’s Outdoor Pursuits. As if the active lifestyle afforded by these members-only programs wasn’t enough, the community is sustainable and focused on locally sourced ingredients from both home (think: on-site gardens) and around the Hudson Valley.

“Having access to nature, recreational facilities and cultural experiences within their own community encourages families to slow down and enjoy meaningful moments together,” says Discovery Land Company’s founder and chairman, Mike Meldman. “Our members seek more than just a home—they desire a complete living experience that fosters connection, well-being and personal growth.”

Not only is Silo Ridge home to an unparalleled Tom Faziodesigned golf course, but players have access to the club’s comfort stations stocked with treats, a Casamigos margarita machine and a bloody mary bar. Plus, there’s a putting park and even a laid-back “barefoot golf” experience with no real dress code or rules.

There’s also tennis, pickleball, paddle tennis, archery, fly-fishing, paintball, bird-watching, ATV rides, skeet shooting and hiking. For families who like to stay on the move, the opportunities for active fun are endless, and include an Olympic-size ice-skating rink and a 700-acre equestrian center.

The Barn, an 11,000-square-foot multipurpose venue, is a dream for eco-conscious residents (Meldman calls the community’s sustainability its “heart”) who feel most nourished by locally sourced ingredients. Its casual 120-seat dining room serves farm-to-table fare, and the space is home to an arcade, bowling alley, cornhole, fire pits, pottery kiln, and arts and crafts. The greenhouse and gardens where produce is harvested for the Barn and other onsite restaurants are available for residents to use, too. The sustainable community also has an apiary for honey, and chickens and goats to produce fresh eggs and cheese.

During the summer months, Silo Ridge’s lake comes alive with fly-fishing, canoeing, kayaking, paddleboarding and cliff jumping. Along its edge sits the new pool complex, with a water slide and kiddie pool. Finish your day with ice cream from the bait shop. siloridge.com

The world-class 18-hole golf course

Silo Ridge’s 700-acre riding facility features 26 stalls, alllevel trail rides and training.

Enjoy outdoor family fun with canoeing, kayaking and paddleboarding.

MAGIC CARPETS

Ashley Stark Kenner, creative director of Stark, the iconic family-run carpet and fabric company, inspires over 1.5 million Instagram followers with her design ideas and products from her luxury decor brand, Ashley Stark Home. Here, she shares with Purist how floor coverings comfort, ground and delight. BY JIM SERVIN

Jim Servin: Growing up in a family that built a very successful carpet business—did your family tend to change up carpet colors and patterns in your home? Was your childhood the carpet version of being a kid in a candy store?

Ashley Stark Kenner: I wouldn’t say we changed things up so much as we had homes in a few different locations that allowed my family to experiment with design in different settings. The Palm Beach house, for instance, was designed to be traditional modern with the directive to use as many Stark products as possible, but the Hamptons home has a more modern look with neutrals-focused design and lots of art. What really stands out in my childhood at Stark is an ingrained sense of love and respect for design and the products Stark creates.

JS: Are any parts of Stark or Ashley Stark Home eco-conscious?

ASK: Stark and Ashley Stark Home both focus on the use of natural fibers in a lot of our collections. Wool, silk, jute, linen and cotton are often used to create pieces like my Kiandra, a hand-knotted, Nepalese wool rug.

JS: What is the one home item you can’t live without?

ASK: Pictures of my family. I am a mom first and foremost. I cook almost every night, and nothing makes me happier than being surrounded by my family and photos of them.

JS: What are your current inspirations for the fall season and beyond?

ASK: We just wrapped up choosing the newest designs for my faux-floral collection with Diane James, and those designs dig into the soft lavenders of tree magnolias, as well as the comforting whites found in dogwood branches.

JS: What should Purist readers know about choosing a rug or carpet?

ASK: It is very subjective. The things that matter to me— natural fibers and cleanability—may not be what is important to someone else. I recommend identifying the “thing” that is most important to you—color, materials, shape—and going from there. I also recommend that you make sure the rug is large enough for the front feet of your furniture to perch along the edge. ashleystarkhome.com, starkcarpet.com

Ashley Stark Kenner

COLOR MY WORLD

Painter Sally Egbert plumbs the depths in her vivid paintings and collages.

BY RAY ROGERS

“Come look at my morning glories,” says Sally Egbert, thrilled each day over nature’s recurring gift growing on vines in her backyard in East Hampton. She’s especially fond of flowers, as the vibrant watercolor collages inside her painting studio attest: Fresh takes on blooms pop off the saturated colors in her works. “I love lines, skinny lines. These are based on flowers, like the stems and then the explosion of a flower,” she says, pointing to the richly colored works lining the studio’s tables.

Over the course of several months, Egbert invited Purist into her home studio to witness her art-making in process, including the transformation of three massive blank canvases into deeply textured works of art. “I start by pouring paint, then scrape away and add more. I’ll do that several times. That’s how the works get such depth,” she says, surrounded by dozens of crinkled-up tubes of oil paint and a rainbow of color splotches everywhere. “Then I put more on top: branches, twigs, the sky, flowers.”

The effect is arresting. Looking at one of her paintings, you might feel like you’re 20,000 leagues beneath the sea, on the ocean floor watching undulating life forms—or deep in her psyche or subconscious. There’s a place of quiet contemplation, as if time has stood still and you can observe the fluidity around you. But there’s also tension, with joyous bursts of color next to more ominous, dark spots. “Yeah, that’s me, take a beautiful color and put something heavy next to it,” she acknowledges. “Then it’s dynamic and emotional, in a good way,” says the Bay Shoreborn artist, who splits her time between the East End and Manhattan, where she paints at the EFA Studios.

As if right on cue, Joni Mitchell’s “Both Sides Now” comes on while she contemplates the dichotomies in her works, which read as explorations of magic and loss, a celebration of life’s fragile and fleeting treasures: “The longer we live,

“Branches,” 2024, Sally Egbert

the more experiences we have. Which is great! I’ll be fine when I die. Who cares?” she says, laughing heartily.

“This summer I had all of these things break: Now the computer doesn’t work, now the car doesn’t work, and now I just have to get rid of my phone. Paring down has actually been wonderful. And painting, for me, is paring down—it’s back to having something in front of you and making your mark on it, with your hands.”

These pieces will appear in a two-person show, Halcyon Days, at Tripoli Gallery with the artist Esther Ruiz, who works with neon light and sculpture. “We both love color. It’s going to look like a party in there!” Egbert’s palette is both vivid and dramatic. “It’s all about color for me. I put colors that work well together and then sometimes almost clash. That’s intentional, so that there’s some sense of excitement.” And tension. “Yes,” she agrees. “Look at these two larger works: One’s floaty and dreamy, and the orange one on the floor is a bit more tough. Isn’t that what life is? It’s dreamy and then kind of tough. They’re just diaries. I roll out of bed, and I walk about 15 feet over and I work. It’s been wonderful this summer living right with my paintings.

“There’s a freedom in making my work,” she continues. “When you make work for long enough, it’s like your shadow—it’s right behind you, right by your side. It’s not even an extension of you, it’s you.”

As the interview ends, Egbert marches out of her studio with a stack of old papers that, she confides, has been haunting her for a decade, tossing them in a fire pit for kindling. Among them, the title to her bright red Volvo (RIP). It feels like a ceremonial purging. She clinks a glass of rosé, as the fiery orange embers float to the heavens above.

Halcyon Days at Tripoli Gallery in Wainscott from October 5 to November 4. sallyegbert.com; tripoligallery.com

Courtesy of Tripoli Gallery

EDITOR’S PICKS

Purist founder Cristina Cuomo’s current fashion and beauty go-tos for a seamless seasonal transition.

PHOTOGRAPHY BY DIANA FRANK

“The new cleanser completes this nontoxic skin care line that literally nourishes the skin with coconut milk powder, babassu oil and sacred lotus flower.” Full Circle nourishing cleanser, biographynyc.com

“The Quikee from my favorite oral care brand Supersmile is ideal for us coffee, tea and red wine connoisseurs. Keep one in every purse and never worry about stains on your teeth again!” Quikee, supersmile.com

“Don’t let pets back in the house without wiping them down for Lyme disease-carrying ticks that will look for a new host—you—in your bed! That’s what happened to me until I discovered this lifesaving simple fix.” TiCK MiTT packs, tickmitt.com

“Consider these practical and precious items for fall.”

“When in Aspen, visit the new Avi & Co for one of their musthave watches!” Avi & Co. iced collection AH23, aviandco.com

“An application of warm, soothing body oil never felt so good. Just light and let it melt away dry and scaly summer skin.” Body elixir

“The Maidstone, an iconic boutique hotel nestled within the historic district of East Hampton, has been a beloved institution in the community for more than 150 years. Book one of their cottages for the ultimate city escape—you won’t be sorry!” Staycation/Weekend out East at the new LDV at The Maidstone, themaidstone.com

designer I turned to for outfitting my handsome son and upping his style game for his freshman year at the University of St Andrews in Scotland. Throw it on for a dinner outfit or casual day-to-day; it’s multiuse and timeless.” Waffle-knit cashmere sweater, ralphlauren.com candle, wrthstudio.com

“This Olympic-outfitting favorite

PIVOT TO WIN

Hamptons real estate attorney Adam Miller combines top-flight expertise with a mindful approach to the art of the deal. BY

JIM SERVIN

With $6 billion in real estate sales, and $300 million in current deals between contract and negotiation, Adam Miller is a force of nature when it comes to real estate law and land development in the Hamptons. The former Manhattan big firm real estate attorney opened his Bridgehampton practice, Adam Miller Group, in 2007 and has expanded three times, building a business that is, he says, “60 percent real estate and 40 percent land use, which is where I want it.” In an approach that he describes as holistic, Miller engages in meaningful dialogue and pivots adroitly through the labyrinth of the law, with a goal that his clients not only have a favorable outcome, but find themselves better for the experience.

“I want the client to feel accomplished, that they’ve won something,” Miller says. “My approach to people is almost doctor-ish. We’re usually protecting their largest asset. The legal process doesn’t have to be antagonistic. It can be cathartic when things work out and everybody leaves satisfied.”

A recent deal in Southampton Village provided such a victory. Through Miller’s expert knowledge of the law, he and his team determined that a state line had been erroneously placed, and then petitioned to get it moved. “It allowed us to build as a matter of right, instead of applying for a variance,” he says. “We were able to avoid what would have been a costly and time consuming

Legal eagle Adam Miller, who specializes in real estate and land use, launched his Bridgehampton practice in 2007.

process.” Miller’s facility with zoning committees came from direct, strategic experience: “I was a zoning board attorney in East Hampton for a year when I moved out here, which gave me a great foundation.”

The father of two daughters, ages 8 and 11, Miller credits a natural ability cultivated as a college athlete for his exceptional performances. “I’m also a good listener—I actually love hearing all the details. My wife can’t get over how I remember them.” Golf allows him to refuel and renew his mind, body and spirit. “As a lawyer, you are always fighting for someone else. You have to carve out time to be with yourself. Golf gives me that meditative state.” His other go-to is acupuncture. “It is a very effective methodology. Ten massages are the equivalent of one acupuncture session.”

When it comes to the ever-vacillating real estate market, Miller has proven his ability to ride the roller coaster with finesse. “Interest rates are historically low. The market is 15-20 percent higher than it was last year. It continues to go up,” he says. “Stocks are going to be volatile, and because of that, the real estate market will be a little manic, because of the emotion involved in real estate. You’d be shocked at how emotion is tied to real estate. But,” he adds, “I’ve never had a client call me and say they regret buying out here. That to me speaks volumes about the very special community we live in.” adammillergroup.com

Mindful Moments, Meaningful Change

GLOW

debit,

THE NATURAL

William P. Lauder, executive chairman of the Estée Lauder Companies—the global brand his grandparents founded—shares the origin story of Origins. BY

RAY ROGERS

Ray Rogers: The concept of holistic wellness and natural skin care is everywhere now, but when Origins came about, it was pretty early on in the game. What gave you and the company the impetus to explore this path of natural ingredients in skin care?

William Lauder: I grew up in the outdoors—summer camp in Maine, canoeing and hiking all over the place—and now I’m an avid skier and mountain biker. I’ve always felt a connection to the natural world. When I was quite young, in my mid-to-

late 20s, I started working on a project with some colleagues, talking and thinking about how we could create naturally based products that were different from what was out there already, and that spoke to that consumer’s need and desire for natural holistic products that made them feel good by using essential oils and natural ingredients.

RR: The brand has had some really innovative strategies in how it presented itself. Can you talk a little bit about that and how you helped to grow the brand?

Hedoluptasi

cuptate mquaspitet es aut quas as here.

Inside the ﬁrst Origins store, which offered customers a full sensory brand experience

WL: First, I felt that our capability and competency was in the prestige arena. There was a gap in the marketplace for us to open our own stores in places that didn’t have a department store, where most consumers bought their prestige beauty. And that turned into a whole other thing, where first we got some pushback from department store partners, but ultimately it helped us to define the image of our brand on our terms, be masters of our own destiny. And then we started taking condensed versions of our own store and putting them in department stores.

RR: Tell me a little bit about the formation of the Origins Biotech Discovery Labs, and the role it has played in the formulations.

WL: We were working with some very interesting people who were doing work in France as well as in our own lab here in North America, trying to take essential oils and understand the activity level of these essential oils on the skin, and how we’d make the skin feel, or how it would make you feel. One of the things we found was that instead of using single ingredients, a mixture of ingredients was better.

One of our in-store promotions featured huge burlap sacks filled with sachets of our dry sleep mixture made with different essential ingredients, and you could take one home with you to help you sleep. This reinforced the credibility of the science that comes from understanding how the ingredients work together.

A soothing on-the-go essential oil treatment

RR: There’s a line that you have called Plantscription— even just the name of that says a lot.

WL: Exactly.

RR: Tell me about your work with Dr. Andrew Weil. The healing properties of mushrooms are being used for all kinds of things now, and people are very excited about this new growth sector and how it might help us in lots of different ways. This is another area where you were way ahead of the game.

WL: We’ve been partnered with Dr. Weil for more than 20 years. I had the opportunity to hear him speak at a conference a few decades ago, and I thought that what he was saying was really fascinating. He’s sort of an iconoclast. He may have grown up traditionally educated in the medical world, but then he went in a somewhat different direction. When we started talking about a collaboration, we came upon the Mega-Mushroom idea

using the active ingredients within mushrooms. I like to believe we were ahead of our time because this is something that’s been a part of our offering for 20 years now.

RR: What’s the next big growth area that you’re excited about bringing to consumers?

WL: Sensory indulgence. When we’re born as humans, the most developed of our senses is the sense of the smell. Being exposed to certain smells brings back memories—I still remember the way my grandmother’s house smelled. So how do we bring that sensory piece into our everyday routine?

RR: Does your product Peace of Mind fit into what you’re talking about?

WL: Oh, yeah. Peace of Mind has been part of the brand since we launched. Consumers would try it in store as they walked by, and then they’d come back five minutes later and say, “What was that you gave me to try? It feels really great.” That was, if you will, our validator: “Hey, what we have is new, unique and different, but you should try this because it really works.”

RR: Since this is the month of October, let’s talk about the Estée Lauder Company’s breast cancer campaign, which was founded, of course, by your mother, Evelyn H. Lauder. Can you tell me a little bit about carrying on her legacy as the global ambassador for the campaign?

WL: I’m very proud of our breast cancer campaign and other initiatives that are able to use our platform as a company to not just sell a lot of lipstick, but actually do good. I have a pink ribbon on the lapel of every one of my jackets, and I can’t tell you the number of times over the last 30-plus years that somebody has come up to me to say that they had breast cancer, or their mother or sister or daughter had breast cancer, and were successfully treated. How meaningful. And to me, that’s a part of who we are as a company: We don’t just sell a lot of lipstick. Yes, we do sell a lot of lipstick, but we’re doing good with what we have because it makes a difference in people’s lives.

RR: What enlivens you about this line of work today, several decades into it?

WL: We do business all around the world, so I have the opportunity to see what cultures are like and learn about what’s going on, which is just fascinating to me. It keeps me energized. esteelauder.com

William P. Lauder

MAP OF THE FACE

Aesthetician Mariela Sanchez incorporates Eastern modalities in her skin tuneups.

BY BETH LANDMAN

The road to beauty for Mariela Sanchez began in a calamitous way. She was giving her toddler a bath when she slipped and hit her head on the tub, resulting in a brain injury that kept her from working, followed by Bell’s palsy, which temporarily paralyzed some of her facial muscles.

During her recovery, Sanchez turned to alternative routes, including acupuncture, face yoga, gua sha and meditation. She credits these methods with her rapid recovery. “Meditation and breath really helped with confusion symptoms, while Chinese medicine focused on my face as a way to assess my entire body’s well-being,” explains Sanchez, who is the founder of the holistic self-care company No Faux Mindful Beauty & Wellness.

She was so impressed by the effects of Eastern techniques that Sanchez is now studying to become a traditional Chinese medicine practitioner, and using many of these methods while performing facials at her No Faux Studio in the Gramercy Park area, at Satori House in Sag Harbor and via house calls in the Hamptons. Starting in October, she will be holding meridian face yoga retreats at the luxury resort Inness in Accord, New York, and she plans on opening her own spa sometime within the next two years.

Sanchez also incorporates treatments from neurology. “My functional neurologist was using tuning forks. I could be having the worst day with headaches and a twitching eye, but when he brought out the tuning forks, I immediately felt

better,” she recalls. She is using those forks, as well as facemapping readings, to assess her clients energetically, and adding such embellishments as sound therapy and plasma masks to her treatments. “In traditional Chinese medicine, we have different tools—the pulse, tongue and face—to understand what is going on with the organs,” she explains, noting that every organ is associated with an element, a season and a specific emotion.

“The kidney meridian, a contributor to longevity, is responsible for hormonal balance and is connected to winter. When we see dark circles under the eyes, we can tell the hormonal balance is off. It also signals adrenal fatigue.” Sanchez offers nutritional, as well as hands-on, remedies for the malady. “For hormonal imbalance, I recommend dark foods like blueberries and purple yams, and lots of water.”

Unlike many other aestheticians, Sanchez does not regard furrows as total enemies. “Wrinkles create a wonderful road map to let us know what is going on,” she says. “When my clients see themselves in the mirror, they should not be too judgmental. In Chinese medicine, we see aging and imperfections as a privilege that we earned.”

Still, the goal is to delay evidence of time, however hard one has worked to achieve it. “Aging is beautiful,” says Sanchez, “but we are able to slow the process.” nofauxwellness.com

Mariela Sanchez

A NEW ERA BROUGHT TO YOU BY UNION SQUARE EVENTS, A DANNY MEYER CONCEPT

Whether indulging in cocktails and lite bites for happy hour, savoring a meal on our lush garden terrace, or gathering for a special occasion in one of our private dining rooms, Good Ground Tavern is the perfect place for those seeking exceptional food and drinks in the heart of Hampton Bays.

RESERVE YOUR TABLE AT GOOD GROUND TAVERN

For reservations: (631) 763-6300 or CanoePlace.com @canoeplace @goodgroundtavern

Open year-long for Brunch · Lunch · Dinner · Happy Hour

WEEK | END

Recharge and reset with

Ellen McDermott Photography

The Ranch Hudson Valley’s custom fitness, nutrition and mindfulness programs.

Join us for a cozy dinner next to the ﬁreplace, let us host your next celebration, or, plan a stay in one of our charming rooms or cottages.

Winter, Spring, Summer, or Fall, we cannot wait for you to make yourself comfortable at LDV at the Maidstone.

MILES AND MILES BEFORE I SLEEP

Road-testing the wellness program at The Ranch’s fabulous new location in the Hudson Valley. BY

CRISTINA CUOMO

Fourteen years ago, The Ranch in Malibu began its mission of resetting the human operating system. Since then, it has developed a kind of cult following—people who want and need wellness guidance have migrated to the California shores to be pampered daily with five-star accommodations, strength training, long and rigorous hikes, yoga, meditation, massages, health diagnostics, sauna and cold plunges, and vegan nutritional offerings that sate the cynics. Now The Ranch has arrived on the other coast—in the Hudson Valley—and East Coasters are thrilled.

We hosted a Purist retreat there in the spring, and I watched how our group of empowered women achieved their goals through The Ranch’s body and mind resultsoriented signature program they set for us. Beginning with our arrival at the former J.P. Morgan estate and castle,

we did weight and waist measurements—which quickly diminished over the four-day stay.

The Ranch is set on a historic, private lakefront estate that spans 200 forested acres, and our group embarked on Harriman State Park hikes that took us to new heights. Through a combination of hiking and rock climbing—or what mountaineers call scrambling—we navigated a few steep gullies and rocks using our hands and feet and poles. After that, every morsel of the chef-created menu in the communal dining room overlooking the lake was especially delectable.

The connection we felt to each other was palpable— every moment was an opportunity to share vulnerabilities and stories. It was also a great way to launch into a new season, having set ourselves on a path of creating healthier

Guests are welcome to unwind in the property’s great room.

The 5,000-square-foot

habits while gaining muscle and losing unwanted fat, both physically and mentally. Additional services, such as contrast hydrotherapy, chiropractic treatments, energy healing and acupuncture, were icing on the wellness cake.

The miles of hiking jump-started a vibrant resilience in all of us and a mental clarity and peace of mind. When I caught up with my ladies post-retreat, they had all elegantly sifted through expected challenges waiting at home, thus ensuring the spiritually sustaining benefits of our visit to that magical place. theranchlife.com

solarium includes a heated indoor pool, cold plunge, infrared sauna and more for year-round wellness.

All meals are created with an abundance of fresh, locally sourced organic ingredients.

The Ranch offers custom itineraries for breakout sessions or fitness programming.

The Ranch is nestled on a 200-acre property.

A serene Junior Suite at The Ranch

LEAD WITH LOVE

Meet MoAnA Luu, founder of ManLuu, a design house that reimagines contemporary Creole luxury. INTERVIEW AND PHOTOGRAPHY BY CATHRINE WHITE

MoAnA Luu

CATHRINE WHITE: How do you, as an artist, find the peace and clarity that allows you to continue to create in this chaotic world?

MoAnA Luu: For me, clarity comes from grounding myself in my roots and staying connected to my purpose. It’s easy to get lost in the noise, but I remind myself daily of why I do this—the love for my heritage, my family, and the desire to share that beauty with the world. At the beginning of COVID, I moved to Sag Harbor. The time I spent there, especially near the ocean, allowed me to disconnect and reset. But most importantly, the community and friends I made there played a big role in inspiring me to continue creating.

CW: Your jewelry beautifully blends Creole heritage with contemporary design. How does your French West Indies background influence your creative process, and the pieces you create?

ML: My background is everything. Growing up in Martinique, I was immersed in a world of vibrant colors and textures, and a rich cultural history. Creole culture is a blend of African, European, Indian and Indigenous influences, and that fusion is central to my creative process. Every piece I create is a reflection of this cultural melting pot, from the intricacy of woven rattan, the symbolism of gold and the craftsmanship that has been passed down through generations. My work is a tribute to all the artisans and storytellers who came before me.

CW: Can you share a specific piece from your collection that holds significant personal or cultural meaning to you?

ML: One that stands out is the Doudou maxi ring. It’s not just a beautiful design; it carries a deep emotional connection. “Doudou” is Creole for “sweetheart,” and the piece symbolizes love, tenderness and a free-spirited sense of self. I wanted to create something that transcended gender, and could be worn by anyone. It’s a nod to the affection and warmth that is central to Caribbean culture, but it’s also a personal homage to my memories growing up in Martinique, watching the architectural lines of fish traps made of rattan on the beach. That was my first inspiration, where love and community were at the heart of everything.

CW: What advice would you give to aspiring designers, particularly women from diverse backgrounds, who wish to make their mark in the world of jewelry design?

ML: Be authentic, be bold and trust your instincts. As women, especially those from diverse backgrounds, we often feel the pressure to conform to certain

standards. But it’s our uniqueness that gives us strength. Don’t be afraid to bring your culture, your experiences and your voice into your work. Also, surround yourself with people who believe in you and can uplift you. Mentorship is invaluable.

CW: For over 10 years, you have been a communication strategist and philanthropist, involved in improving health care for developing countries for the global nonprofit The Heart Fund. How has that shaped your view as an entrepreneur?

ML: When I met my husband, he had been a humanitarian for many years, and I wanted to support him as a partner in life using my expertise. Working with The Heart Fund and him has taught me the importance of purpose beyond profit. As an entrepreneur, it’s easy to get caught up in the business side of things, but my work with the NGO reminds me that we can use our platforms to create lasting, positive change. It’s about giving back and making a difference, not just in your immediate circle but in the global community. That’s something I carry with me in everything I do.

CW: I believe that without losses, we can’t be fully developed balanced human beings. What are your thoughts on loss, and how has it contributed to your life?

ML: Loss is one of life’s greatest teachers. It’s painful, but it brings clarity, and it forces you to grow in ways you never imagined. I’ve experienced loss personally and professionally and each time, I’ve found a new strength within myself. It teaches you resilience and makes you appreciate what you have while pushing you to keep moving forward with more intention and gratitude.

CW: What lessons about resilience and empowerment have you learned from the women in your life on this path so far?

ML: I’ve been incredibly fortunate to be surrounded by strong women throughout my life—my mother, grandmothers and mentors. From them, I’ve learned that resilience doesn’t mean you don’t fall; it means you get up, again and again. They’ve taught me that empowerment comes from within, from knowing who you are and standing firm in that truth, even when the world tries to shake you.

CW: How do you stay on task, focused and balanced?

ML: It’s definitely a challenge! I’m driven by passion in everything I do, but I’ve learned the power of routine and mindfulness. I set clear goals and break them into smaller tasks, which helps me stay focused. Balance, for me, is about knowing when to push and when to pull back. It’s a dance, but it’s one that gets easier the more you practice it. manluu.com

REDEFINING THE ART OF HAUTE JEWELRY

Acclaimed for her exquisite craftsmanship and the use of rare gemstones, ﬁne jeweler Neha Dani explains how she transforms each creation into a one-of-a-kind masterpiece, rich with captivating stories.

My jewelry design is a reflection of deep narratives, where form, color and texture converge to create wearable art. Each piece is crafted with grace, merging the fluidity of nature with the dynamic interplay of light and movement, embodying both art and adornment. My creative process is sculptural, meditative and deeply personal, where every gemstone is hand-selected to resonate with the essence of the design.

This mindful approach has garnered global recognition, and I am honored by the awards that celebrate my commitment to pushing the boundaries of conventional jewelry design. Participation in prestigious art fairs continues to inspire me, and I am thrilled to showcase my latest creations, celebrating individuality and nature’s unparalleled beauty, returning to Palm Beach from December 11-15 at The Colony Hotel. nehadani.com

Courtesy of Neha Dani

From right: Aylin Earring, Akiko Earring

From left: Annali Cuff, Nuray Ring

Spend time in picturesque autumn landscapes at the Southampton Fall Festival, NYC Marathon, Field + supply Fall MRKT and more.

AT A GLANCE

Engaging activities to enjoy as the Hamptons and NYC transition into fall.

BY AISLINN MACARTHUR

OCTOBER 4-14

32nd Hamptons International Film Festival

Expanding this year, the Hamptons International Film Festival will take place over the course of 11 days, bringing a compelling lineup of films, events and cultural conversations as it continues its tradition of showcasing the very best in contemporary cinema. Ticket packages from $200. Events at various locations in the Hamptons; hamptonsfilmfest.org

OCTOBER 5

An Evening With David Sedaris

Join author and comedian David Sedaris as he takes the stage at Guild Hall for the second time. Celebrated for his wit and humorous writing on everyday life, the author will be offering a selection of all-new readings and recollections, followed by a Q&A and book signing. Tickets from $100. Guild Hall, East Hampton; guildhall.org

OCTOBER 6

Stroll to the Sea Dog Walk

ARF is rallying animal lovers once again for its 31st Annual Dog Walk. The event gathers hundreds for a festive 2-mile walk from the historic Mulford Farm to the beach and back in support of the cats and dogs at the Animal Rescue Fund. The walk is followed by activities including giveaways, raffles, an auction, food and fun contests. Adult registration from $40. Mulford Farm, East Hampton; give.arfhamptons.org

OCTOBER 11 - 13

Field + Supply Fall MRKT

Supply Fall MRKT. This curated market in upstate New York offers food, fashion, and an array of handmade goods all shown and sold by local vendors. Tickets from $20. Hutton Brickyards, Kingston; fieldandsupply.com

OCTOBER 19

Madame Butterfly: An Adaptation

Attend an enchanting performance this fall as the Bay Street Theater shows Madame Butterfly: An Adaptation, presented by the Divaria Opera. Directed by the acclaimed J.A. Diaz, the production promises a beautiful cultural experience that is ideal for opera enthusiasts as well as newcomers. Tickets from $25. The Bay Street Theater, Sag Harbor; baystreet.org

OCTOBER 18

Southampton Fall Festival

Embrace the fall spirit with activities, games, food trucks and more at the Southampton Fall Festival. This lively event is not just a celebration of the season, but also the perfect opportunity to get into the Halloween spirit with pumpkindecorating activities. Free entry. Good Ground Park, 9 Squiretown Road, #A (Main Entrance), Hampton Bays; southamptontownny.gov

NOVEMBER 3

NYC Marathon

Immerse yourself in the cultural experience of the best in modern craft and design at the 10th annual Field +

Get ready for one of New York’s most iconic events, the New York City Marathon. Participants will take on the challenging course through all five boroughs of the metropolis. The whole city will have its eyes on this event. Starting line is at Fort Wadsworth, near the VerrazzanoNarrows Bridge, on Staten Island; nyrr.org

VIBRANT

Dr. Stacie Stephenson

A PHILANTHROPIST’S GUIDE TO GIVING

What better time to be charitable than the holiday season? Dr. Stacie Stephenson offers actionable tips on how to get involved and give back.

The word “philanthropist” may be a familiar term, or it may seem far away from your personal experience. Isn’t philanthropy something only wealthy people do? Actually, it simply means helping those in need, out of a desire to promote the well-being of others. That’s something anyone can do. It doesn’t have to be about money. Everyone has something to give. It could be time, talent, creativity, nurturing, strength, skill, courage, resolve, inspiration or just a helping hand.

Giving has always been important to me. It makes me happy, and I believe it has helped me to find my purpose. At this stage in my life, I am devoted to a more traditional version of philanthropy, but earlier in my life, I channeled my giving through my training as a functional medicine health practitioner. I sought to change people’s lives by providing the knowledge and means to take ownership over their health. My first job and practice were in a relatively low-income part of the Midwest where people already had trouble accessing good health care. The integrative practice I brought to that area was very new at the time, but I wanted everyone, despite their income or background, to be able to have access to personalized, empowering, natural health care and information about how lifestyle affects health. That kind of giving also remains a big part of what I do today in my media outreach and book writing, but it was all I had to give back when I was just getting started.

This holiday season, consider that you have much to give, in your own way, and the effort will be worthwhile. The energy you expend to offer your resources to those in need will flow back to you tenfold, so consider that finding your own way to practice philanthropy can be an investment in yourself, as well as in the causes that matter most to you.

The Health Benefits of Giving

Giving is good for your health. Scientists have studied the biochemistry of giving, and know that when a person offers help to another, the reward centers in the brain are stimulated as the brain releases endorphins, serotonin, dopamine and oxytocin, which are associated with positive feelings of pleasure and a happy mood, as well as a sense of connection with others. People who give also have lower blood pressure and reduced levels of the stress hormone cortisol, and they live longer.

Multiple studies have shown that giving, such as volunteering or simply doing something nice for someone else, has measurable health benefits. One study of seniors showed that those who volunteered their time to help others had reduced dementia risk, better general health and fewer functional limitations. Volunteering has also been associated with longer life span, as well as lower blood pressure. Researchers have theorized that volunteering often provides an abundance of opportunities for improving health, such as an increase in outlets for physical movement, positive social interactions and beneficial cognitive challenges.

Giving has mental as well as physical health benefits, including lower risk of depression, less anxiety, increased feelings of self-esteem and more reported happiness. According to research on the benefits of volunteering in one study, the psychological advantages of giving were most distinct in terms of the effect on social integration. Those people who were less socially integrated, meaning they had fewer strong social connections before they began volunteering, benefited the most, as volunteering gave them an opportunity for social participation and human connection.

Multiple studies have also revealed that those who perform generous acts such as charitable giving and volunteering report an improved quality of life and greater happiness. Givers report feeling happier when they spend money on other people than when they spend it on themselves, and this positive feeling motivates them to continue to act generously. According to a report on The Science of Generosity, those who perform acts of kindness, even small ones like picking up something someone else has dropped, feel increased happiness. Giving is also associated with lower rates of job burnout and more successful romantic relationships.

You, the Philanthropist

Could you be a philanthropist? Of course. There are always others that need help, and causes that are dear to your heart. My husband is passionate about giving to cancer research because his mother passed away from the disease, and he always felt that more could have been done to help her. As a result of this passion, he founded Gateway for Cancer Research in 1991, to exclusively fund

Phase I and Phase II cancer clinical trials. This research is crucial to the discovery of innovative new treatments for all types of cancer.

I’ve spent most of my life pursuing the secrets to health and wellness. So much of my giving is related to that passion. What matters to you? Where can you help?

Maybe you want to help children or animals, disaster victims or disadvantaged seniors, according to your personal experience. Religion, education, the arts, preservation of the natural world—these are just a few of the possibilities. You may already know what speaks to you.

What happens next? Think about where you are richest. Is it financially, or are you rich in time, or talent, or passion? Or do you just want to bring more kindness to your community? Here are some simple suggestions to get you started:

Financial giving: Set up a small monthly donation to a cause of your choice, so the money is withdrawn automatically. You probably won’t notice a small amount, but over time it can accumulate to make a meaningful difference to an organization or group that needs the support.

Donating time: If you would rather give time than money, consider volunteering for a local organization that needs hands on deck. Let them know what you can do, and how much time you have to offer. Ask them what they need, and find what you are willing to do to help. That could mean spending an hour a week reading or tutoring children at a local school, visiting seniors at an assisted living facility once a month, stuffing envelopes, knocking on doors or working at a phone bank, helping with fundraising events, walking

If you have children, consider including them in your philanthropy work so they learn the love of helping others.

dogs or petting cats at the local shelter, volunteering at your church, or serving food at a soup kitchen over the holidays. Whether you do something daily, weekly, monthly or yearly, your contribution will make a difference.

Offering talents: Contribute your special skills. If you can write or design well, you could donate your services to a group’s newsletter, brochures or other published elements, such as posters for a local theater. If you can play the piano, you could volunteer to accompany a children’s or church choir. If you are a natural in front of an audience, you might be an emcee at an event. If you are a whiz with numbers, you could help with accounting.

Giving what you love doing: Think about what you enjoy doing most. Are you good with kids or animals, do you love performing or working behind the scenes, do you thrive in a church environment or when working outdoors? Do you love to work in a group, or do you prefer to work alone? A key benefit that comes from giving is being an active part of something you really enjoy, while knowing you’re helping someone else in need.

Small acts of kindness: Giving doesn’t have to be quite so formal. The two-way benefits exist in even small moments of kindness. A compliment to someone who is having a bad day, a kind word to the store clerk or barista, letting someone in ahead of you in traffic, getting the door for someone with their hands full, a sympathetic smile or an offer of help to the parent whose child is having a hard time at the park, can make all the difference in their day and yours. Just imagine if we all defaulted to kindness, what a different world it would be. Your small act could change the course of someone’s day, or who knows—even their life.

The more you choose to give, the better it feels, as long as you don’t give more than you have, which can result in burnout and stress. Don’t forget to take care of yourself, too. You can’t pour from an empty cup, so keep replenishing your own resources, and you will continue to have resources to offer to others.

The last thing to consider about giving is the example it sets for others. My husband and I want to be sure our children learn the joy and responsibility of giving. When you include your children in your service work and acts of kindness, they too will learn how good it feels to give. The wonderful thing about giving is that it increases the flow of energy and connection between people, and I think that’s the main reason why it is so powerfully beneficial to both the giver and the receiver. drstaciestephenson.com

Offering time, talents and kindness is just as valuable as financial giving.

FOOD IS MEDICINE

A bowl of hearty pumpkin soup can support the skin, immune system and brain, due to its high levels of vitamins C and A.

Monika Grabkowska

FRENCH EXCELLENCE

Purist speaks with Water Mill’s Bistro Été co-owners, Cordon Bleu-trained Chef Arie Pavlou and his wife, Liz. BY CRISTINA CUOMO

CRISTINA CUOMO: How did you devise your menu, rich in foie gras offerings, even a foie gras ice cream? Why is this a recurring theme on the menu?

ARIE PAVLOU: Why not? “Foie Gras Friday” emerged from a rather interesting experience. When I was on the North Fork, two ladies threatened to put me out of business for serving it. They posed as PETA, copying and pasting a letter that was sent to hundreds of thousands of people to boycott a high-end grocery store in California for selling foie gras, and replaced the name of the grocery story with my name. The local newspaper found that the letter with my name was not from PETA, but from someone posing as them. Foie gras is very controversial, but there is a big demand for it and many people enjoy it. I wanted to incorporate it into seafoods and desserts to offer something more than savory.

CC: Tell me about the Dry-Aged Meat Club.

LIZ PAVLOU: First, you consult with Chef Arie to choose a side of beef right for you. Once you’ve selected your cut, we tag it with your name and you brand your initials with extremely hot irons; it’s so much fun. Chef Arie then ages the meat and you can enjoy a steak at any time.

CC: Where did you two hail from before you came here?

LP: I gained my hospitality experience as an event planner at a private country club in Westhampton; however, Chef Arie’s background is much more exotic. He was born and raised in Cyprus. His family moved to the U.S. when he was in high school, but after that he moved back to Europe and studied at Le Cordon Bleu in Paris. He furthered his training under two-star Michelin Chef Philippe Da Silva in Provence.

CC: How did you meet?

LP: Chef Arie was my teacher. When my sons became school-aged, I enrolled in a culinary class at Suffolk County Community College. I’ll never forget my first day when Chef Arie walked in off his motorcycle wearing a fur coat, Viking helmet and a beaming smile from ear to ear. I was so attracted to his vibe but our stars weren’t aligned at that time. We reconnected a few years later. He was very polite and gentlemanly, and it was the first time in my life I made the first move.

CC: What have been the most popular dishes?

AP: Our fish special with Champagne truffle sauce, truffle grilled cheese and our house-made pappardelle with fresh shaved truffles. I go through an insane amount of truffles.

LP: In my opinion, zucchini spaghetti, hands down. For a lot of people, summer in the Hamptons is nonstop entertaining, socializing and dining out several nights a week. Our customers find it, as I’ve been told, “lifesaving” to be able to enjoy a healthy, low-calorie meal that is still delicious.

CC: The ice creams are all homemade—how did you curate this unconventional list of flavors?

AP: Inspiration for my ice cream comes from one of my favorite Willy Wonka quotes: “And the snozzberries taste like snozzberries.” Our ouzo ice cream, which we created for Greek Easter, tastes just like ouzo. Some flavors happen simply by “Hmm, that should be an ice cream,” like the PB&J, or a customer request like the vanilla-caramel swirl. bistroete.com

GARDEN OF KNOWLEDGE

Teens for Food Justice introduces the joys and responsibilities of indoor farming to middle and high school students. BY

JIM SERVIN

The air is fresh with hope and growth in an enclosed corner of a cafeteria at Manhattan’s Martin Luther King Jr. High School, where 1,300 square feet are devoted to the cultivation of lush, crisp hydroponic vegetables— lettuce, kale, cilantro, Thai basil, red peppers and more— on rows of shelves reaching to the rafters. Welcome to an urban farm created to nourish, teach, delight and inspire students as well as benefit food-insecure members of the community. It’s a serious venture, yielding 10,000 pounds of produce each year, and one of six such farms in 20 participating schools, which deliver a total of 45,000 pounds of produce annually, feeding 7,500 students. An imminent expansion of the program in New York City and Denver promises to raise those figures to 110,000 pounds of produce a year for 13,000 students.

“It’s always the perfect summer day in here,” says Katherine Soll, Teens for Food Justice chief executive officer and founder, surveying the cool, clean environment, a pesticide-free realm where ladybugs have been released to eat the aphids, fans whir and full-spectrum growth lights specifically designed for hydroponic farming shine 18 hours a day. “Indoor agriculture is an incredibly elegant solution for cultivating leafy green produce, as it uses one-tenth of the water of conventional farming,” Soll says. “It’s going to

The program grows 45,000 pounds of produce annually, feeding 7,500 students.

be an important part of how we grow food.” A closer look at the shelves of crops reveals motivating Post-it notes and heart-shaped drawings from student farmers to their plant progeny: “Grow, plant, grow” “You can do it,“ “Slay,” “Plants make you healthy,” “Anything is possible.”

It’s one of many signs of how strongly the project has connected with students. Says Tara Swibel, co-founder of Teens for Food Justice and a successful Broadway producer (Tony-nominated at age 26 for co-producing the musical Xanadu) who in 2012 brought her idea of hydroponic farming in schools to Soll, founder of a predecessor city organization, Students for Service: “They love the farm. They own the farm. Some kids come to Teens for Food Justice because they love the cooking aspect of it. Some kids love it for the social justice advocacy training. The program gives kids confidence in themselves and their ability to be leaders in the community.”

In the process, seeds are planted for thriving futures. “If you set a good table, and give everybody a seat at the table, nourish them and give them a space for dialogue,” says Soll, “think about all the problems we could solve in that environment.”

Tickets for the October 22 Feast 2024 Gala benefiting Teens for Food Justice can be purchased at teensforfoodjustice.org/gala

HAMPTONS INTERNATIONAL FILM FESTIVAL

OcTOBER 4-14 / 2024

This year’s poster by Mary Heilmann, who is profiled on page 72. Details of must-see films at this year’s fest are on the following pages. Go to hamptons filmfest.org for complete upto-the-minute listings.

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Adria Arjona

SUIT BY ALEXANDRE VAUTHIER, BRACELETS BY TIFFANY & CO.

ALL ABOUT ADRIA

>Rising actress Adria Arjona makes a beautiful breakthrough as both star and producer of Los Frikis, showing at the Hamptons International Film Festival. The tragicomic indie depicts a true-life story about a gang of Cuban punk rockers who go to the ultimate extremes to create their own world of music and mayhem in a state asylum. As the female focus of the film, playing Maria, a sanatorium nurse, Aronja taps into her rich multicultural influences—Puerto Rican, Guatemalan, Mexican and American—to bring to the screen a dynamic portrayal that has critics cheering and the actress declaring it her personal best, alongside memorable performances in the TV series True Detective, and films Father of the Bride and Hit Man. Cristina Cuomo talks with Arjona about her wellness rituals, family ties, the importance of community, and her skyrocketing career.

CRISTINA CUOMO: Los Frikis is coming to the Hamptons International Film Festival. It’s inspired by real-life events that took place in Cuba in the early 1990s, when a group of punk rockers in search of freedom infected themselves with HIV so that they could live in a state asylum and create utopia based around playing music. The performances are so compelling. Tell me about what intrigued you about the film.

ADRIA ARJONA: When I first read the script, I was so baffled by the fact that I had never heard about this story; it was a point in Latin American history that I didn’t quite know existed. It just felt so punk rock and cool, with an edge to it. There was heartbreak, comedy and two huge love stories in the movie. Filming it was the best experience of my life. It is the most important movie I have made, and probably will ever make. A lot of these actors had never left Cuba before filming this movie. Seeing life through their perspective was such a gift.

CC: I’m excited to talk to you about the movie, but I wanted to dive in a little bit to your heritage and multicultural upbringing. Your mother is Puerto Rican and your father is Guatemalan and you grew up in Mexico City and then lived in Miami before moving to New York City. How has your multicultural upbringing influenced your worldview and your work?

AA: I think it defines me as an artist, for sure. I have a Guatemalan background and a Puerto Rican background, that islander energy, but also a little bit more reserved Central American side. I flip-flop between them;

“FILMING LOS FRIKIS WAS THE BEST EXPERIENCE OF MY LIFE. IT IS PROBABLY THE MOST IMPORTANT MOVIE I WILL EVER MAKE.”

there are some characters that need a little bit more of one than the other. I think it’s an identity that I really dance in. Growing up, I really struggled to identify with one or the other. As I’m getting older, it’s so cool that I get to be more than one thing, that I’m not patriotic toward one land, but that I can really pull and grab from so many different places. I feel so lucky that I’ve been able to travel and meet different people and really stimulate and challenge my brain. At the end of the day, what I kind of steal from is people when I create characters. I’ve been lucky that I’ve been exposed to a lot of it. A lot of people all over the world think that Latin Americans are just one thing, and really we’re diverse within our community. My Puerto Rican family cannot be more different than my Guatemalan family, and I also grew up in Mexico, and that culture cannot be more different. I just feel really lucky that I have all these little forces to grab from.

CC: Your father is a singer-songwriter. Do you have music in your blood, too?

AA: I don’t. I think I was destined to be a pop star in my head, but I can’t sing, so that didn’t go off very well. It’s funny. When your father is so good at something you kind of shy away from that, and I did growing up. My dad put me in music class and wanted me to play all these instruments. I really wanted to find my own things, so I gravitated toward dance and acting. Now I kind of regret it. I should have listened to my father and picked up an instrument. I would have been an amazing guitar player by now at 32, after years of practice.

CC: So you moved to New York and attended acting school. Did you always want to be an actor?

AA: Moving around a lot, I kind of got into a shell and started getting really shy. My dad said, You’ve got to get out of your shell. Take photography classes. Get into acting. I d id. I got into acting and I found my voice within it. I found escapism within the art form—I could be whoever I wanted, whenever I wanted, and it was so freeing. I just fell in love with it, and then I really didn’t want to start working until I felt ready. I didn’t audition for years. I went to my first audition at 19 or 20. I just wanted to make sure that I knew what I was doing, that I felt comfortable.

CC: Also, early in your career you got cast in Season 2 of True Detective

AA: I’d rewatched Episode 5 of Season 1 of True Detective over and over. I had never seen a sequence be so impactful. I was l ike, I have to be on that show. By that point I had graduated from The Lee Strasberg Theatre & Film Institute, and I was more confident than ever. I thought, I can do anything. So much so that I finagled and lied my way through into that audition. They weren’t

To stay physically and mentally sharp,

Arjona enjoys boxing, running and self-care rituals.

JEWELRY DESIGNED BY JEAN SCHLUMBERGER FOR TIFFANY & CO.

“I

JUST LIKE KEEPING THINGS AS AUTHENTIC

needing just any actor, so I called the casting office and pretended to be my manager. It was this whole thing that I did, but I got the job. By the time I was on set, I had never felt so much pressure, and have never felt so lucky.

CC: The past few years have been really big for you, with Father of the Bride and Hit Man, which everybody loved. You’re in a very enviable position right now, with the projects you’re doing. What kinds of roles do you relish playing?

AA: I always want to keep challenging myself. I love bouncing between characters and between genres and styles, whether it’s a movie or a TV show, a streaming film or a theatrical release. I just like jumping back and forth. It keeps me incredibly entertained, and it keeps me growing. My next movie is Splitsville with Dakota Johnson, directed by Michael Angelo Covino. It’s a small movie, funny, perky and amazing. I’m so excited to jump into it. People are asking me, When is your superhero role coming? When is your big thing? I just really like keeping things as authentic to myself in the moment as possible. CC: Tell me how you prepared for the role of Maria in Los Frikis.

AA: A lot of it was through conversations with [writerdirectors] Michael Schwartz and Tyler Nilson. Once we got to Santo Domingo, to Las Terrenas, the environment

and the heat did something that was interesting to all of us. Tyler never wears shoes, and I didn’t either, for two months while filming this movie. It was so freeing. Maria is such a simple character, and also very complex. When it came to creating her look, I never stepped into the hair or makeup trailer. I put salt water in my hair and cream on my face, whatever she would have had available to her. I worked on my accent with an accent coach, and then threw that out of the window the second I met the actors. The best lesson in the world was just to be with them and hang out with them. They sort of contaminated me with this beautiful light and joy that being a Cuban gives you from birth. Eros de la Puente is probably one of the best actors out there, and it’s his first movie. It was like a master class, working with Héctor Medina.

It’s really cool for Tyler and Michael to showcase new Latin American talent. You have to understand that people never do that, especially with Latin Americans— they hire someone known. Tyler and Michael said, We have to go as authentic as we can. They got first-time actors from the island. I was a producer on the movie and I was part of those conversations. It was important to them for me to be a producer in this film as well, and for me to have a voice in it. They were the first to give me a seat at the table. I’m forever thankful to them.

Arjona, fifth from right, with fellow Los Frikis co-stars

TO MYSELF IN THE MOMENT AS POSSIBLE.”

CC: Community is so powerful in this film. It’s really quite beautiful.

AA: It really is. That also came from the way that Michael and Tyler make a film. We all lived in a hotel together; I was across the hall from a lot of these actors. If one room had a party, you could hear it. We were constantly together— before, during and after filming. Eating breakfast, lunch and dinner together. On the weekends. we would all hang out. I got a bunch of snacks and drinks, and so my living room was constantly a flow of people coming in and out. We really did live together, and it never got overwhelming. It was such a beautiful experience.

CC: What is your favorite thing to do to stay fit, while on and off the set?

AA: I love boxing, because it has both physical and mental elements. You can’t think of anything else while you’re boxing but the target. Running is another big one. I create a lot while I’m running. I just get that runner’s high and start imagining the movie, the character. When I’m filming, I try to stay physically active, and make sure that I’m eating really healthy and resting as much as I can.

CC:.What about a beauty regimen? What is your skin care routine?

AA: I ice my face every morning. I try to just put something cold on it to wake up. I make sure that I’m always really

hydrated. I don’t have any sort of tricks beyond staying hydrated, resting and eating well. Just keeping things really healthy from the inside out.

CC: What’s the best advice you’ve ever been given?

AA: One that I really lived by is, don’t compare yourself to other people. Stay true to yourself and be authentic— that’s the only way you stand out. Not by being more, not by being less. By being exactly you.

CC: What inspires you about New York City? Do you have a favorite restaurant, a favorite park?

AA: When I lived in NYC, I was so broke that I really just loved going to delis and sharing sandwiches with my friends. I really reminisce about those moments. New York has so many facets. There are so many different versions of New York City. I love Union Square. That’s where I went to school, and it’s the best place to go people-watch. It’s chaotic and wild. There’s something about it that reminds me of the days of going to school and to that Starbucks, getting a black coffee and reading lines in Union Square. The beauty of New York is that you share spaces with all kinds of people. No matter who you are, we’re all in this big melting pot. It’s really beautiful, a great place to go be a character. Los Frikis screens at the Hamptons International Film Festival on October 5 at 7PM and October 6 at noon, both at East Hampton Regal UA.

Arjona and Eros de la Puente in Los Frikis

A WORKING-CLASS HERO

Iconic actress Patricia Clarkson steps into the shoes of equal pay activist Lilly Ledbetter in Lilly, delivering a performance of quiet dignity and profound strength. BY RAY ROGERS

Patricia Clarkson’s contributions to the realm of acting cannot be underestimated. Over the course of four decades, the elegant New Orleans-born, New Yorkbased thespian has consistently wowed audiences in one role after the next, on the silver screen, in television series (her Six Feet Under wild card was especially thrilling to watch) and onstage. Her complex portrayal of a drugaddicted artist in High Art helped solidify her reputation for mesmerizing performances earlier in her career. That was followed by unforgettable turns in Todd Haynes’ brilliant Far From Heaven, Pieces of April—which garnered Clarkson Golden Globe and Oscar nominations—and dozens more, including, more recently, her haunting role as a mother with Munchausen syndrome by proxy in the HBO miniseries Sharp Objects, which netted her a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actress.

Clarkson will be at this year’s Hamptons International Film Festival in support of her new film, Lilly, which tells the real-life saga of Alabama tire factory worker Lilly Ledbetter, who fought her employer, Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co., for back pay after finding out her male colleagues were earning substantially more over the course of her career for the same work. Because of her tireless fight, eventually substantive change was made: President Barack Obama’s first legislation in the Oval Office was the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act of 2009.

Ray Rogers: Lilly is such an incredible true story of the

women’s rights activist Lilly Ledbetter. You and Lilly are both Southern, but from very different backgrounds. How did you find your way into this character?

Patricia Clarkson: Well, I wanted to make sure that she wasn’t a character, that she was flesh and blood. I think that’s the best way to honor someone who is one of my heroes—I play so many unsavory characters, but to play such a remarkable human being! I’m one of five daughters of a powerful mother who ran the city of New Orleans, so I know what it is to be surrounded by great women. We all worship Lilly Ledbetter. I didn’t want it to be a portrayal. I wanted to put meat on the bones. I wanted to make her as true and real as I could and not copy. I researched. I watched, of course, tapes of her. I didn’t want to meet her because I wanted to bring as much of me as I could into it, to make it as true as I could. As actors, it is our obligation to portray someone to the truest nth degree that we can find in our souls. And everything must be above and below the waist. All parts of us are required.

Her emotional life was so powerful to me. This woman who really came from nothing and did not have a profound love from a mother. Her mother loved her, but really never expressed it. She had a very hard life growing up. She meets the love of her life, and then she goes to work late in life, which my mother did also. The sacrifices she made, and working in a factory at 60, her trials and tribulations all hit me very hard. I know the way she sounds. I grew up here and I have one of my

dearest aunts from Alabama. I know that sound well, that mountain sound. It was just such a great privilege [to play her], but I also had to lose that. I had to realize that for right now, Patty, she’s just Lilly Ledbetter. She’s just a woman who has a struggle in life and I had to bring everything I have. And that’s what I did, every single day.

RR: Have you met her?

PC: I’ve spoken to her briefly. She’s a very dignified woman and I’m just thrilled that she is very supportive of this film and of me. I’ll meet her in the flesh for the first time at the Hamptons International Film Festival. It’s going to be a big, momentous thing. She’s so near and dear to me.

RR: She endured such abuse in that workplace. The tires flung at her, the vehicle rammed into her.

PC: And just constant. And yet she couldn’t live without the money, and she had nowhere to go. She had no way out, so to speak, but you think of the hours she put in and making so much less than all of these men and none of them cared. And they thought she wouldn’t catch on.

RR: What were some of the hardest scenes to film?

PC: Well, those tires are really heavy. And I was 61 when I was doing it. I’m like, how many takes are we going to do? I thought my god, at 60 she was lugging…and I did it, but she was doing it every day when they put her back on the line, further abuse. The things on the hour that she suffered were unconscionable. To then win [her initial suit] and have it overturned…it was wrong. It was abuse. I’m glad she kept fighting. iI’s such a statement of who she is—she really is otherworldly in that she just didn’t give up.

RR: She’s a true hero.

When we have the premiere, they’ll all come up for it.

RR: There’s that stat that came on the screen that women were just making 78 cents on the dollar to men’s salaries back then. That has crept up to just 84 cents. What will it take to change this?

PC: You know Liz Cheney the other day, when she was doing that now very famous interview where she said her father [former vice president, Dick Cheney] is voting for Kamala Harris, and she called Trump and Vance misogynistic pigs? She just said women, we’ve had enough. We are done with this. We’re not going to continue to battle inequality. It’s absurd. Everybody benefits when women are equal. It’s that simple. And we’re not dumb. When I first started in Hollywood I was making nothing. I wasn’t being paid what my male counterparts were being paid. Never. Now, that of course would never happen in a million years. The first thing I say is: What is he making?

RR: Have you been to this film festival before?

“When was the last time we had a Norma Rae, a Silkwood or Erin Brockovich? We need these stories.”

—PATRICIA CLARKSON

PC: Several times. It’s beautiful, and I have friends who live in the Hamptons. The festival is fun, laid-back and people are deeply appreciative of the films. I think this film is such an unusual film. When was the last time we had a Norma Rae, a Silkwood or Erin Brockovich? We just haven’t told these stories in a long, long time. There was a beautiful film about Shirley Chisholm [Shirley] out earlier this year that was wonderful. We need these stories.

RR: What do you like to do when you’re visiting the Hamptons?

PC: Yes. When she spoke at the DNC [in 2012] I remember watching that. I never knew I was going to be playing her, but I remember watching that speech of hers and I thought, My god! My mother and I spoke about it, and it was just astonishing to see her there.

RR: You come from a big family. Like you, I also have four older sisters.

PC: Oh, my goodness!

RR: It’s such a privilege and it’s made me a different kind of man. I have a different sensitivity to the world and I’m so beyond grateful to the women in my life.

PC: I’m home in New Orleans right now, helping a sister of mine who is moving. So, I’m getting to see three of my sisters who live here—we’re actually going to have a sister dinner tonight. I value the love of my sisters, and they’re excited about me and Lilly They’re like, Oh Patty, you’re not playing someone who’s killed their children! [laughs]

PC: I just went to visit a friend recently. She has a dog and we walk in town, go to the beach. We get together with great friends. I went to the fantastic Rita Cantina and had amazing Mexican food and margaritas. I love Rita’s. I saw John Hickey when I was out there, which was fabulous. I just adore him. He’s a great actor and a great human being. I can’t get enough of him. I have such a crush on him.

RR: As Purist has a focus on wellness, I’m curious how you stay healthy and centered on set and off?

PC: I work out, I walk a lot. That’s very important to me. I try to use clean products in my house and on my face and in my body. I try to eat healthy for the most part. I’ve been gluten-free and dairy-free for a very long time. But the thing that keeps me most healthy is just the love of my friends and the people around me. I have extraordinary friends, and my friendships are just my lifeline—that keeps me very healthy. I know it really does.

Lilly screens on October 10 at 5:15PM at Guild Hall, and on October 14 at 11:30AM at East Hampton Regal UA1.

ON THE ROAD WITH MARY HEILMANN

The East End artist lends her wanderer’s eye to the poster of this year’s Hamptons International Film Festival. BY REGINA WEINREICH

A plane of midnight blue with a single broken line against black suggests a road in the poster for the 32nd annual Hamptons International Film Festival: This variation of Mary Heilmann’s signature painting, “Maricopa Highway” (2014), after cities in Arizona and California, offers a definitive path for cinematic art in this unique beachy location, now the artist’s home and main studio.

In a new documentary, Mary Heilmann: Road, Waves & Hallucinations, the artist, a Bridgehampton resident, says, “My paintings are informed by this biographical story— what I saw driving around America, on roads, looking at surfing, looking at waves.” Hallucinations, visions from the alternative San Francisco culture she got involved in as a teen, inform “my nonobjective abstract painting.

“I like to sit on the beach and look at the waves—at sunset—I watch the sun go down behind me and the moon come up over the ocean, and then I look at the ocean waves, the sky, the sea, the sand to get inspiration for color.”

Mary Heilmann’s life story begins on the West Coast: her youthful desire to be cloistered like a nun giving way to a “mission to be someone and have an identity in the world. That was unusual,” she says of the difficulty for women to break through in art. Her father was a surfer, and an engineer who built freeways. She marveled at the math of that. “I love looking at how the freeways were built—geometric.”

When she was 13, he died of cancer. She recalls wearing

black stockings and meeting the Beat poets as a high schooler in San Francisco, living near Haight Street. Rebellious, painting “to make the sculptors mad,” she came to Manhattan to be part of the art world. She tells vivid tales of downtown life and the dealers. Occupying a studio across from The Odeon on West Broadway, she says, Philip Glass stopped by to fix her pipes—“he was my plumber.”

She moved to Chinatown; Steve Reich came and played. Holly Solomon climbed the stairs wearing a mink coat and bought work with wads of cash. In the mid ’70’s, she moved to Tribeca. By the early ’80s, she left Holly Solomon.

Looking for a dealer, Heilmann called her friend Ross Bleckner, who introduced her to Pat Hearn. Holly Solomon was conservative and commercial. Pat Hearn was more radical.

After all the road trips, often driving alone, she chose to live out East: “I came out here 30 years ago. My main studio is here, because this is where I am all the time. I came during COVID. I liked working out here. I love being part of the wonderful scene. Being chosen to create the HIFF poster is part of that. I was a loner as a kid. Now I am in the middle of everything: cool museums and wonderful farming all around.”

Today, at 84, she has two dealers that complement each other: Lisa Spellman of 303 Gallery, a local favorite, and Hauser & Wirth, with its global clout. Assessing her career, she says, “All over the world many people know about Mary Heilmann. That’s a wonderful thing.” Looking at her art, she feels a sense of pride: “When you get something right, it’s amazing.”

Mary Heilmann

BREAKTHROUGH ARTIST

In Sing Sing, the formerly incarcerated actor Clarence Maclin taps into his vulnerability in a true-life story.

BY DIMITRI EHRLICH

Rarely will you see prison life depicted in a way as devoid of cliche as in Sing Sing , a new movie by A24 that began a quiet release earlier this summer, and is already generating Oscar chatter. Sing Sing tells the story of how an arts program for inmates engenders a transformation from brutal toxic masculinity to a revolutionary kind of vulnerability. But it’s not just the way the movie depicts male relationships—the presence of the actors, most of whom are former inmates who served time together, gives the film its authenticity.

While the cast of Sing Sing does include some real actors—Academy Award nominees Colman Domingo and Paul Raci among them—the man who seems to effortlessly steal every scene is Clarence Maclin.

Born in Tennessee, Maclin was raised by his single mother, who moved him to Mount Vernon, New York, in 1972, at the age of 5. The city, about 15 miles north of the Big Apple, was home to Heavy D, Mary J. Blige and Diddy. Maclin found himself breaking the law, and in a youth shelter as a teenager before serving prison time as an adult. “I always liked to draw,” he says. “How I got introduced to the street was really through graffiti, writing on trains and shit like that. That led to me fighting.”

Among its many layers, Sing Sing offers a critique of identity, reminding us of how so often we all become what society expects us to be. “My name started getting recognized as a hothead and the wrong crowd started taking an interest in me,” Maclin says. “That’s not what I wanted to do, but it seemed like that’s what I was cut out for, at least in my peers’ eyes.”

Based on Maclin’s real-life experience, the movie

centers on a group of prisoners who find their lives transformed by a program called Rehabilitation Through the Arts (RTA), which brings theater and the arts to the incarcerated population.

Inmates must be infraction-free for a year in order to participate, and for Maclin, that wasn’t easy. He was serving a 20-year prison term (for a crime he didn’t commit—though he had certainly been guilty of others) when he discovered RTA. It was a watershed moment, changing the course of his life. “The amazing thing that happens is when you realize vulnerability is a strength—it never was a weakness,” he says.

Now 58 years old, he is working on a book about his life and considering other acting roles. “I really want to do a Western,” Maclin says. “I think art allows us to create something that can heal both sides of the equation. I don’t really know what it would look like, but I would like to be part of those healing factors.”

Despite being buzzed about for Best Supporting Actor, celebrated on the Today show, and profiled in The New Yorker, the peak moment of Maclin’s post-prison life has nothing to do with the acclaim the movie has generated. “The high point was going back to Sing Sing, after they watched the movie, talking to some brothers trying to tell them they are a lot more than a label. And letting them hear it from someone who ate in the mess hall where you ate, went back to the cell you’re going back to—that was a real high point for me.”

Sing Sing screens at the Hamptons International Film Festival in a special screening on Sunday, October 13, at 7:45PM at Regal UA East Hampton.

Maclin, fifth from the left, surrounded by fellow cast members.

HONORING A LEGACY

In The Piano Lesson, Malcolm Washington, son of superstar Denzel, makes an acclaimed directorial debut immortalizing August Wilson’s dramatic

BY JULIA SZABO

masterpiece

Like father, like son: Denzel Washington’s heir Malcolm Washington reveres playwright August Wilson and his importance to all African Americans, calling him “our Shakespeare.”

Screening this month at the HIFF is Malcolm Washington’s powerful new film adaptation of The Piano Lesson, Wilson’s thoughtful and startling 1987 play, winner of the 1990 Pulitzer Prize for drama. Produced by his father and sister Katia Washington, the film stars Danielle Deadwyler, Samuel L. Jackson and John David Washington (Malcolm’s elder brother) as a family redefining the present through the travails of the past. Already, critics are predicting Academy Awards for all involved.

“Although Wilson passed away before I was able to meet him, I first started reading him and working on his material when I was in film school in 2014 to ’16, at the American Film Institute in Los Angeles,” says Washington, who has an MFA in directing from the American Film Institute. “To be honest, August is so clearly in the zeitgeist, as one of the masters of American literature, that I think that understanding of his legacy was always there and, I’m sure, influenced me in many ways. In our community, he’s our Shakespeare: so big that everybody in Black film and entertainment has talked about August for so long, it’s like never remembering how you met your uncle. Interpreting his work comes from a very personal place for me.”

When it came to building out the character of Berniece, whose attachment to her late mother’s cherished musical instrument anchors the story, all the Washingtons were thrilled to welcome Deadwyler aboard. “I’d wanted to work with Danielle for a long time,” says the director, “and from our first conversation, we were speaking the same language and had so much shared trust. We became really close kindred spirits. It’s been such a wonderful journey to go on with her, and she’s become a really close collaborator of mine.”

As for working with the great Jackson, “In this movie, he got to flex a different muscle than we usually see,” says Washington. “He’s as closely connected to this material as anybody on Earth.”

This beautifully crafted production offers a prescription for turbulent times that only art can provide. “I think in any creative endeavor, or any endeavor with a group of people, you want to establish a shared trust and communication as quickly as possible, to create an environment that garners the respect necessary to speak truth,” the director says. “Everybody fell in line with that way of working. The movie we made is about community, family, a coming together, and I think it really shines through.”

The Piano Lesson screens on October 5 at 2:30PM at the East Hampton Middle School, and on October 11 at 8PM at Sag Harbor Cinema.

Director Malcolm Washington

EAST COAST PREMIERE, DOCUMENTARY FEATURE, USA, 2024, 114 MINUTES, ENGLISH

MARTHA

MARTHA is the definitive documentary on Martha Stewart, as told by the icon herself. From her early start on Wall Street to the launch of the lifestyle empire that made her the original influencer, Academy Award® nominee R.J. Cutler (THE SEPTEMBER ISSUE) traces Stewart’s meteoric rise to success and the controversies and subsequent personal reinvention that followed. Stewart addresses the ups and downs of her groundbreaking career with frankness, transparency and a sense of humor, sharing a personal and professional journey in which the perfect homemaker learns to embrace the imperfections that make us all human. A Netflix release.

DIRECTOR

R.J. Cutler

PRODUCERS

Jane Cha Cutler

Alina Cho

Austin Wilkin

R.J. Cutler

Trevor Smith

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS

Elise Pearlstein

Mark Blatty

SPONSORED BY

10/4 6:30PM EAST HAMPTON - EHMS

10/4 7:15PM EAST HAMPTON - UA1

NIGHTBITCH

Academy Award® nominee Amy Adams delivers a bold, transformative performance as a woman who pauses her successful career as an artist to become a stay-at-home mom to her toddler. As her husband (Scoot McNairy, HIFF Breakthrough Artist 2012) works long hours as the family’s sole breadwinner, the unrelenting demands of parenthood drag on, and her new domesticity begins to take a surreal turn. Based on the novel of the same name by Rachel Yoder, writer/director Marielle Heller’s (CAN YOU EVER FORGIVE ME?, HIFF 2018) latest both frankly explores the aches and pains of being a parent and captures the innate wildness of womanhood. A Searchlight Pictures release.

10/13 8PM EAST HAMPTON - GUILD HALL 10/13 8:30PM EAST HAMPTON - UA1

DIRECTOR/ SCREENWRITER

Marielle Heller

PRODUCERS

Anne Carey

Marielle Heller

Sue Naegle

Christina Oh

Amy Adams

Stacy O’Neil

CAST

Amy Adams

Scoot McNairy

Arleigh Patrick Snowden

Emmett James Snowden

Zoë Chao

Mary Holland

Archana Rajan

Jessica Harper

SPONSORED BY

EAST COAST PREMIERE, NARRATIVE FEATURE, USA, 2024, 98 MINUTES, ENGLISH

DICK CAVETT ARTISTIC CHAMPION AWARD

Award-winning actor Liev Schreiber will be honored with the 2024 Dick Cavett Artistic Champion Award. Created in 2017 by HamptonsFilm Chair Emeritus and Board Member 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 humanitarianism, education, related media and other arts disciplines.

LIEV SCHREIBER

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

Heralded as “the finest American theater actor of his generation” by TheNew YorkTimes , Liev Schreiber’s repertoire of resonant, humanistic and often gritty performances have garnered him praise in film, theater and television.

In film, Schreiber is known for his roles in ASTEROID CITY; GOLDA; ISLE OF DOGS; THE FRENCH DISPATCH; SPIDER-MAN: INTO THE SPIDERVERSE; CHUCK, which he also co-produced and co-wrote; and SPOTLIGHT, which won the Oscar® for Best Picture, the Golden Globe® for Best Motion Picture Drama and the Independent Spirit Award® for Best Picture.

On television, Schreiber starred in Showtime’s critically acclaimed hit series RayDonovanfor seven seasons, garnering him five Golden Globe® Award nominations and three Primetime Emmy® nominations.

On the stage, Schreiber’s performance as Ricky Roma in the 2005 Broadway revival of David Mamet’s GlengarryGlenRossearned him his first Tony Award®. Schreiber’s performances in the Broadway revivals of AViewfrom theBridge, TalkRadioand Doubt:AParableeach earned him a nomination for the Tony Award® for Best Actor in a Play.

Schreiber can currently be seen opposite Nicole Kidman in Netflix’s ThePerfect Coupleand will next be seen in the war drama ACROSS THE RIVER AND INTO THE TREES, alongside Josh Hutcherson, Matilda De Angelis and Danny Huston.

Schreiber has long supported cross-cultural ties through his work. His directorial debut, EVERYTHING IS ILLUMINATED, which he adapted from Jonathon Safran Foer’s novel, follows a young American Jewish man to western Ukraine to find the woman who saved his grandfather during the Holocaust.

Schreiber is the co-founder of BlueCheck Ukraine, an organization that identifies, vets and administers urgent financial support to the people of Ukraine since the Russian invasion of the country in 2022. Schreiber also works closely with President Volodymyr Zelensky as an ambassador for United24, an initiative the president launched to raise funds for Ukraine.

SPONSORED BY 10/5 6PM EAST HAMPTON - EHMS

Liev Schreiber will receive the Dick Cavett Artistic Champion Award during his conversation with Alec Baldwin on Saturday, October 5.

A CONVERSATION WITH...

CONVERSATION WITH...

ANDREW GARFIELD A

Andrew Garfield stars in WE LIVE IN TIME, screening 10/5 and 10/9.

A CONVERSATION WITH...

Demi Moore will receive the Career Achievement in Acting Award during her conversation on Sunday, October 13.

Andrew Garfield is a two-time Academy Award® nominee, Emmy Award® nominee, Tony Award®-winning and Golden Globe Award®-winning actor whose transformative performances on screen and stage have captivated global audiences for over a decade. His body of work continues to evolve with each new role and compelling narrative. Recent credits include FX’s UnderThe BannerOfHeaven(Emmy nomination) and Lin-Manuel Miranda’s TICK, TICK… BOOM! (Golden Globe winner for Best Actor; Academy Award nomination). Garfield won the 2018 Tony Award for Best Actor for in AngelsinAmericaand received a nomination in 2012 for Deathofa Salesman. Additional notable film credits include SPIDER-MAN: NO WAY HOME; THE EYES OF TAMMY FAYE; BREATHE (HIFF 2017); Martin Scorsese’s SILENCE; Mel Gibson’s HACKSAW RIDGE (Academy Award nomination); and John Crowley’s BOY A, for which he won the BAFTA Best Actor Award in 2008. Garfield’s current and upcoming projects include A24’s and StudioCanal’s WE LIVE IN TIME (HIFF 2024) opposite Florence Pugh, directed by John Crowley; THE MAGIC FARAWAY TREE, directed by Ben Gregor and co-starring Claire Foy; and Luca Guadagnino’s AFTER THE HUNT, co-starring Julia Roberts, Michael Stuhlbarg, and Ayo Edebiri.

10/6 11:30AM

EAST HAMPTON - EHMS

SPONSORED BY

DEMI MOORE

Actress, producer, and NewYorkTimesbestselling author Demi Moore can currently be seen starring in Coralie Fargeat’s body horror feature, THE SUBSTANCE, alongside Margaret Qualley. The film premiered in competition at the 2024 Cannes Film Festival, where it garnered rave reviews and among the longest standing ovations out of the festival. It will be released in theaters September 20 from MUBI. Moore most recently starred in the second season of Feud:Capotevs. TheSwans, and can soon be seen in Paramount+’s upcoming drama Landman, from Taylor Sheridan and Christian Wallace, in which she stars alongside Jon Hamm and Billy Bob Thornton. The actress set a record in 1995 when she became the highest-paid actress in Hollywood, known for her work in ST. ELMO’S FIRE, ABOUT LAST NIGHT…, GHOST, A FEW GOOD MEN, INDECENT PROPOSAL, THE SCARLET LETTER, DISCLOSURE, G.I. JANE, CHARLIE’S ANGELS: FULL THROTTLE, BOBBY, and MARGIN CALL, among many others.

10/13 12:00PM

EAST HAMPTON - GUILD HALL

SPONSORED BY

Photo Credit:

Maarten DeBoer

Photo Credit: Getty Images

A REAL PAIN

10/7 7:45PM EAST HAMPTON - UA1

10/13

BAD SHABBOS

10/6 4:45PM EAST HAMPTON - EHMS

10/10 8:15PM EAST HAMPTON - UA1

BIRD

10/12 6PM EAST HAMPTON - UA1

10/13 5PM EAST HAMPTON - GUILD HALL

SPOTLIGHT FILMS

NARRATIVE FEATURE, USA/POLAND, 2024, 89 MINUTES, ENGLISH

Academy Award® nominee Jesse Eisenberg returns to HIFF with his sophomore film as a writer/director, in which mismatched cousins David (Eisenberg) and Benji (Emmy Award® winner Kieran Culkin, SUCCESSION) reunite for a tour through Poland to honor their beloved grandmother. The adventure takes a turn when the odd couple’s old tensions resurface against the backdrop of their family history. Featuring an unforgettable dynamic between Eisenberg and Culkin and a stellar supporting cast (including a wonderful Jennifer Grey), A REAL PAIN delivers a sharp yet poignant exploration of family ties, memory and Jewish heritage. A Searchlight Pictures release.

DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER: Jesse Eisenberg

PRODUCERS: Dave McCary, Ali Herting, Emma Stone, Jesse Eisenberg, Jennifer Semler, Ewa Puszczynska

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Ryan Heller, Jennifer Westin, Michael Bloom, Kevin Kelly

CAST: Jesse Eisenberg, Kieran Culkin, Will Sharpe, Jennifer Grey, Kurt Egyiawan, Liza Sadovy, Daniel Oreskes

NARRATIVE FEATURE, USA, 2024, 84 MINUTES, ENGLISH

Newly engaged couple David (Jon Bass) and Meg (Meghan Leathers) plan to introduce their parents for the first time over Shabbat dinner at David’s parents’ Upper West Side apartment. As the finishing touches for the evening come together, a dead body throws a wrench into this high-stakes affair. This day of rest is anything but, as David’s family must find a way to get rid of the body before their future in-laws arrive. Daniel Robbins’ winning interfaith comedy BAD SHABBOS boasts a hilarious cast (Kyra Sedgwick, Method Man, Catherine Curtin and David Paymer) and highly satisfying high jinks.

DIRECTOR: Daniel Robbins

SCREENWRITERS: Zack Weiner, Daniel Robbins

PRODUCER: Adam Mitchell

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Derek Rubin, Irina Dashevsky, Ross Saxon, Riccardo Maddalosso

CAST: Kyra Sedgwick, Cliff “Method Man” Smith, Jon Bass, Milana Vayntrub, David Paymer, Meghan Leathers, Theo Taplitz, Ashley Zukerman

NEW YORK PREMIERE, NARRATIVE FEATURE, UK/USA/FRANCE/ GERMANY, 2024, 119 MINUTES, ENGLISH

Twelve-year-old Bailey (newcomer Nykiya Adams) lives with her single dad Bug (Academy Award® nominee Barry Keoghan, THE BANSHEES OF INISHERIN) and brother Hunter (Jason Buda) in a squat in North Kent. Bug doesn’t have much time for his kids, and Bailey, who is approaching puberty, seeks attention and adventure elsewhere. One day, she meets a stranger named Bird (Franz Rogowski, PASSAGES), an enigmatic and dreamlike character who becomes a part of Bailey’s life. Academy Award® winner

Andrea Arnold compassionately crafts this tender coming-of-age story that blends the harsh truths of life with the enthralling fantasy of a child’s rich inner world. A MUBI release.

DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER: Andrea Arnold

PRODUCERS: Lee Groombridge, Juliette Howell, Tessa Ross

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Mollye Asher, Len Blavatnik, Jessamine Burgum, Danny Cohen, Michael D’Alto, Kara Burrett, Randal Sandler, Chris Triana, Eva Yates

CAST: Barry Keoghan, Franz Rogowski, Nykiya Adams, Jason Buda

SPOTLIGHT FILMS

BLITZ

10/13 2PM EAST HAMPTON - GUILD

EMILIA PÉREZ

10/5 1:30PM EAST HAMPTON - EHMS 10/12

THE END

10/6 5PM EAST HAMPTON - UA2

10/14 7:30PM EAST HAMPTON - UA2

NARRATIVE FEATURE, UK, 2024, 114 MINUTES, ENGLISH

Set in London during World War II, BLITZ follows the epic journey of George (Elliott Heffernan), a defiant 9-year-old whose mother Rita (Academy Award® nominee Saoirse Ronan) sends him to safety in the English countryside. Determined to return to his mother and grandfather (Paul Weller), George embarks on the perilous way home, while a distraught Rita desperately searches for her missing son and the bombing rages on. Academy and BAFTA Award® winner Sir Steve McQueen (12 YEARS A SLAVE) returns to HIFF with this intense and emotional story of one family’s struggle to reunite during one of the world’s darkest eras. An Apple release.

DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER: Steve McQueen

PRODUCERS: Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner, Steve McQueen, Anita Overland, Adam Somner, Arnon Milchan, Yariv Milchan, Michael Schaefer

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Anna Smith Tenser, Natalie Lehmann, Sheeran Shah, Sarah-Jane Wright

CAST: Saoirse Ronan, Harris Dickinson, Benjamin Clementine, Kathy Burke, Paul Weller

NARRATIVE FEATURE, FRANCE, 2024, 133 MINUTES, SPANISH

Through liberating song, dance and bold visuals, EMILIA PÉREZ follows the interconnected journeys of four remarkable women in Mexico, each pursuing her own happiness. The fearsome cartel leader Emilia (Karla Sofía Gascón) enlists Rita (Zoe Saldaña), an unappreciated lawyer stuck in a dead-end job, to help fake her death and look after her wife (Selena Gomez) and their children so Emilia can finally live authentically as her true self. Winner of the Jury Prize and a collective Best Actress Award at Cannes, renegade auteur and HIFF alum Jacques Audiard’s (RUST AND BONE, DHEEPAN) latest odyssey is an audacious fever dream that defies genres and expectations. A Netflix release.

DIRECTOR: Jacques Audiard

SCREENWRITER: Jacques Audiard, adapted from the novel Écoute by Boris Razon

PRODUCERS: Pascal Caucheteux, Jacques Audiard, Valérie Schermann, Anthony Vaccarello

CAST: Zoe Saldaña, Karla Sofía Gascón, Selena Gomez, Adriana Paz, Edgar Ramirez, Mark Ivanir

NEW YORK PREMIERE, NARRATIVE FEATURE, IRELAND/GERMANY/ SWEDEN/DENMARK/ITALY/UK, 2024, 148 MINUTES, ENGLISH

Academy Award® nominee Joshua Oppenheimer (THE ACT OF KILLING) returns to HIFF with his narrative feature debut, a Golden Age musical about one of the last families on Earth. A wealthy couple (Academy Award® winner Tilda Swinton and Academy Award® nominee Michael Shannon) escaped an apocalyptic event by retreating to their luxurious compound deep underground. After the sudden arrival of an outside survivor (Emmy Award® nominee Moses Ingram, THE QUEEN’S GAMBIT), their son (George MacKay, 1917) begins to question their seemingly perfect existence. Expressive and surreal, THE END interrogates privilege and denial through dynamic original music and unforgettable performances from its stellar cast. A Neon release.

DIRECTOR: Joshua Oppenheimer

SCREENWRITERS: Rasmus Heisterberg, Joshua Oppenheimer

PRODUCERS: Signe Byrge Sørensen, Joshua Oppenheimer, Tilda Swinton

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Jeff Deutchman, Tom Quinn, Emily Thomas, Elissa Federoff, Efe Çakarel, Michael Weber, Jason Ropell, John Keville, Sam Mendes, Ramin Bahrani, James Marsh, Werner Herzog

CAST: Tilda Swinton, George Mackay, Moses Ingram, Michael Shannon

A CONVERSATION WITH...

LIEV SCHREIBER

SATURDAY, OCTOBER 5

Schreiber will receive the Dick Cavett Artistic Champion Award

A CONVERSATION WITH...

ANDREW GARFIELD

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 6

US PREMIERE

WE LIVE IN TIME Directed by John Crowley and starring Andrew Garﬁeld screens on Saturday, October 5

A CONVERSATION WITH...

DEMI MOORE

SUNDAY, OCTOBER 13

Moore will receive the Career Achievement in Acting Award

SPOTLIGHT FILMS

EXHIBITING FORGIVENESS

10/12 8:30PM EAST HAMPTON - GUILD HALL

10/13 11AM SAG HARBOR - SHC1

THE FRIEND

HARD TRUTHS

10/8 7:45PM EAST HAMPTON - UA2

10/13 5:45PM EAST HAMPTON - UA1

NARRATIVE FEATURE, USA, 2024, 117 MINUTES, ENGLISH

Celebrated American painter Tarrell (André Holland, MOONLIGHT) excavates beauty from the anguish of his youth through his art, keeping past wounds at bay. His joyful life with his wife Aisha (Academy Award® nominee Andra Day) and their young son is interrupted when his estranged father La’Ron (John Earl Jelks) returns home, desperate to reconcile. Pushed by his pious mother Joyce (Academy Award® nominee Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor), Tarrell reluctantly opens his heart to see if they can be a family once again. The feature debut from esteemed visual artist Titus Kaphar, EXHIBITING FORGIVENESS speaks through the raw language of art about the challenges and hope that come with letting go of the past. A Roadside Attractions release.

DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER: Titus Kaphar

PRODUCERS: Titus Kaphar, Stephanie Allain, Derek Cianfrance, Jamie Patricof, Sean Cotton

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Claire Brooks, Stephanie Blackwood, Kim Coleman, Andrew Mann

CAST: André Holland, Andra Day, John Earl Jelks, Aunjanue Ellis-Taylor

NARRATIVE

FEATURE,

USA, 2024, 123 MINUTES, ENGLISH

A New York writer (Academy Award® nominee Naomi Watts) reels in the aftermath of the unexpected death of her lifelong mentor (Academy Award® nominee Bill Murray). In the midst of mourning him, she finds that she is the one left to deal with his complicated literary legacy, three eccentric ex-wives and a massive, brokenhearted Great Dane named Apollo. Based on Sigrid Nunez’s National Book Award-winning novel of the same name, THE FRIEND is a thoughtful, charming and wryly humorous study on grief from filmmaker duo Scott McGehee and David Siegel, one that invites us all to find the silver lining in loss.

DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER: Scott McGehee, David Siegel

PRODUCERS: Scott McGehee, David Siegel, Liza Chasin, Mike Spreter

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Naomi Watts, Margaret Chernin

CAST: Naomi Watts, Bill Murray, Sarah Pidgeon, Carla Gugino, Constance Wu, Noma Dumezweni, Ann Dowd, Owen Teague, Josh Pais, Bing as Apollo

NARRATIVE FEATURE, UK/SPAIN, 2024, 97 MINUTES, ENGLISH

Seven-time Academy Award®-nominated filmmaker Mike Leigh (MR. TURNER, HIFF 2014) returns with this tough but compassionate portrait of family life. A brilliant and deeply moving Marianne Jean-Baptiste (Academy Award® nominee for Leigh’s SECRETS AND LIES) stars as Pansy, a woman navigating life in London with her husband, son and sister while harboring a seemingly unexplainable resentment and anger toward the world around her. Undeniably honest and often sharply funny, HARD TRUTHS is an intricately executed character study that weaves unforgettable performances with masterful dialogue in a profound expression of human pathos. A Bleecker Street release.

DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER: Mike Leigh

PRODUCER: Georgina Lowe

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Richard Kondal, Jennifer Eriksson, Alison Thompson, Mark Gooder, Andrew Karpen, Kent Sanderson, Javier Méndez, Javier Pons, Ollie Madden, Daniel Battsek, Gail Egan

CAST: Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Michele Austin, David Webber, Tuwaine Barrett, Ani Nelson, Sophia Brown, Jonathan Livingstone, Alice Bailey Johnson, Llewella Gideon, Gary Beadle

SPOTLIGHT FILMS

LILLY

PRESENCE

10/6 8PM EAST HAMPTON - EHMS

10/8

THE ROOM NEXT DOOR

10/11 2:15PM EAST HAMPTON - GUILD HALL

10/12 8:15PM SAG HARBOR - SHC1

WORLD PREMIERE, NARRATIVE FEATURE, USA, 2024, 93 MINUTES, ENGLISH

When a hard-working Alabama factory supervisor discovers that her company has been paying her half of what her male counterparts received for 20 years, she begins a historic fight toward justice. Academy Award® nominee Patricia Clarkson fiercely portrays the remarkable life of fair pay activist Lilly Ledbetter, who battles for equality all the way to the Supreme Court, through the power corridors of Congress and ultimately, into the White House. Rachel Feldman’s empowering feature film debut, featuring supporting turns from Jon Benjamin Hickey and Thomas Sadoski, is an extraordinary journey of an ordinary woman who refuses to accept the sexist status quo.

DIRECTOR: Rachel Feldman

SCREENWRITERS: Rachel Feldman, Adam Prince

PRODUCERS: Allyn Stewart, Kelly E. Ashton, Kerianne Flynn, Jyoti Sarda, Simone Pero, J. Todd Harris, Christine Schwarzman, Julie Kaufman, Rachel Feldman

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Jayne Baron Sherman, Regina K. Scully

CAST: Patricia Clarkson, John Benjamin Hickey, Thomas Sadoski

NEW YORK PREMIERE, NARRATIVE FEATURE, USA, 2024, 85 MINUTES, ENGLISH

A mother (Emmy Award® nominee Lucy Liu) moves her husband, son and daughter into a seemingly picture-perfect suburban house, but after a strange series of incidents, they soon become convinced they are not alone. As the family’s life in their new home unfolds, they must confront a haunting question: what are the intentions of this phantom presence? The latest collaboration from Academy Award®-winning director Steven Soderbergh (ERIN BROCKOVICH, TRAFFIC) and iconic screenwriter David Koepp (JURASSIC PARK, MISSION: IMPOSSIBLE), PRESENCE awed audiences at Sundance, turning the classic ghost story inside out with its cinematic innovation and thrilling twists. A Neon release.

DIRECTOR: Steven Soderbergh

SCREENWRITER: David Koepp

PRODUCERS: Julie Anderson, Ken Meyer

EXECUTIVE DIRECTORS: David Koepp, Corey Bayes

CAST: Lucy Liu, Chris Sullivan, Callina Liang, Eddy Maday, West Mulholland, Julia Fox

NARRATIVE FEATURE, SPAIN, 2024, 107 MINUTES, ENGLISH

Celebrated auteur and HIFF alum Pedro Almodóvar (JULIETA, PARALLEL MOTHERS) makes a splash with his English-language feature film debut. Ingrid (Academy Award® winner Julianne Moore), an autofictional novelist, and Martha (Academy Award® winner Tilda Swinton), a war reporter, reunite after years of estrangement. As they navigate an extreme but strangely sweet situation, the two women reflect on their lives and friendship. Based on Sigrid Nunez’s novel WhatAreYouGoingThrough, THE ROOM NEXT DOOR showcases Almodóvar’s signature visual style, creating a colorful and lush character study on companionship. A Sony Pictures Classics release.

DIRECTOR/SCREENWRITER: Pedro Almodóvar

PRODUCER: Agustín Almodóvar

EXECUTIVE PRODUCER: Esther García

CAST: Julianne Moore, Tilda Swinton, John Turturro, Alessandro Nivola

Truly inspiring

Eric Gioia

Managing

212-713-4194 eric.gioia@ubs.com

UBS Financial Services Inc. 1285 Avenue of the Americas 18th Floor

New York, NY 10019 212-649-8003

Orly Elliott

orly.elliott@ubs.com

SPOTLIGHT FILMS

SATURDAY NIGHT 10/11 5PM EAST HAMPTON -

SMALL THINGS LIKE THESE

WE LIVE IN TIME

SPONSORED BY

NARRATIVE FEATURE, USA, 2024, 104 MINUTES, ENGLISH

At 11:30PM on October 11, 1975, a ferocious troupe of young comedians and writers changed television and culture forever. Academy Award®-nominated writer-director Jason Reitman (JUNO, UP IN THE AIR) and co-writer Gil Kenan bring to life the true story of what happened behind the scenes in the 90 minutes leading up to the first broadcast of SaturdayNightLive Brimming with the humor and chaos of a revolution that almost wasn’t, SATURDAY NIGHT features a brilliant ensemble cast that embodies the frenetic magic of counting down the minutes in real time until those famous words were first spoken. A Sony Pictures release.

DIRECTOR: Jason Reitman

SCREENWRITERS: Gil Kenan, Jason Reitman

PRODUCERS: Jason Blumenfeld, Peter Rice, Jason Reitman, Gil Kenan

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Erica Mills, JoAnn Perritano

CAST: Gabriel LaBelle, Rachel Sennott, Cory Michael Smith, Dylan O’Brien, Matt Wood, Lamorne Morris, Nicholas Braun, Cooper Hoffman, Willem Dafoe, Matthew Rhys, J.K. Simmons

NORTH AMERICAN PREMIERE, NARRATIVE FEATURE, IRELAND/ BELGIUM, 2024, 96 MINUTES, ENGLISH

Devoted father Bill Furlong (Academy Award® winner Cillian Murphy) works as a coal merchant to support his family. In the days leading up to Christmas, he discovers disturbing secrets kept by the local convent—and uncovers truths of his own—which force him to confront his past and the complicit silence of a small Irish town controlled by the Catholic Church. Based on Claire Keegan’s bestselling novel and anchored by a stunning performance by Murphy, Tim Mielants’ SMALL THINGS LIKE THESE elegantly captures a haunted man wrestling with his morality.

A Lionsgate/Roadside release.

DIRECTOR: Tim Mielants

SCREENWRITER: Edna Walsh

PRODUCERS: Alan Moloney, Cillian Murphy, Catherine Magee, Matt Damon, Drew Vinton

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS: Ben Affleck, Michael Joe, Kevin Halloran, Niamh Fagan

CAST: Cillian Murphy, Emily Watson, Michelle Fairley, Eileen Walsh

US PREMIERE, NARRATIVE FEATURE, UK/FRANCE, 2024, 108 MINUTES, ENGLISH

Recently divorced Tobias (Tony Award® winner Andrew Garfield) and gourmet chef Almut (Academy Award® nominee Florence Pugh) meet in a surprise encounter that changes their lives. Through interwoven snapshots of their life together—falling for each other, building a home, becoming a family—a difficult truth reveals itself, rocking their foundation. As they embark on a path challenged by the limits of time, they must learn to cherish each moment of their unconventional romance. Director John Crowley (BROOKLYN, 2015) returns to HIFF with this decade-spanning testament to the enduring nature of love, brought to vivid life by the magnetic chemistry between Garfield and Pugh. An A24 release.

DIRECTOR: John Crowley

SCREENWRITER: Nick Payne

PRODUCERS: Adam Ackland, Leah Clarke, Guy Heeley

CAST: Andrew Garfield, Florence Pugh

The Lodge at Woodloch embraces a philosophy of pesonal awakening. Find the opportunity to shift from your everyday and re-focus on yourself. Reconnect with your creative and stress-relieving outlets that will continue to beneﬁt you long after you depart The Lodge at Woodloch.

Premier wellness, perfectly close. go beyond your horizon.

Representing HUNT SLONEM in the Hamptons

OPENING RECEPTIONS

Saturdays 5:00 - 6:30 PM September 28, October 26, November 23

26 Main Street, Sag Harbor, NY 11963

631 - 725 - 8469

Hunt Slonem, Ocelots Salvador, 50 x 70 inches, oil on canvas, 2024