By Ray Rogers
PURIST: You’re stepping into a role that’s changed hands twice in three years. What made you want to take this on now, and what did you make sure to ask about before you said yes?
BOB FEINBERG: My son, James, was hired by my predecessor at the Hamptons International Film Festival—he’s the one who told me the job was opening up. After almost 20 years as general counsel at Thirteen/WNET and WLIW, I was ready for my next chapter. I asked the board’s search committee whether their vision aligned with mine. It did.
You spent years building the Montclair Film Festival essentially from scratch. What from that experience translates directly to running a 34-year-old festival with its own identity?
I started Montclair Film from a thought that hit me at Sundance [Film Festival] in 2009: bring that same energy to New Jersey. Our first tagline was “It’s Sundance, only Jersier.” Today, Montclair Film owns its building, runs two year-round theaters, and puts on a well-regarded 10-day festival. HIFF has a longer history, and a board and staff with decades of memory. I’m still learning—but I also push.
You and your wife have owned a home in East Hampton for 30 years—you’ve presumably been going to HIFF as an audience member long before you ran it. What does the festival look like from this side that a seat in the audience never showed you?
HIFF was the first film festival I ever attended, long before Montclair Film, Sundance, New York Film Festival or Toronto International Film Festival. I remember driving past the Regal 30 years ago, seeing lines of people in all black, and assuming it was some industry event. What audiences don’t see is the months of planning—from a year-round staff and board, plus a seasonal crew.
HIFF now runs across multiple venues over 11 days. As the festival keeps growing, where’s the line between expanding its reach and losing what makes it feel like a hometown event?
Growth isn’t about footprint or bold-faced names. It’s about reaching the East End community that calls this home long after closing night, and bringing in younger audiences. All of it serves this year’s tagline: Cinema Creates Community.
A year from now, what would have to be true for you to call your first festival a success?
When I started Montclair Film, I told our head programmer I wanted people walking out of opening night laughing, weeping or hugging a stranger. No one should be unmoved. That’s what I want for HIFF34: stories our audience wouldn’t otherwise see.
Thirty years in the same East Hampton house means 30 years of watching the town change around you. What’s different about East Hampton now, versus when you and your wife Maggie [Drucker] first bought here—and has any of that shaped how you’re thinking about the festival’s future?
There’s more of a year-round community now, and new arts institutions we partner with, like The Church and Sag Harbor Cinema. The festival’s future is tied to this community, with more education and outreach, while we keep drawing audiences from the city and beyond.
What does a perfect festival day look like for you?
Early morning on the beach with Maggie and our dogs, Seymour and Maeby, off-leash. Farina for Maggie; a fried egg, American cheese and Canadian bacon on an English muffin for me, at home. And Sam’s, if the movie doesn’t run too late.
Festival season is famously grueling. How do you protect your own bandwidth during the 11 days, and has that changed at all since your Montclair days?
That’s a challenge—just between us, I’m not that good at protecting my bandwidth. But I get energy from my family and my colleagues, and I remind myself I’m doing something I really love. I’m lucky.
Explore more in Culture at The Purist.
Never miss an issue—join The Purist community.