NYAD, the new Netflix biopic starring Annette Bening as Olympic marathon swimmer Diana Nyad, directed by the Free Solo team of Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin, will open the 31st annual Hamptons International Film Festival, HamptonsFilm announced today. The festival will be held October 5-12.
The film marks the feature debut for the Academy Award BAFTA and Emmy Award-winning filmmaking duo Vasarhelyi and Chin, and also stars double Academy Award winner Jodie Foster, as well as Rhys Ifans.

Based on Nyad’s 2015 autobiography Find a Way, NYAD tells the story of how Nyad, at 64, became the first person to complete the “Everest of swims” — a 53-hour, 110-mile swim from Cuba to Florida, through
dangerous open ocean, with no shark cage. Vasarhelyi will also attend the festival and take part in a post-screening conversation.
Vasarhelyi and Chin’s other works include Wild Life (2023), Return to Space (2022) and The Rescue (2021). The 2018 climbing documentary Free Solo won Best Documentary Feature at the 91st Academy Awards.“After welcoming Elizabeth Chai Vasarhelyi and Jimmy Chin’s incredible documentary film The Rescue
at the 2021 edition of our festival, it is an honor to celebrate their narrative debut as this year’s Opening
Night presentation,” said HamptonsFilm artistic director David Nugent.
“Vasarhelyi and Chin are two of this generation’s most compelling storytellers, and NYAD is further proof that their creativity and eye for filmmaking knows no bounds. We are thrilled to share their story with our audiences.”“Following another successful summer of programming, it is with great enthusiasm that we begin to
unveil the lineup for this year’s 31st annual festival,“ said HamptonsFilm Executive Director Anne
Chaisson. “We are grateful to our audiences out East for their continued support and we look forward to
bringing the community another diverse, engaging, and entertaining festival curation.”

Passes and packages for the 31st edition of HIFF, one of our 50 Film Festivals Worth the Entry Fee, will be on sale beginning September 5 at the HamptonsFilm website. More programming will be announced soon.
Main image: Annette Bening as Diana Nyad in NYAD. Photo credit: Liz Parkinson/Netflix ©2023