From the "On The Scene" Archives:

Compiled by Mark Rabinowitz

>> Hamptons Fest Announces Winners

The 6th Annual Hamptons International Film Festival wrapped on Sunday night with the Golden Starfish award for American independent film going to Eugene Martin for "Edge City." The award carries a whopping $165,000 in goods and services from vendors such as Seattle Post Affiliates, Zuma Digital, Panavision, REI Media Group, Eastman Kodak, Tribeca Film Center and Silvercup Studios. The Golden Starfish award for documentaries went to Ruth Leitman, for "Alma," and according to the festival catalog, the film will receive an award worth over $5,000. The Golden Starfish award for the shorts competition was split between Karl Nussbaum for "Raw Images From the Optic Cross" and Jay Rosenblatt for "Human Remains."

This year's festival saw the addition of a new Golden Starfish award for Best Original Score, which was awarded to Mario Grigorov for Leonardo Ricagni's "The Life Jacket is Under Your Seat," with the jury awarding a

Special Recognition For Music Used In A Movie to Gary Winick's "The Tic Code," a film inspired by the life of star Polly Draper's husband, jazz musician (and one of the film's producers) Michael Wolff, who has Tourette's Syndrome. "The Tic Code" was not competing in the Golden Starfish section, but was programmed in the World Cinema section.

This year's audience awards went to "The Tic Code" for feature film, with a tie in the documentary section going to Aviva Kempner's "The Life and Times of Hank Greenberg" and "Red, White and Yellow," by Marshall Dostal and Mark Littman. The audience award for short film went to Adam Collis' "'Mad' Boy I'll Blow Your Blues Away. Be Mine." The Lifetime Vision Award: went to Vicky Funari for "Paulina" and a special prize in recognition of their support of screenwriters in developing nations was given to Dina Merrill and Ted Hartley, the principles of RKO Pictures. The RKO Pictures Best Told Story award, given every year to one of the festival's graduate student winners, went to Rick Wilkinson for "A Short Wait Between Trains."

The Student Filmmaker Awards, consisting of $2,500 went to Rick Wilkinson for "A Short Wait Between Trains" from AFI; Enrique Chediak for "El Rio" ("The River") from NYU; Greg Pak for "Fighting Grandpa" from NYU; Melissa Gerrero for "First Fidelity" from USC, and DeSales Linton for "Kalin's Prayer" from NYU. Chediak is also an award winning cinematographer who has shot such films as the upcoming Samuel Goldwyn Company release "Desert Blue," by Morgan J. Freeman and Amos Poe's "Frogs For Snakes." He won the best cinematography award at the 1997 Sundance Film Festival for Freeman's debut feature, "Hurricane Streets."

The undergraduate winners include James Cox for "Atomic Tabasco" and Adam Turner for "Drive," both from NYU; Amy Dean for "Ethan's Tuesday" from FSU; Susan Tuan for "Omnibus" from LA City College, and Carlos Ruiz for "Pelota De Papel" from Film School of the Art Institute of Chicago.

>> Comedy Film Fest Kicks Off October 21st

The 2nd Annual New York Comedy Film Festival kicks off on Wednesday, October 21st with a screening of Kirk Jones' upcoming Fox Searchlight release "Waking Ned Devine," a sprightly Irish comedy about a small village's attempt to find a lottery winner in their midst. The fest will close on October 25th with Julia Sweeny's performance piece, "God Said 'Ha!'" In addition, the fest will feature four New York premieres, including Jamie Yerkes' "Spin the Bottle," which was written by Yerkes and New York Press columnist Amy Sohn. The other New York bows are Rob Stitch's Miramax release, "The Castle" from Australia; Frank Todaro's "Above Freezing," Ken Liotti's "The Waiting Game" and "Tales From The Far Side II," a second set of shorts from the strange and inventive mind of master cartoonist, Gary Larson. In addition, the fest's Children's Morning at the Movies will feature the East Coast premiere of Disney's "Lion King II: Simba's Pride." Opening night will take place at Lowes Village Theater, while the remainder of the fest will take place at the Directors Guild of America theater at 110 W. 57th St.

Among the notable shorts at the fest are several award-winning films, including Adam Collis' Hamptons and LAIFF fest winner "Mad Boy, I'll Blow Your Blues Away. Be Mine" and Jan Pinkava's Academy Award-winning short, "Geri's Game." Other shorts include the hysterical "I'm on Fire," by Ryan Rowe and a series of four decidedly not-for-children programs of short pieces from Corky Quakenbush, including "Davey & Son of Goliath," "Sex Toy Story," "Unwed Mother Darbie," the "Clops" shorts (claymation "Cops"), "The Many Ways to Skin a Cat," "Raging Rudolph" and "Reinfather."

The festival will also present a conversation with the Farrelly Brothers ("There's Something About Mary"), and a series of shorts from director Greg Mottola ("The Daytrippers") and stand-up comedian/actor Steven Wright, and a screening of Ben Stiller's 1989 short, "Back To Brooklyn."

[Festival tickets are available through Ticket Central at: (212) 279-4200 and in person at: 416 W. 42nd St. Call 212/803-5183 for more information]