Hamptons Take 2 Documentary Film Festival: No common themes

A note about this year’s Hamptons Take 2 Documentary Film Festival: As always, any common themes among the movies are purely coincidental.

That’s the whole point of this small but carefully curated festival founded eight years ago by Bridgehampton resident Jacqui Lofaro. A documentary filmmaker herself, Lofaro wanted a festival with no limitations on subject matter and no concerns about premiere status — just good movies that may have played elsewhere and deserve another chance to be seen. Women and African-American directors may be noticeably visible this year, she says, but that isn’t by design.

“We don’t do theme — that’s not what we do,” says Lofaro. “It’s just a collection of strong films.”

All screenings take place at the Bay Street Theater in Sag Harbor, and most feature guest speakers. Below are several highlights.

LONG ISLAND SHORTS (Thursday at 6:15 p.m.) A program of three short films about local people and places. The titles are “The Backstretch,” set in Belmont Park; “The Breach,” which looks at Bellport Bay in the wake of superstorm Sandy; and “The Boxer,” about the career of Huntington-raised kickboxer Chris Algieri.

A BALLERINA’S TALE (Thursday at 8 p.m.) Nelson George will be on hand to discuss his film about Misty Copeland, the first African-American woman promoted to principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre.

THE AGE OF LOVE (Friday at 2:15) Ten people, all between the ages of 70 and 90, prepare for a speed-dating event.

WHAT HAPPENED, MISS SIMONE? (Friday at 8:30) A portrait of Nina Simone, one of the most uncompromising and troubled figures in jazz history. Director Liz Garbus will speak via Skype.

MODERN TIDE: MIDCENTURY ARCHITECTURE ON LONG ISLAND (Saturday at 12:15 p.m.) Director Jake Gorst takes stock of the region’s vanishing postwar architecture.

HELP US FIND SUNIL TRIPATHI (Saturday at 2:15 p.m.) The name in this film’s title belongs to a fragile, withdrawn college student who, thanks to rumormongers on social media, was wrongly identified as Suspect No. 2 in the Boston Marathon bombings.

THE BLACK PANTHERS: VANGUARD OF THE REVOLUTION (Saturday at 8:15 p.m.) The history of the controversial organization founded by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale in 1966. Director Stanley Nelson will speak live via Skype.

HARRY AND SNOWMAN (Sunday at 1:15 p.m.) The story of Harry de Leyer, a Long Island horse trainer who paid $80 for a slaughterhouse-bound horse and transformed him into Snowman, a show-jumping champion during the 1950s.

SINCE: THE BOMBING OF PAN AM FLIGHT 103 (Sunday at 7:15 p.m.) A critical look at the U.S. response to the Libyan terrorists who bombed a passenger jet in December 1988, killing 270 people.