Bess Hochstein reports from Great Barrington.Two locally based, internationally acclaimed artists were the focus of two nights of screenings and celebrations during the Berkshire International Film Festival, and both artists made rare personal appearances to engage with those who had just been given a behind-the-scenes glimpse at their lives and work. On Friday, June 1, performance artist Marina Abramović (left, with Serge Le Borgne and BIFF founder Kelley Vickery), who is creating her Institute for the Preservation of Performance Art in Hudson, enjoyed a soiree at the Aston Magna estate before attending the screening of Marina Abramovic: The Artist is Present and taking questions from the audience. On Sunday, June 3, BIFF closed with a screening of Gregory Crewdson: Brief Encounter, after which the photographer who shot to fame based on a body of work produced in the Berkshires, and who now has a home and studio outside of Great Barrington, also participated in a Q&A — which he says will be the only one he'll do during the film's run — before joining a boisterous crowd of art lovers, film fans, and well-wishers at the Castle Street Café, where the 7th BIFF was toasted in style.
Producer/director Mark Farrell with physical therapist Erin Burch, the "Body Whisperer"; film fans Fern Portnoy and Rachael Goldfarb.
Musician Robby Baier with artist Carol Gingles; Seven Salon & Spa co-owner and general manager Maurice Peterson and Studio Two's Kevin Sprague.
Chef Michael Ballon had the buffet fare under control in his makeshift kitchen beneath threatening skies. The rain held off but the wind was fierce.
NBCUniversal executive vice president Patricia Fili-Krushel with screenwriter Maria Nation; Jacob's Pillow board chair Joan Hunter with Matthew Heineman, co-director and -producer of Escape Fire: The Fight to Rescue American Healthcare, which tied with Chasing Ice as winner of the BIFF Juried Prize Award in the documentary category.
Casting director and BIFF board member Elissa Myers with cookie entrepreneur Lisa Newmann and innkeeper Suky Werman, both members of BIFF's advisory board; Apple software engineer Maciej Stachowiak and Pittsfield-born filmmaker Cameo, who traveled from San Francisco, with artist Michael Allen Lowe, whose work is in the current Ferrin Gallery show, Covet.
Kate and Hans Morris at the Mahaiwe before the film; Marina Abramović and director Matthew Akers take questions about his documentary, The Artist Is Present.
The artists were present: Rebecca Weinman, whose paintings are now on view at Ferrin Gallery as part of the Call Me Melville festival, with Maggie Mailer, Gabrielle Senza, and Eric Drury.
On Sunday night, after the festival-closing screening of Gregory Crewdson: Brief Encounter, BIFF's Kelley Vickery, MASS MoCA's Joe Thompson, director Ben Shapiro, and photographer Gregory Crewdson took questions from the audience.
BIFF Filmmaker Summit coordinator Sarah Patrick Morgese and her father, Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick, at the Mahaiwe; actor Karen Allen and artist Stephen Hannock at the Castle Street Café for BIFF's closing night party.
VFX wizard and newly minted Academy Award-winner Douglas Trumbull came in from the rain with Julia Hobart Trumbull; documentary duo Gregory Crewdson and Ben Shapiro.
Daniel Osman left his perch at The Dream Away Lodge to join realtor Nancy Kalodner; photographer Sean McLaughlin with Roberto Flores of Good Dogs Farm.
Business consultant Ken De Loreto with jewelry designer Carolina Palermo Schultze; Berkshire Museum's Jennibeth Gomez with actor Colin Gold.
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Matteline deVries-Dilling, founder of Lite Brite Neon, one of the evening's honoree of this year's Upstate Benefit adresses the gala from the Caboose's caboose.
- Karen Pearson. Courtesy Art Omi.
Olana senior vice president and landscape curatorMark Prezorski, president Sean Sawyer, The evenings honoree Kristin Gamble and New York State Assemblymember Didi Barrett.
- Oxygen House Photo
