Opening Night of the 6th Berkshire International Film Festival

For the opening of the 6th annual Berkshire International Film Festival (BIFF) on June 2 in Great Barrington, the red carpet outside the Mahawie Performing Arts Center was donated by Dash & Albert, the Pittsfield textiles company owned by Annie Selke, and inside some 500 people gathered to see the documentary Page One: Inside The New York Times, which raised the provocative question of whether mainstream media like The New York Times can survive in the digital age. Before the screening, BIFF's loyal patrons gathered under a tent behind Town Hall for an inventive buffet supper catered by Dan Mathieu's Max Ultimate of Boston. Amazingly, the weather was cool and crisp, which, along with the open bar, put everyone in a very good mood for a full weekend of movies that continues through Sunday, June 5. Individual tickets to several films are still available online.

Vicki Bonnington & David Schecker; actor Peter Riegert with BIFF founder Kelley Vickery.

BIFF board member and branding guru Kevin Sprague and Mary Garnish; Red Lion Inn owner Nancy Fitzpatrick & Lincoln Russell.

Hunter Runnette and Dr. Mark Vanden Bosch; fashion designer Anne Johnston Albert, and architectural designer Tyler Weld.

Writers Holly Morse & Paige Orloff; Jack, Kaitlin & Andrew Vickery.

Steve Hebrock & Annie Selke of Pine Cone Hill; Berkshire Mountain Distillers' Chris Weld & Brian Alberg of the Red Lion Inn.

Black Ice Entertainment's John Whalan with film scholar Kent Jones and Diane Pearlman of the Berkshire Film & Media Commission, which is sponsoring Jones' Saturday afternoon screening of A Letter to Elia at BIFF; Gussie & Peter Greer with Barbara Schulman.

Lauren & Michael Zivyak; IS 183's Hope Sullivan with Alejandro de Onis, who is moderating a BIFF panel on human rights on Sunday at 1 p.m.