A Food Film and Potluck Series at Images Cinema

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From January through April Images Cinema will present "Animal, Vegetable, Cinema," a food film and potluck series in which a food-themed documentary and potluck will be presented once a month: January 13, Living On The Wedge; February 10, King Corn; March 9, Hamburger America; and April 20, Asparagus! King Corn is co-presented by Williamstown Reads! The other three films in the series are selections from the New York Food Film Festival, who provided the films to Images Cinema. Descriptions follow below. At each event, a food-themed documentary will screen, concurrent with a potluck. All screenings will be followed by a discussion of the film with local food. People are encouraged to bring potluck dishes to share with others. Images Cinema is located at 50 Spring Street, Williamstown, MA. Sunday, January 13 at 5pm: Living on the Wedge: Wisconsin's Artisan Cheesemakers with Williamtown's own Cricket Creek Farm artisan cheesemakers Living on the Wedge introduces you to some of Wisconsin's best artisan cheesemakers, and shows you exactly how that award-winning cheddar, mozzarella, and blue cheese was created. Selection from the New York Food Film Festival. Sunday, February 10 at 2:30pm: King Corn Special Guest TBD Best friends Ian and Curt move to the heartland to learn where their food comes from. With the help of friendly neighbors, genetically modified seeds, nitrogen fertilizers, and powerful herbicides, they plant a bumper crop of America's most productive and most subsidized grain. But when they try to follow their pile of corn into the food system, what they find raises troubling questions about how we eat -- and how we farm. Visit the Web site and view the trailer at www.kingcorn.net. Sunday, March 9 at 5pm: Hamburger America With Williamstown's own East Mountain Farm, a grass-fed beef producer Hamburger America is the story of eight deliciously unique hamburger locations across the country and the people behind the burgers. Each restaurant featured in the film has existed for more than 40 years, uses only fresh meat, and in many cases can boast that ownership has remained in the same family. Hamburger America has screened on the Sundance Channel, and is an official selection of the New York Food Film Festival. Visit the Web site and view the trailer at www.hamburgeramerica.com. Sunday, April 20 at 5pm: Asparagus! Stalking the American Life Special Guest TBD For thirty years Oceana County, Michigan, has been the Asparagus Capital of the World. Now its residents and family farms take on the U.S. War on Drugs, Free Trade, and a Fast Food Nation, all the save their beloved "roots". Offical selection of Full Frame Documentary Film Festival and the New York Food Film Festival. Visit the Website and view the trailer at www.asparagusthemovie.com. The only one of its kind in Berkshire County, Images Cinema is a year-round non-profit, member-supported community film house that presents a wide range of films that impact filmmaking and our culture. Images continuously seeks to entertain, educate and engage the community with quality programming, while maintaining its dedication to independent film and media. Check for up-to-date happenings at www.imagescinema.org.
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Williamstown Planning Board Narrowing in on Subdivision Bylaw Changes

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Planning Board late last month discussed specific features of what it plans to pass as a new subdivision control bylaw this year.
 
The board long has discussed the complex set of regulations as being out of date and cumbersome to both potential developers and the board itself, which has needed to hear requests for waivers of outdated rules for the handful of residential subdivisions that have been proposed in town in recent years.
 
This spring, the town engaged consultants from Northampton's Dodson and Flinker Landscape Architecture and Planning to go through the existing bylaw, compare it to more contemporary regulations in other communities and help craft a revised bylaw.
 
Unlike the zoning bylaw, where amendments require approval of town meeting, the subdivision control bylaw is a creation of the Planning Board, which can make changes on its own after a public hearing process it hopes to complete this year.
 
At a special Planning Board meeting on May 26, Dillon Sussman of Dodson and Flinker and his colleagues walked the board through a dozen different decision points that the board must resolve — either by leaving the bylaw as is or making a change — and offered suggestions based on best practices.
 
All of the issues are technical and ranged from the fundamental, like how the bylaw will define types of subdivisions, to the highly specific, like what turning radii will be required in new streets that are constructed to serve planned developments.
 
One example of a topic that came up in the recent approval of a four-home subdivision off Summer Street is stormwater management.
 
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