Peter Kane Dufault, at the Triplex Cinema

Print Story | Email Story
GREAT BARRINGTON, Mass – The Berkshire International Film Festival (BIFF,) the Triplex Cinema and special guest Christopher Noth (star of Sex and the City and Law and Order) will present the film memoir of the dissident American poet, Peter Kane Dufault, on Thursday, December 4, 2008 at 6:00 p.m. at the Triplex Cinema.

Noth will introduce the evening and his beloved American History teacher Peter Dufault who will do a recitation of one of his poems prior to the short documentary What I Meant to Tell You. After the screening, there will be a Q&A with Noth and Dufault followed by cocktails and appetizers with the guests and a silent auction including a generous donation from Walton Ford.

What I Meant To Tell You is a film that sets out to voice one mans sense of outrage at the US Governments assault on the Constitution and the environment, while at the same time becoming a story of a sons effort to re-establish communication with his embattled and aging father. The film conveys those truths we wish we could speak and hear from the people we love, as well as words of political dissent which we must speak, in the face of our threatened right to speak at all.

Dufault ponders our human place in the landscape through carefully crafted poems, but he also uses his wry wit and powers of observation to level strong political attacks on American domestic and foreign policy. As a veteran of WWII where he piloted a B24 Liberator, his words hold particular authority and relevance. Since the War, his poetry has appeared consistently in The New Yorker, Harpers, The New Republic, Atlantic Monthly, Poetry Magazine and in many other journals and anthologies, including the fourth edition of the Norton Anthology of American Poetry (1996).

In the 1960s, Dufault was the subject of a short CBS documentary describing his poetry and way of life titled A Look The Other Way. This film won a prize at the San Francisco International Film Festival. Subsequently, Dufault narrated a section of the award-winning CBS-TV documentary, The Forgotten River, an early environmental expose dealing with the decline of the Hudson River. He also wrote and performed the music for a PBS documentary called The Park with Joanne Woodward narrating which garnered two Emmy Awards.

Tickets are $10 general admission at the Triplex Cinema or a $100 tax-deductible donation for screening and gala after party with Peter Dufault, Chris Noth, Director Ethan Dufault and BIFF Director Kelley Vickery. Cocktails and hors doeuvres will accompany this event. Gala tickets can be purchased at Tune Street, Great Barrington or at edufault@simons-rock.edu or call 413-429-1678. Movie Trailer can be viewed at http://arts.dragonfly.com/poet.
If you would like to contribute information on this article, contact us at info@iberkshires.com.

Former Harry's Supermarket Under Construction for Restaurant

By Brittany PolitoiBerkshires Staff

PITTSFIELD, Mass. — Construction is underway to transform the former Harry's Supermarket into a restaurant

Late last month, the Conservation Commission greenlit some tree pruning on the property. New windows and a new door can be seen in the front of the building. 

"It's a substantial renovation that's currently underway here," Brent White of White Engineering said, speaking on behalf of the applicant and owner, Huajie Zhu. 

A fire gutted the longtime Wahconah Street supermarket in 2023, and the following year, Zhu purchased the property for $460,000 two years ago to build a restaurant with hibachi in the existing footprint of the more than 100-year-old building. 

White explained that the project has been ongoing for over a year, and the Community Development Board granted the property a waiver to reduce the minimum required number of parking spaces so that additional spaces aren't needed.  

He noted that, looking at the site plan, there is very little room to do so. A mirror will be installed near the sharp turn on Bel Air Avenue to alleviate traffic concerns. 

Pruning will be done on trees in the southeast corner of the existing paved parking lot, as a number of branches are hanging over. The new owners also intend to patch, sealcoat, and re-stripe the parking lot. 

A fire tore through the building less than an hour after the supermarket closed for the day three years ago. An automatic sprinkler system is required for the new use. 

View Full Story

More Great Barrington Stories