Science on Screen Returns for Another Season to Images Cinema

08:07AM / Thursday, January 02, 2025Print Story | Email Story

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Images Cinema is excited to announce another season of Science on Screen.

This year's theme is "Eco-Disaster: How We Imagine Humankind Will Navigate Global Catastrophe" all showing on Wednesdays in January, beginning on Wednesday, Jan. 8, 2025. Tickets are available on a sliding scale, $0-20. Each talk will start at 7pm, with the film immediately following.

Images Cinema is located at 50 Spring Street, Williamstown.

For the 2023-24 season of Science on Screen, Images developed a new format, presenting a series of talks paired with films tackling deep dives into contemporary scientific and societal challenges. For that pilot season, the theme was "Humans and A.I.: How Will We Coexist?", with each film in the series bringing together two or more academics in dialogue.

While each talk will be unique to each film and the academic focuses of each speaker, all will delve into both the actual scientific probability of such disaster occurring — and if it will occur as depicted in the film — and the veracity of the human responses to directly avoid said catastrophe and/or the psychological/sociological effects of the catastrophe coming to pass.

"We're so thrilled to present our second consecutive season of Science on Screen, thanks to the generous support of The Alfred P. Sloan Foundation and the Coolidge Corner Theatre," said Dan Hudson, executive director of Images Cinema. "This season we dove even deeper in pairing compelling speakers who can bring to light unique aspects of lessons to take from these films, and we're excited to include academics from Bennington College and Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts this year."

Images Cinema will close out the season by participating in the National Evening of Science on Screen on Tuesday, March 25, 2025. Film and speaker for that screening will be announced at a later date.

Information about films and speakers for this series:

MELANCHOLIA (2011)
Wednesday 1/8/25 at 7pm

Dir. Lars von Trier

Justine and Michael are celebrating their marriage at a sumptuous party in the home of her sister Claire, and brother-in-law John. Despite Claire's best efforts, the wedding is a fiasco, with family tensions mounting and relationships fraying. Meanwhile, a planet called Melancholia is heading directly towards Earth…

with Dr. Jeremy A. Cone, Associate Professor of Psychology, Williams College and Dr. Jason E. Young, Visiting Field Memorial Assistant Professor of Astronomy, Williams College

DEEP IMPACT (1998)

Wednesday 1/15/25 at 7pm

Dir. Mimi Loder

A seven-mile-wide space rock is hurtling toward Earth, threatening to obliterate the planet. Now, it's up to the president of the United States to save the world. He appoints a tough-as-nails veteran astronaut to lead a joint American-Russian crew into space to destroy the comet before impact. Meanwhile, an enterprising reporter uses her smarts to uncover the scoop of the century.

with Dr. Phoebe A. Cohen, Professor of Geosciences, Williams College and Dr. David Bond, Associate Director, Center for the Advancement of Public Action, Bennington College

CHILDREN OF MEN (2006)

Wednesday 1/22/25 at 7pm

Dir. Alfonso Cuarón

In 2027, in a chaotic world in which humans can no longer procreate, a former activist agrees to help transport a miraculously pregnant woman to a sanctuary at sea, where her child's birth may help scientists save the future of humankind.

with Dr. Tim J. Lebestky, Associate Professor of Biology, Williams College and Dr. Mohamad Junaid, Associate Professor, Sociology, Anthropology, Social Work, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts

SNOWPIERCER (2013)
Wednesday 1/29/25 at 7pm

Dir. Bong Joon-ho

In a future where a failed global-warming experiment kills off most life on the planet, a class system evolves aboard the Snowpiercer, a train that travels around the globe via a perpetual-motion engine.

with Dr. Alice C. Bradley, Assistant Professor of Geosciences, Williams College and Dr. Victoria Papa Associate Professor, English, Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts

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New Daycare and Training Zone for Dogs Opens in Williamstown

By Breanna SteeleiBerkshires Staff
12:35PM / Sunday, October 11, 2026

WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — You can now bring your dogs to a new daycare and training spot.

Owners and friends Michelle Marrocco and Tiffany Boyden opened Pup Place last month at 895 Simonds Road, the former location of a martial arts studio.

"We do daycare full days and half days, and then we do what we like to call lifestyle training, which is just worked into our models," Marrocco said. "So generally, people don't want their dogs to jump on them, or counter surf, or steal food, and we don't want those things either. So we just reinforce that all day, every day.

"And then we have additional training options like leash training, so your dog will walk politely. We do reactivity training with dogs who are nervous or scared or have issues with other people or other dogs."

This is not their first venture. The two have been walking and training dogs as Berkshire Pup People and it took about five years to find the right space to open a doggy daycare.

"We started with walking, and then added on training and pet sitting and pet sitting. So we have a team of independent contractors," Boyden said.

Marrocco said a brick and mortar building for their business was always the goal while they built up a customer base.

"The idea was that we would do that to build up trust in the community and get to know the market better, with the goal of opening a dog daycare, because there's a huge amount of people with dogs here in the Berkshires in general, and I think we are able to serve maybe 11 percent of the market, which is like families with one or two dogs, and there's three other dog daycares in the region, or dog day trains sort of places, and there's simply not enough for what people need," she said.

Boyden, who is a dog behaviorist, said she fell in love with dog training during the pandemic through helping a neighbor with their dog.

"There was a hole in the market because the dog daycare that I actually brought my own dog to closed, and my neighbor was like, 'I was working remote this whole time, but now I have to go in the office. What do I do with my dog? What do you do with your dog?' And I was like, 'I have a remote job, so he stays home.' And that's kind of where the idea started. We started walking and training him. Then he started coming to my house for care," Boyden said.

After realizing the gap in the market, Boyden reached out to Marrocco, knowing they are both dog lovers, and asked if she wanted to start a business with her.

Boyden learned training from an online course and hands-on experience. Marrocco has a background in teaching and said humane education is similar to how dogs learn. The also completed the E for All Berkshire County business training program.

"What sets me apart a little bit from other trainers in our area is that instead of just basic training, I really enjoy the reactivity training, anything that's behavioral. I love to see a dog struggling and find the root cause of why they're struggling, and then figure out how can we work together to help, rather than just say, 'Hey, this is a behavior. We're going to just train you to stop it,'" she said. "It's why are you having that behavior, and how can we help you through that so you no longer feel like you need to do that behavior? So that's a lot of what we do here in general."

They use positive reinforcement only and avoid aversive methods, which can hide behavior problems. She said all dogs learn a shared set of commands, such as waiting at gates and being comfortable with handling.

At the daycare, dogs rotate between rest, enrichment activities like ripping cardboard, and play so they learn to settle down.

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