Rogovoy Report for January 17, 2014

This weekend brings film, art, literature, dance, honkytonk, indie-folk – you name it, the Berkshires has it this weekend.

Good People Go To Hell, Saved People Go To Heaven” is a new documentary by Williamstown filmmaker Holly Hardman. The film examines the arcane world of evangelical outreach rallies, high-octane church services, and old-time tent revivals, and will be screened at the Triplex Cinema in Great Barrington on Sunday, at 11am, in a presentation by the BIFF REEL Friends Film Society. Film director Hardman will be in attendance for a Q&A following the screening The film deftly manages to cover the breadth and complexity of Christian End-Times culture while focusing on one family’s riveting saga of faith and conflict.

Izhar Patkin discusses his exhibition, The Wandering Veil, with writer and curator David Ross, atMASS MoCA in North Adams on Saturday, at 2pm. The talk is expected to cover politics and the role of narrative, symbolism, and representation in art today, and will be followed by the official opening reception for the exhibition. Born in Haifa, Israel, in 1955, Patkin first gained recognition for his innovative approach in the mid-1980s with “The Black Paintings,” a series of white ink paintings on black rubber curtains. Patkin has exhibited extensively, most recently at the Tel Aviv Museum of Art in Israel. His work may be found in the collections of numerous prominent institutions including the Whitney, the Guggenheim, MoMA and the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.

Also at MASS MoCA, choreographer Beth Gill will present a work-in-progress performance of “New Work for the Desert” in the Hunter Center on Saturday at 8pm. Gill has been working with an all-star team of dancers and designers while in residence this month at MASS MoCA. The showing will feature technical and choreographic elements achieved during Gill's residency.

Edith Wharton continues to find relevance with contemporary audiences, and popular culture continues to find relevance in the works of Edith Wharton. And The Mount in Lenox – the turn of the century home of Edith Wharton – honors the acclaimed author with three special events showcasing Wharton in a current-day context, beginning on Saturday at 3pm, with pop culture journalist David Kamp, in a discussion entitled "From The House of Mirth to The House of Crawley: Downton Abbey Hits The Mount."

Over in Hudson, a mini-festival of regional Americana and honky-tonk performers hosted by "Sauerkraut" Seth Travins, returns to Club Helsinki on Saturday at 9pm. The evening of music will feature Two Gun Man; Chops, Sauerkraut and the Velvet Frog; Chris Neumann; and other.

Then on Sunday night, Catskills-bred, Brooklyn-based neo-folk outfit Swear and Shake brings its hard-charging indie-folk to Club Helsinki Hudson at 8pm. The band may remind some listeners of 10,000 Maniacs, another folk-rock group with roots in upstate New York.

Experimental filmmaker Bill Morrison is the subject of a mini-film festival today and tomorrow at Time & Space Limited in Hudson. The filmmaker will be in attendance on Saturday to screen three of his films. Bill Morrison is best known for his use of archival imagery, an aesthetic of decay, and collaborations with the most influential composers of our time, including John Adams, Laurie Anderson, Gavin Bryars, Dave Douglas, Philip Glass, Michael Gordon, Bill Frisell, David Lang, Julia Wolfe, and Steve Reich – come to think of it, a list of my favorite living composers. The festival will feature two new works, “The Great Flood” and “The Miners’ Hymns,” as well as his critically acclaimed film, “Decasia.”