(WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass.) – Academy Award-winner John Irving and actor Treat Williams will participate in the 15^th annual Williamstown Film Festival, screening thirty films and hosting events in Williamstown and North Adams from Wednesday, October 30 through Sunday, November 3, 2013. 

Festival venues include MASS MoCA, the Clark, Images Cinema, and the ’62 Center for Theater and Dance at Williams College.

Four special evening events (available through tickets or a four-night pass) are:

* Wednesday, October 30: John Irving on Adaptation: the celebrated writer will talk with Williams College professor/WFF board member Jim Shepard about Irving’s Oscar-winning adaptation of his novel The Cider House Rules. Discussion will include clips from the film. Tickets are available to the event alone, or to the event plus an after-party.

* Thursday, October 31: Food Films Night  A wildly contrasting pair of movies about cuisine, haute and otherwise: Diner en Blanc, with the world’s largest dinner party staged at a secret location in Paris, and The Great Chicken Wing Hunt, in which friends comb upstate New York to find the “perfect 10.” Wings-tasting party after the screening.

* Friday, November 1: A Birder’s Guide to Everything. Imagine a blend of Sideways and Stand by Me. Four teenagers embark on a wacky Connecticut road trip to track down a supposedly extinct duck. With Ben Kingsley and James LeGros. Joint event with MASS MoCA, preceded by WFF’s benefit dinner. The film’s screenwriter Luke Matheny – WFF alumnus and Oscar winner – will do a Q&A.

* Saturday, November 2: Special event to be announced.

Other feature films on the WFF schedule include:

* Cherry Cottage, the saga of a historic Stockbridge house, directed by Williamstown’s David Simonds and narrated by Hans Morris. A story of America told through the prism of a historic building

* Good Ol’ Freda, charming portrait of a Liverpudlian teenager who became the Beatles’ loyal secretary, and now – 50 years later – shares her stories of working for the Fab Four

* Skating to New York, in which five young Canadians make a pact to skate across frozen Lake Ontario on foot. A moving tale of friendship, endurance, and quiet heroism

*  Middleton, with Andy Garcia and Vera Farmiga as parents who meet on their different children’s campus tour and – to their surprise – strike up a bond

* A Case of You, romantic comedy of a writer (Justin Long) who creates a fictional alter ego to win a girl’s affection, but then gets into trouble when she falls for him

Every feature film will have a Q&A with guest artists. WFF will also present the highly popular All-Shorts slots, with two different lineups on Friday and Saturday. There will be a Lunch Seminar devoted to filmmaking in the Berkshires, with panelists including actor Treat Williams.

Tickets and Passes are available online at Williamstown Film Festival or by calling the WFF Ticket Line at 413.458.9900. Besides the Festival Pass ($150, admission to all events and parties except the Benefit dinner), WFF also has the 4 Evenings Pass ($75) and the 5 Daytime Pass ($45; select five events).