BUFF = THE MORNING AFTER - FRIENDS AND FRIENDS

Last night the seventh edition of BUFF ended, and certainly thanks to what my animator friend Bob White calls a "godsend" (he made a film called GODDESS) the participation of my managing directors, Anna Feder and Kevin Monahan, the Festival was a significant step forward. The program guide was terrific, as was the cover design, and the filmmakers who came, for the mst part, felt happy and appreciative. The So,erville Theatre and the DFavid Square environs allowed for the requisite schmoozing. and the audiences, although variabe in terms of size, were responsive.

BUT - even though we got more in sponsorship than ever before, and that Ihad developed a "friends" category that l0-a dozen people had contributed to, I saw few of them at the festival. Last week, I had dinner with Mass Media Alliance founder Joan Quinn Eastmen and her husband Dan, as well as the first "friends" supporter, Susan Johnston. Ot had been great to see them, and I was remended about how I found that relationship be a springboard for what I hoped would become a greater cohesion to what I call the flim commjnity. That never really happened. I've digressed. What I noticed was that, with the exception of my long time friend Ed Slattery, and some fimmakers like Bob White and Allan Piper, there were very few people I acutally knew at the Festival. For me, it's about sharaing an alternative vision with people who in one way or another, care passionately about film. When that doesn't happen, there;s no point in my cntinuing/ It's true that most of the financial support and much of the film program came from my contacts, but it'stime to move on