Festival 5 is a wrap. The follow-up now begins. What a process to produce a film festival. If we have any respect for any Festival Founder or Director it is that they even make something like this happen at all. The expectations of “thousands” of filmmakers and attendees is stunning and at times beyond belief (parking on demand in Philadelphia?). A film festival is motivated in its pure sense to screen films that they feel the public wants to see. Their are those that feel they are “all about local film or Independent film” but in short, are sorely missing the point. The film fest attendee has as much love for film as the one who brags “they are all about it”. The process in which a festival is produced is where the dedication lies and that is the holy grail – producing a festival by all means possible. Media Bureau has been producing @philaIndie since it conceived the idea in 2007. We all dreamed of getting to festival 5. The founder and festival director, Benjamin F. Barnett and Bernard Glincosky, are still standing. This years team consisted of the most talented and diverse body since we broke ground in 2008 with the first festival. This years team (now going on 2+ years), Stephon Tucker (Producer), James DiFonzo (Festival PR and writer in residence), Melissa O’Donnell (Screening Chair and filmmaker liason), Kelsey Hoffman (Festival General Manager), Edgardo Vazquez (Festival Art Director), Bernard Glincosky (Volunteer Coordinator) and the vast army of volunteers that took on “jobs” to make it the best festival by far ever are a force. This spawning is what makes Philadelphia film so special to us and we hope all of you. This years festival screened 122 films and video’s, with 14 screened “off festival” (136 total). What can we say? Hate us or love us, we are here to stay and are on track despite the carnage of a global financial meltdown and blindsiding competition.

See you June 26 – 30, 2013 for festival #6. Bigger, better, stronger. We hope you join us.

The #piff team