Working for Buff Enterprises, the parent company of the British Urban Film Festival means that you get to find out the inner workings of those that provide the driving force behind this juggernaut of a company. Admittedly, I work for BUFF on a freelance basis, however, my curious nature led me to investigate the concept of launching a free film festival in the middle of a credit crunch – bound to work surely? The timing was extremely fortuitous – so I was told – however, a marketing campaign supported by the actor Ashley Walters, the now defunct New Nation newspaper, the Tower Hamlets local authority and the Film London agency meant that the inaugural British Urban Film Festival was attended by over 400 people (3 weeks before Christmas) including a sprinkle of press journo’s, actors, free alcohol and some very talented film-makers. And the way this recession is going, many people will not find going to the cinema a necessity unless they have good reason to…

It does seem at the moment that people are still flocking to the cinema and with award-winning British films like Slumdog Millionaire rinsing Hollywood and elsewhere it looks like we’re in the middle of a golden age for British filmmaking. Adulthood has also been a groundbreaking film, confounding observers not only by making money but by managing to reach out to a mass audience which had failed to grasp the nettle in terms of young black people and this idea that they couldn’t effectively tell stories which reflected who they were. Observers and film-makers alike will have noticed the zeitgeist that seems apparent and it’s whether they will tap into it or break out with something even more groundbreaking for an ever eager audience…

Speaking of conformity, the debate surrounding Susan Boyle and her reluctance to have a makeover regarding her appearances on Britain’s Got Talent will bring a wry smile to the many people who worked on the first 2 series of The Search for BUFF – a reality-TV-talent show just like Britain’s Got Talent, difference being we were extremely blatant in our search for beauty. To define someone or something as beautiful (or buff) is down to looks – to the extent that viewers of the show were asked to vote in to decide how buff the people we interviewed were. Many people who were interviewed on the Search for BUFF commented that it was more about what was on the inside than the outside and maybe that is the case with Susan Boyle. So why does she need a makeover? One suspects that Britain’s Got Talent was created as an anti-thesis to the beauty contest that is The X Factor. However, the public have spoken – thanks to Twitter and Youtube – and now Susan Boyle has created a moment similar to a scene in the film The Truman Show where Jim Carrey suddenly realises that he’s been watched by society. Society is watching what the producers of Britain’s Got Talent are going to do with one of the most famous members of the public in the world at this moment. Will she be allowed to wallow, literally, in her own skin or will she have to be buffed up because society demands so…

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