This weekend was hosted by the North East region, under the chairmanship of Ivor Rose and felt warm and welcoming.

Early arrivals had the bonus of a trip to Temple Newsam but for many of us the weekend began with the Audio Visual presentation on Friday night. It opened on a sad note. We heard that Peter Coles, well known to BIAFF regulars as the organiser of the Geoffrey Round A-V Competition, had recently died.
The evening began with Colour Wash made by Peter in collaboration with Valerie and Chris Elliot and which featured Peter's voice. It was a powerful reminder of his gentle, poetic nature. The programme, chosen by Marion Waine and John Rowell from the competition winners, evoked a wide range of feelings from lighthearted to romantic to dark and mysterious.

On the Saturday, clubs from the North East put on several shows providing a fine selection of BIAFF 2011 films. And there was one important development: a mini-cinema session of youth films from the competition. Sam Brown, part of Beveridge Brown Productions (winner of Best Entry by under-16s at BIAFF 2010), introduced the programme. I had hoped for an audience where young people outnumbered us oldies but I was disappointed. However the quality of the young people's films was excellent and I hope this initiative continues.

The formal dinner on the Saturday evening was an emotional affair. Ron Davies and Valrie Ellis paid a loving tribute to Peter Coles. We applauded two new Fellows, Alan Colegrave and Mike Shaw, and were delighted to see Linda Gough receive the UNICA medal for outstanding services to film making. Christiane Surdiacourt from Belgium gave a warm and very personal toast to the Institute. She and her husband Martin Bracke have attended BIAFF for many years.

As always the Gala shows on Sunday, the highlight of the weekend, were well attended and this year the audience included some new faces from overseas.
Eun Youn Chang, the maker of the Daily Mail winner Helping Hand, had travelled from South Korea to attend the show. David Brezina. maker of Abyss and winner of the Creative Sound award, had travelled from Prague.
We were impressed by many of the films but the one that caused a real buzz was Montague Jack by Wimborne Minster Cine and Video Club, winner of the Denham Gold Cup for Best Entry from an Affiliated club.

Another innovation this year was the award for Best Club Website. This was presented to Neil Cryer for his Surrey Borders website.

Congratulations to the technical team for an excellent show and to the other members of NERIAC for a thoroughly enjoyable weekend.

Jan Watterson