Several of us are just coming back from covering the last weekend of the the Nantucket Film Festival.

The Nantucket Film Festival is not your usual film festival. While it does showcase good films, and several of the films were great, thisdoes not appear to be the primary reason that people make time to travel to the island. The truth is this particular festival, best described as a mini major (mini in its size, major in its reach to the upper echelons), gets its wings from its events, and the luminaries who are present provide the wind.

For instance, a great number of the attendees have strong name recognition: These included Joe Pantoliona (of Sopranos fame), Jace Alexander (director, among others, of Rescue Me, Ally McBeal, and Law & Order), Peter Farrelly (writer/director of Stuck on you, Me Myself and Irene, Shallow Hall, Dumb & Dumber), Brian Williams (news anchor at NBC), Robert Benton (writer/director of Kramer vs. Kramer, Places in the Heart, Bonny and Clyde, even the original Superman), well-known TV actor actor Steven Webber among other well-known figures. I also met a few rising indie film stars, such as Oscar-nominated Jesus Camp director Rachel Grady and director/writer Joe Greco, who delivered an incredible film titled Canvas which won the Audience Award.

This is what makes the $1000 full-access pass worthwhile. More material, including photos, video coverage and links to other coverage will come in the next few days.