I haven't had time to plan a summer vacation yet, have you? It seems to me that when the year 2000 rolled in, I had too many distractions kidnapping my time. Part of it may be that I broke an ankle and a toe in a nasty spill in Harvard Square one rainy, windy day. But, for the most part, I believe it's that I over schedule relentlessly. That may be why I took that spill which produced a slow down that I couldn't argue with. "Things" work that way sometime. Fortunately, I'm extremely healthy and already into physical therapy that's going quite well. Most importantly, I was into my first pair of heels since the accident for the WIFV/NE 2000 Image Awards for Vision & Excellence event, which occurred May 16th at the beautiful Fairmont Copley Hotel Ballroom in Boston.

The Second Awards Gala was well attended, compactly and visually well produced by even the most demanding standards, and pronounced a great success all around. I was happy to be there along with Imagine photographer, Gretje Ferguson. The look was quite glamorous overall and we got some splendid pictures. Congratulations to the Sally Fay Cottingham, Rebecca Richards (co-chairs for the event), to the Awards recipients and to all the WIFV/NE members and volunteers whose efforts will be long remembered. Good memories are from such happenings as these.

Summer productions are in full swing in New England. You'll see evidence of it throughout this issue. Look around you and you may see a production crew in your neighborhood. WHAT'S HE WORST THAT COULD HAPPEN, from a novel by Donald E. Westlake, to be directed by Sam Weisman and starring Danny DiVito and Martin Lawrence has been taking up a lot of the Mass Film Office time. They'll be in town soon. "The Practice" has just left. Brad Anderson is scheduled, as is Alicia Silverstone's EXPIRED featuring "Stewart" of those amusing Ameritrade TV ads. Read Carl Hansen's "Film Watch" on page 28 for more details.

ImagineNation debuts this month also on page 28. It's the first cartoon in Imagine since our inception. We've always wanted a cartoon. And we've been wishing for just the right person to draw cartoons for Imagine for a long time. Our cartoonist, your professor of surrealism, is Mick Cusimano. He's a Boston based cartoonist and illustrator who has an affinity for the "biz" that gives him just the right amount of insight to poke some fun at it and make challenging statements. We're happy to have him on board and hope you enjoy ImagineNation.

We've been using our imaginations to help us get to all the wonderful film festivals this summer. It’s all nearly figured out. In this issue, we've previewed July's festivals (the June festivals were previewed last month) and we've included a special section with highlights from Nantucket location scout, Susan Beaumont, with her thoughts on the Nantucket Film Festival scheduled June 21 - 25.

I am still blown away by the fact that in her directorial debut, Kimberly Peirce directed Hillary Swank to an Academy Award performance for Best Actress! Marie Makredes interviewed Kimberly when she was here during the Eighth Annual Boston International Festival of Women's Cinema at the Brattle Theater in Harvard Square. Read her complete interview and her review of BOYS DON'T CRY starting on page 14.

Laura Bernieri writes our cover story this month, A Close-up on the beautiful, charming and talented Robin Young. You'll like this story about a woman who has really held her own in the industry including winning The Ace Award, The George Foster Peabody Award and several Emmys. Photographer and DP Jose Ramon Garcia shoots his first cover for Imagine. We welcome his work and we're proud to show it to you.

This month we're testing something new. Please let us know how it works out for you. In some instances when we have more text than we have room to print, we've had to bump the articles out of the current issue. This month our Technical Edge and our Legal Lens match that description. It’s been decided that we will start the article in the in-print version of Imagine and continue in our online version on our web site www.imaginenews.com. It's commonly done, but we have no experience with it and want your feed back.

We are sad to let you know that still more talent leaves New England for LA. Gone are Darren Yesser (Saint Aire Productions) and Matt McIntosh (JR CREATIVE featured in WWW last month). The great news is Darren has been hired into the executive training program at Industry Entertainment, a good-sized Management/Production company representing talent such as Angelina Jolie, Tobey McGuire and Kelsey Grammer. Actually, Matt arrives in LA just in time for his screening at the Television Academy of Arts & Sciences. Good Luck! We'll send your copies of Imagine to LA.

Next month Imagine explores the explosion of editing techniques and technologies. We’ll have a close look at the masterful editors who do the final rewrite of every film and video piece. It should be fun and informative. We'll examine the latest in special effects and we're also preparing a special section on the Woods Hole Film Festival.

As the summer fun begins, I want to thank everyone who labors to bring Imagine to fruition every month. I want to thank all of our advertisers. They are the ones who make it all possible. When you can, please give them your business and let them know that you see and appreciate their ads in Imagine. And thank you for reading Imagine. Your words of encouragement and appreciation are so welcomed here. Thank you!

Have a Great Summer and Happy Festival Going to Everyone!