By all accounts Bermuda's sixth festival of independent film has been a major success so far. Visiting filmmakers rave at the hospitality and high level of attention lavished on them by organisers, and the casualness and conviviality of it all.

Audiences have been impressed by the variety and quantity of films - this year 72 films are being shown, up from under 30 just six years ago and countries represented include Iceland, Argentina, Portugal and Sweden. Concerns are pretty much the same as last year - that the Bermuda International Film Festival might go the way of other festivals like Sundance and outlive its usefulness to independent filmmakers seeking exposure and an appreciative audience, and maybe a distribution deal.

Growth, and more success, could be the enemy, they say. But that appears to be a long way off yet and at six years old BIFF continues to draw positive comments from visiting filmmakers and audience members. There have been a few complaints and technical issues such as a dialogue going mute during one screening.

And, worryingly, one filmgoer reported BIFF volunteers chattering away during the screening of "It Runs in The Family".

Director Peter Spirer, whose film "Dunsmore" is in competition against eight other narrative features, says that from a business point of view only five festivals really matter.

BIFF isn't one of them, but that doesn't mean it's not useful.

He explained: "What I like about it is you don't have a lot of agents and managers running around. As a filmmaker I want them to buy my film, but at the same time it's about film appreciation."

Other film festivals have become more about business than film appreciation, he said.

Sundance, which started off as a well regarded festival for innovative independent films, has long gone in that direction - films there often already have distribution deals and in such cases showing a film there is simply part of some distributor's marketing plot.

Hollywood mega-star - and Bermudian - Michael Douglas' film, "It Runs in the Family", which opened BIFF 2003, didn't quite fit the bill of independent film, he added. And that's a bit of a worry as is allowing Oscar winner "The Pianist" to be in competition for the Audience Award.

No matter. "It really is a good forum for independent films, despite some of the big names that are here to attract people," said Spirer's wife Kelly Bevan.

"I think we have been very well cared for here. I think they have done what they could," said Spirer. "I mean I've been in other festivals where we may have been given a per diem or a meal or something but I'm not at all displeased. I think we have been very well taken care of. I know it's expensive to fly somebody down here. And I think this festival's much better than even Sundance which is really star driven."

He added: "If the festival moved in a direction where it became more star oriented, where it was only going to play movies with recognisable names, I would say there's something wrong here. If it keeps its original spirit and yet films are launched out of this place and people start coming to it for that reason that's great."