This month’s blog is guest written by Janice Charles, newly appointed social media strategist for BUFF Enterprises.

Well first of all, I don’t want to be seen as a guest because I actually work for BUFF Enterprises. I was actually given permission to hijack Emmanuel’s email accounts and write whatever I liked which in my opinion would continue to get the word out regarding BUFF. Now we all know that Emmanuel could speak for England when it comes to BUFF so I actually offered to put a few things out there on his behalf (and mine whilst I’ve got the opportunity) – needless to say, he reluctantly agreed. Between you and me I think he wanted Valentine’s Day off to make himself useful – whatever making yourself useful means on Valentine’s Day. Of course I wouldn’t know anything about that because I only work for Emmanuel anyway that’s far too much information for a blog of this repute!!!

So here we are then, another month down the line, another blog with which to inform, educate and hopefully entertain the fans and followers of the British Urban Film Festival. As a social media strategist it would be unremiss of me not to acknowledge the fact that this blog is not a one-way street which is what blogs tend to be. This blog should always be about feedback, response and debate from you lot – so please, after you’ve digested this month’s BUFF blog, get in touch and let us know what you think: email us: info@buffenterprises.co.uk, post your comments on the facebook wall, or tweet us: @buffenterprises. In fact, whichever social network you’re reading this blog – please feel free to get in touch accordingly – we’d love to hear from you. So what do I want to talk about from the confines of Pretoria in South Africa? Well let’s talk about the BAFTA’s shall we and for a moment during last night’s ceremony there was the distinct possibility that if the publicity-shy Banksy had won the BAFTA for outstanding debut then he would’ve had to have outed himself in public. Though given the choice, if Banksy wins the OSCAR he may have no choice but to come out of hiding. That said, he could rely on Jaimie D’ Cruz, producer of the nominated documentary ‘Exit through the Gift Shop’ to do the honours or better still take the credit, why not? As it turned out, the BAFTA went deservedly to writer/performer Chris Morris for ‘Four Lions’. The thing that makes Morris stand out for me anyway, is his ability to infiltrate the system and disrupt it with what I can only describe as Morris’s unique subtlety if there is such a thing. One look at Morris’s track record would seem to suggest that there is – and long may it continue. Congratulations also to David Fincher who won best director for ‘The Social Network’ which also won best adapted screenplay and best editing. ‘The King’s Speech’ won 7 out of the 14 awards it was nominated for including best actor, supporting actor and supporting actress. ‘The King’s Speech’ is a bittersweet victory for the British Film Industry because by the time we come to the giving out of the Oscars, the film will have made over £125 million pounds at the box office – all great PR collectively but with the UK Film Council now little more than another victim of the UK recession one has to ask where do we go from here?

Another potential victim of the UK recession is the African-Caribbean Leukaemia Trust. I say potential because its’ still in our hands so to speak. I know that over the past few months that Emmanuel has been working in his capacity as a co-producer for 4front Films, the company behind the online poetry slam ‘Manorlogz’ which has thrown its weight behind the ACLT and supporting it with the concept of a charity manorlog – a poem specially commissioned with the ACLT in mind and performed by numerous actors, artists, and other high profile names in showbiz and entertainment who have come together in a relatively short space of time and given up their time to take part. The poem will launch via the 4front i-player service from Tuesday March the 1st and will be widely available on all of the main social networks (www.4fronttv.com). At the time of writing, there are ongoing talks with other media outlets and an announcement will be made shortly regarding when and where you’ll be able to watch the ACLT Manorlogz Extreme Fundraiser featuring amongst others Wil Johnson, Ashley Walters, Terri Walker, Henry Bonsu, Kwame Kwei-Armah, Akala, Ty and Judith Jacob. It is hoped that audiences who will watch the manorlog will be encouraged to donate to the charity as a result. By the time of the next BUFF Blog we will get some idea as to whether Britain’s best known black healthcare charity will be in a stronger position to raise the £80,000 pounds it needs to survive (www.manorlogz.co.uk).

By the time of the next BUFF blog we will have witnessed what’s been reported as the UK’s biggest Nollywood film event with the Leicester Square premiere of Obi Emelonye’s ‘The Mirror Boy’ (www.mirrorboythemovie.com). Emelonye has certainly come a long way from his debut movie ‘Echoes of War’ back in 2003. 2003 was also the year when London audiences were 1st introduced to Melvin Cartright – otherwise known as the self-deluded narcissist who milked everyone in his midst with no apparent ounce of remorse in his body. From that description one may question quite rightly why they would want to spend good money immersing themselves with such a lowlife character (I couldn’t help myself at this point but Emmanuel doesn’t bear any resemblance to this character at all LOL!!!). I digress... Here at BUFF we like to think that we have the answers to most questions and for this particular one look no further than the man behind ‘Melvin: Chronicles of a Player’, award-winning director Lawrence Coke, the latest filmmaker who has just launched a scheme designed to create associate producers who will be encouraged to invest in the movie which is currently nearing completion (www.indiegogo.com/melvinthemovie).

You could do worse like say invest in certain PR agencies but let’s not go there shall we?? I’m sure that as long as Emmanuel is still breathing, there will have to be one blog devoted to PR agencies. Until then, I hope you’ve enjoyed my 1st proper contribution to BUFF (famous last words)... Whatever you’re watching this month, long may the passion continue…

Janice Charles (find me on facebook)

The opinions published in the BUFF blog are a copyright of Buff Enterprises Ltd © MMXI all rights reserved – and is available to view on a monthly basis via Facebook, Twitter, Myspace, Hi5, Ning, Meetup, Blogger, WordPress, Linkedin, Flickr plus other selected blogs and web pages. For more information about Buff Enterprises visit www.buffenterprises.co.uk / For more information about film submissions to the British Urban Film Festival visit www.britishurbanfilmfestival.co.uk

BUFF is an official media partner of Manorlogz – the UK home of extreme spoken word.