Last summer, as we were making our deal to buy our home in Narrowsburg, we bolstered our confidence in choosing this town with the presence of the Narrowsburg International Independent Film Festival. Jim had been a filmmaker in the early days of SoHo, which he helped to pioneer. Beyond the City Ballet, going to the movies is still our favorite thing to do.

One night we were talking film at West Boondock, a jazz joint in Chelsea, when armed robbers interrupted our date. We ignored them at first, as though they were part of a film themselves, but were encouraged by their firearms to fast-forward to reality. Jim probably saved my life that night, certainly my sanity, and won the title of coolest head on the planet, as well as my personal hero. I guess we were robbed that night, but what I remember was that we survived, and lived rather happily ever after, maybe even buoyed by the near-miss. West Boondock, however, did not survive. It hung on for a couple of months; we never went back.

Some of our neighbors in town feel robbed these days. They are in court. They're mad. I don't know all the details; I don't want to either. I do know that we are left with something valuable and we can make of it what we will. I'm talking about the film festival. In two short years we have been given something that can last for all our lifetimes, and can buoy our community through many cold winters. Festivals like this sell houses, keep businesses going and give people access to a world beyond.

Wouldn't you rather be known for a concentration of cultural opportunity like opera and film and fine art, than for a casino that empties your pockets and fills your head with cigar smoke and cheap cologne? This year the festival showed a Merchant/Ivory film that gave me a feel for India I never had before. Insight into a whole culture I had known only by its food. A chance to meet the actress, Madhur Jaffrey, who infused her character with such depth and guile that she had to assure the audience she was not so cunning in real life. I got to watch two actors who are high on my list of all-time greats: Rita Moreno and Ben Gazzara.

Independent film is still an upstart in the world. It is the nature of the beast. Beholden only to an audience; needing only a venue. When all the lawyers go home, we are left with an opportunity to take the ball and run with it. The contacts have been established, the hardest work has already been done. Yes, it will take money. The kind of money called community investment. Yes, it will take time. The kind called life.

Our focus has to shift from Hollywood promises to small town commitment. The idea here is not to get rich but to be enriched. It is what we do every day by supporting the Delaware Valley Arts Alliance or the Eagle Institute, because we know they make our community a richer one. Forget the jail-house drama in Tusten and Monticello and work to preserve what we are fortunate enough to have right here in Narrowsburg. Scale down the galas, let the churches and civic groups profit by feeding the festival-goers. Bring on the films and the filmmakers. Give them a venue and an audience and they will never want to leave. Who would?

Let's not let the Narrowsburg International Independent Film Festival go the way of West Boondock. Or let it languish for years, a squandered opportunity like the Yasgur festival. Step up to the bar and protect what you love. Together, maybe we can live happily ever after, too.