Although the West End is packed, in the lead up to the Royal Wedding, it is mostly with overseas visitors. This is reflected somewhat in the attendance at the festival, as so many of the locals have fled, either to take advantage of all the public holidays or simply to avoid the tourists. People are already lining the streets to get a good position to watch the Royal Wedding procession, braving the cold spring air when they could have been warmly ensconced in the Apollo Piccadilly, a short walk from the route, and watch some great movies. Movies such as the UK premiere of bizarre Uwe Bolle vampire Nazi killer movie BLUBBERELLA, or the world premiere of Dekker Dreyer's THE ARCADIAN, with the director in the house for a very interesting Q&A. At the same time, over at the famous Foyles bookshop on Charing Cross Road, Professor Richard Wiseman gave a fascinating talk about Paranormality, the subject of his latest book.

In the bar at the Apollo the London Girl Geeks were gathering in their droves for drinks and talks from Anna Higgs of Quark Films and producer of THE PEOPLE VS GEORGE LUCAS, and Leilani Holmes from filmmaking group OTT Films. Their talks, covering everything from crowd sourcing to distribution were received with great enthusiasm from the attendees.

In the green room, visiting filmmakers from the US and Europe gathered for some enthusiastic banter and geek talk, not to mention a beer or two. German space opera NYDENION impressed the audience especially when it was revealed that most of the spaceships where in fact models made by the director and not your usual CGI. It was great to see some of the old craft of filmmaking still being used.

The attendance at the Royal Wedding All-nighter and the Irwin Allen All-nighter weren't quite at the level we were expecting given that we were promoting it as "cheaper than a hotel", especially given the price hikes for the Wedding, the offers of Bucks Fizz and ice cream (but not together). Nevertheless, those attending had a lot more fun than those sleeping out, and still had plenty of time to stroll down to Whitehall or The Mall to get a good position, if they so chose.