Resorting to romance.

Jeanette Buck has had plenty of chances to prove her courage. Instead of making the usual short thesis film as a graduate student at Ohio University, she maxed out her credit cards and passed the hat in order to make her first, full-blown feature. Says the ingenue with pride: "I raised, like, $5,000 in $25 donations."

Buck's resourcefulness paid off with the charming Out of Season, about the romance between a commitmentphobic dyke and a cook at the local diner in a New Jersey resort town. The title refers, of course, to tourism downtime but also to "things that are rare, precious, and difficult to find," she explains. "It's difficult to find someone to love who loves you back." Theatrical distribution house Jour De Fete found the Film rare too; Season is now on the arthouse circuit.

Still, Buck's triumph is bittersweet. In February someone assaulted her in her Los Angeles apartment. When Buck came to, she says, "The right side of my face, all the structure and bones, was totally shattered." Through two surgeries so far, Buck has fought back with the power of positive attitude. "It's one of those things where all this bad can happen and then all this good stuff comes your way," says Buck, who had recovered enough to attend Out of Season's June 11 opening in New York.

Buck's assailant remains at large. But she's not looking back. "People have been great," she says, her tone embracing the kindness of strangers toward her film as well as her health. "It's been a huge learning experience about who I am and what I'm made of. I'm a pretty tough gal."