 In 2008, "MovieMaker Magazine" named IFFBoston among "The Top 25 Film Festivals Worth The Entry Fee".The festival debuted in 2003 with an audience of 10,000 people and has grown in size each year since (2004–15,000 people, 2005–18,000 people, 2006–22,000 people, 2007–23,000 people, 2008–23,400) making it the largest film festival in New England.Special guests of the festival in its first six years included Steve Buscemi, Chris Cooper, Sir Ben Kingsley, John Waters, Will Arnett, Lili Taylor, Illeana Douglas, Melvin Van Peebles, Noam Chomsky, Michael Almereyda, Robert Vaughn, Bill Pullman, Dylan Baker, Famke Janssen, Mary Stuart Masterson, "Project Runway"'s Jay McCarroll, Todd Graff, Congresswoman Cynthia McKinney, Ted Hope, Bob Odenkirk, Bernie Worrell, Ryan Fleck, Anna Boden, Alexandre Rockwell, Eliza Dushku, Danny Huston, Jesse Eisenberg, Doug Pray, Albert Maysles, "Saturday Night Live's" Fred Armisen, "the Daily Show's" Rob Corddry and Michael Cera.