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Brevard Live
MIFF - “DON’T KEEP IT UNDER THE HAT”
Review By Matthew Bretz
Every year I’m excited about
attending the now world famous
Melbourne Independent
Film Festival written, directed,
produced and starring the one
and only Terry Cronin and 3 Boys
Productions with a familiar cast
of characters we like to call the
“Cronies.” Honestly, I think I’m
the only one that calls them that,
but I’m trying to start something
here so fingers crossed it’ll catch
on by next year.
Every year I am thoroughly impressed
with how much Terry improves and
tweaks what has become a staple
weekend here in our little, but famous
(I’m learning), corner of the world. No
joke- every year this event just gets
bigger and better.
Once again this year the MIFF was
held at the Oaks 10 Theater in Melbourne,
Florida. I love this for a few
reasons. First of all, the Oaks 10 is the
picture of a classic theater filled with
the kind of pageantry and décor befitting
of the magic that is Hollywood
and film culture in general. Secondly,
the Oaks 10 is locally owned and I love
that we have our own film festival and
its venue is a home grown business.
Thursday night kicked off the fest
with a showing of a short film slash
music video called The Voyagers directed
by Ian Bertel (photo top left).
The video stars local violinist Char
Good (photo top right) and features her
rendition of the Eagles’ Hotel California
while she plays herself through the
lobby, up the elevator and across the
roof of the Hotel Melby in downtown
Melbourne. Occasionally throughout
the video you can catch local graffiti
artist Maslow running around tagging
pieces on the building. Maslow actually
did all of the graffiti work on the
exterior and interior of the hotel. There
is also a mysterious black hatted character
glimpsed a few times, but no one
told me the secret about who that is -
possibly Bertel himself?
“We shot all the footage in one
night and then went into editing and
finished just as the sun was coming
up.” Bertel told the MIFF audience before
the screening. “It was a very long
night, but really has kind of highlighted
my life so far.”
Later, at the after party, Ian told
me he picked Hotel California because
when it was written SoCal was really
starting to grow into itself musically
and artistically, and he thought the rising
of Hotel Melby is symbolic of Melbourne,
Florida about to do the same.
After The Voyagers there was a premiere
screening of Michael Baumgarten’s
new film Hollywood Laundromat
- a gritty and often hilarious look at the
kinds of things that can happen at an
overnight Laundromat in Hollywood.
According to the man himself this film
was shot in only 6 days with some of
the dialogue improvised for character.
No stranger to the MIFF, Baumgarten’s
movies are always a treat and he’s
always good to answer questions about
his process. He’s also, I’ve noticed,
keen to share the limelight with his
cast and crew which I find refreshing.
This year he crossed the country with
actress Natasha Blasick, originally
from Ukraine and her husband Martin
Blasick who created all the music for
the film and performed in a scene of
the film.
When asked why he keeps coming
back to Melbourne every year
Baumgarten replied, “I keep coming
back every year because of the people
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32 - Brevard Live November 2022