This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Arts & Entertainment

Maggie Marvel Meets Long Island

Local filmmaking family pack the theater with film's debut at Long Island International Film Expo.

This movie's a hit... literally. Maggie Marvel, single mom hired killer, packed the theater for its Long Island debut at the Long Island International Film Expo Saturday at the Bellmore Movie Theater.

The dark comedy is the second independent film from the Brennan family from Port Washington. Nearly the entire cast and crew showed up for the viewing, almost filling the theater to capacity. 

Also in the audience were several Port residents, who came out for a night of entertainment.  They didn't seem disappointed. Just ask Cheryl Podolsky, who noted, "It was interesting and different to think about a mother who kills to put food on the table. To her it's just a job, just her bread and butter."

Find out what's happening in Port Washingtonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

""I loved the movie. It was very clever and well done," said Joel Ronis, who also lives in Port Washington. "It was a real departure from their last movie, 'Video Guys.' It was like Cohen Brothers meets Alfred Hitchcock. I'm impressed with the professional look of the film. It's not an amateur movie, it looks professionally done." 

James LaRosa made the trip in from Astoria. "What I liked best were the subtle performances," he said. "The movie was so funny because the actors played their roles straight and were not in-your-face with the comedy. Selene Beretta [who plays Maggie Marvel] was stunning and totally believable. Dan Brennan was terrific. I enjoyed this film more than many studio movies I've seen lately."

Find out what's happening in Port Washingtonwith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The Brennans are the returning Expo champions, winning five major awards in 2009, including Best Picture for their movie "The Video Guys." Dan Brennan, who wrote and directed "Maggie Marvel," was glad to participate in the film expo again this year.

"The Long Island Film Festival is one of the true film festivals out there," he said. "Debra Markowitz [the festival director] goes out and really wants to help the independent filmmaker by helping us get publicity, get audiences to see our films and ultimately get us distribution. People like her are invaluable to the independent film community."

"It's a long festival," said Jeanne Brennan,  the film's producer and cinematographer. "It's not just a two or three day thing, but a full 10 day festival, so everyone gets a chance to get their movie shown. It's open to the public so everyone can come and see all levels of film making, not just the big films, but a full range of films."

The Brennans' daughters, Sabrina, 13, and Dianna, 11, co-star in "Maggie Marvel," making the production a family affair. For information on seeing the film, visit maggiemarvel.com

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?