Snapshots:Comedy Flocast & crew

By Rachel Galvin

Bring on the laughs! On Dec.3,actor/ writer/ director Matt Florio,of ComedyFlo, created aprivate night to show some of hisshort filmsto the cast and crew His short filmsincluded "Ask Aldo," "Unhired Guns," "The Florida Manifesto," "No Dessert for Bert" and "Friend Draft." Membersof the cast spoke about what it waslike working with Florio and honored him. He spoke aswell. The good feelingscontinued all night long asmany went to an after party afterward on Las Olasaswell.

Florio isno stranger to making films.He started hiscompany Comedy Flo in 2010 and hasbeen going strong ever since,receiving accoladesalong the way. The awardsjust keep on coming! If you have not seen hiswebsite,take alook It isquite impressive the sheer number of filmshe hasmade And he bringsin local Florida actors

Findout moreabout thismanonthemoveat www.comedyflo.net andlookfor moreabout himhereinIndependent StreakMagazineaswell.

New Festival in Palm Beach

By Rachel Galvin

Palm Beach got anew film festival starting in January. Not to be confused with the Palm Beach International Film Festival that once graced our area with awide array of celebritiesand partiesthrough the years,thisfestival focused more on motion pictures.

Called officially the Donald M. Ephraim Palm Beach Film Festival,presented by MorseLife,thisfest took place from Jan.26 to Feb.15 and presented filmsat a wide array of locations.In West Palm Beach,they showed filmsat the KravisCenter. In Lake Worth,it wasMoviesof Lake Worth.In Palm Beach,they also showed at CMXDowntown at the Gardensand at Regal Royal Palm. The Paragon Delray Marketplace also saw filmson their screens.IPICin Delray and BocaRaton did aswell. They even went west to Wellington at the CMXWellington. Thisinaugural fest offered 26 different screenings,including awide array of films(some of which are pictured here).

The festival wasfounded by Ellen Wedner,well-known in the South Floridafor working with the Miami Jewish Film Festival for 10 yearsand then the Palm Beach Jewish Film Festival for seven years.She also created the KidFlix Festival and the Miami Gay and Lesbian Film Festival,which is now called the OutShine Film Fest.In addition,she worked for the Miami International Film Festival and for the Fire Island PinesInternational Film Festival. For moreinformationonthisfestival,visit www.palmbeachfilmfestival.org.

FLIFFGoes"Below Deck"

By Rachel Galvin

Asa bonusevent after the Ft. Lauderdale International Film Festival,the "Below Deck" cast and crew made a special appearance on Nov. 21 at Savor Cinemato celebrate the launch of their newest season. Since its original launch in 2013,the reality show hasgained quite an audience and ended up in several spinoffs.The cast in attendance said afew words,including Captain Lee.

The evening,put on in combination with Winterfest, benefited the Freedom WatersFoundation. The foundation helpsthose with special needs,aswell as children and veteranswith a positive therapeutic boat experience.

Guestsenjoyed some lite biteswhile mingling and then could watch the season opener inside or on the patio.