A local film capturing the poignant journey of Grey Lynn Cafe ‘Monterey’ is to feature at the New Zealand Documentary Edge Film Festival.
Grey Lynn cafe Monterey’s journey was filmed over two and a half years and is a story about hope and dreams for a brighter future through collective effort. It shows us that when change is encountered, individual needs become greater than the collective, and loyalties are tested.
If it was your family business facing ruin, would you let your head or your heart rule? If the only way to keep your dream alive meant destroying the tight-knit, loving unit you’d created, would you?
We encounter honest, heart-rending and humorous situations as we see cafe owners Paul and Mira coping with the necessity to transform their business in order to survive and ensure they keep what they most value together: their unconventional self-stylised ‘work’ family - hiring three young Samoan boys with no kitchen training and teaching them everything they know about hospitality. It’s a happy, nurturing family environment. But it’s not making money.
Over six years, Kiwi battler Paul and his Croatian partner Mira fight to keep Monterey open - finally bringing in a high-end United Kingdom chef to turn their misfortune around. But you can’t mix oil and water.
The result is heart-wrenching and poignant, a power struggle with many casualties and few winners. Monterey is showing at Q Theatre on Wednesday 25 May (8pm) and Sunday 29 May (10am).
MONTEREY www.montereyfilm.co.nz