'Couldn’t Be Happier': LI Film Director Wins Award For Music Documentary

STONY BROOK, NY — An East Islip filmmaker took home an award at the Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame's first-ever LIMEHOF Music Documentary Film Festival that took place over the weekend.

Robert Lichter (AKA Bert Blotto) won the Spirit of Independent Filmmaking Award for his film, "Hello! My Name is Blotto: THE MOVIE," at the festival, which is the very first film festival founded in the US to focus exclusively on music documentaries.

According to LIMEHOF, the film chronicles the journey of upstate New York rock band Blotto, from their 1970s beginnings to 1980s MTV fame and tracing their rise from club gigs to national touring following their surprise hit "I Wanna Be a Lifeguard."

"It’s a little overwhelming. This is my first documentary, my first full-length film and it’s fantastic to know that people saw it and liked it. So far, the film has received unanimous love, which is great," Lichter said. "To be fair, the audience has largely been the fans of the band, but they could be the toughest critics because they know everything about the band. I wanted to make sure I represented them well. By all accounts, it’s being received really well, and I couldn’t be happier."

Lichter said he was inspired to create the documentary from all the videos and pictures of the band he collected over the last 25 years. He originally thought of building an online video archive, but after seeing the film, the band members supported him in showing it to audiences and entering it into film festivals.

The three surviving Blotto band members, F. Lee Harvy Blotto, Bowtie Blotto and Broadway Blotto, attended the screening and participated in the Q&A following the film.

Lichtner says he plans to screen it at a few more film festivals in the future and will explore options to stream or distribute the film after that.

"In our very first year, the LIMEHOF Music Documentary Film Festival exceeded all expectations by uniting filmmakers, musicians, and audiences in a shared love of music’s power to inspire," said Tom Needham, executive director of the festival.