Post-production has begun on “Catatonk Blues,” the Bob Mrazek movie filmed on Monhegan Island and in Rockland and Augusta in mid-late September and early October.

In a telephone conversation October 17, Mrazek talked about the film and his inspiration for writing the script.

Mrazek has had a home on Monhegan since 1984 and lives there eight months out of the year. Last fall, after sending his manuscript to Random House/Penguin Publishing for his seventh book, he found he had some time on his hands as he was staying on Monhegan until December.

“I was thinking about the inspiration I've gotten from Monhegan and the people there ... and its impact on my family as my kids were growing up. So I thought maybe it was time to write about the island.”

Because the story is a work of fiction, Mrazek wanted the island to have a fictitious name. The name Catatonk is an Indian name for a village just outside of Ithaca, N.Y., where he lives the remainder of the year.

“Catatonk Blues” is about an island fighting to retain its rights and character, and a congressman fighting to save his reputation.

Mrazek recalls the “battle” between Monhegan lobstermen in the late 1990s and other Maine lobstermen laying traps in what was Monhegan's exclusive two-mile lobster zone from the mainland. It took three years for the island lobstermen and community to maintain the exclusivity of their zone.

“It was the context for the story I've written. I remember it was very confrontational and involved the sinking of boats and cutting of trap lines,” Mrazek said. “But it led to the Monhegan lobstermen going to Augusta and having their common law fishing grounds certified as their own.”

In Mrazek's film, the lobstermen's conflict on Catatonk Island is over an international conglomerate looking to take over its fishing grounds.

The other story line involves a congressman, portrayed by Treat Williams. The congressman visits Catatonk, an island within his district, who becomes aware of the lobstermen's fight to save their livelihood and way of life.

Unbeknownst to him, he is videotaped while expressing his views on a controversial issue and is subsequently threatened with expulsion after the tape is sent to cable news stations.  

“He becomes a target and receives thundering criticism and ends up having to fight to save his reputation,” Mrazek said. “And for something more important: what it means to be an American. To be a patriot. Freedom of expression, given the times we live in, I felt was relevant to the story.”

The climax of the film has the congressman delivering a nationally televised town hall meeting.

“I have always been a fan of Frank Capra's films, ‘It's A Wonderful Life,’ ‘Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.’ In each film there is a basic message about what it truly means to be a patriot and about freedom of expression.”

“People are well aware of the current culture in Washington — the partisanship, the manipulation and the greed — particularly now,” Mrazek said. “I thought a story about a person who had fought the good fight, but was burnt out by the current landscape gave a good starting point for why this guy is going to fall in love with a remote island on the coast of Maine.”

Mrazek is very passionate about freedom of expression, courage, honor and sacrifice, values he believes were intrinsic in making the United States great.

He knows firsthand about the inner workings of service and sacrifice: he is a Vietnam-era veteran and a former congressman. Mrazek was elected to the Suffolk County (Long Island, New York) legislature in 1975 and served until 1982 when he was elected to the 98th United States Congress. He remained there until 1992.

While serving in Congress, he was a member of the House Appropriations Committee and wrote laws to preserve three million-plus acres of old growth forest in Alaska, to protect the Civil War battlefield at Manassas, as well as several other pieces of legislation.

In 1992 he decided to run for a senate seat, but dropped out leaving the political arena to return to one of his “first loves” — writing.

The themes in all of Mrazek's books, both fiction and non-fiction, reflect those values,” Mrazek said. “I continue to be passionate about them, and honoring history, I just put it into my writing instead of a public career.”

Filmmaking has also been a passion. He was attending the London Film School in 1968, but after the assassination of Sen. Robert Kennedy, he found himself at a crossroad.

“I really wanted to be a filmmaker,” Mrazek said. “But it felt to me that what I was doing over there was amazingly trivial considering our country was being torn apart by that war in Vietnam. I ended up coming back (to the U.S.) and going into politics, holding office for 17 years.”

Mrazek said the Maine Film Office, and its director, Karen Carberry Warhola, were “enormously helpful at each stage of the project.”

Warhola accompanied Mrazek in July to Augusta when he was seeking permission to film in the capitol from the State Legislative Council.

“Karen was very supportive, and we received their approval, “ he said. “She is doing everything she can with very limited staff and budget.”

Mrazek expects post-production (editing, the addition of a musical score, etc.) of “Catatonk Blues” will be completed by late February or early March.

Then it will be time to submit the independently made film to film festivals including those in Telluride, Toronto and Robert Redford's Sundance Film Festival. These events are marketing tools used not only for audience exposure, but to find a distributor.

Distribution will not likely be to multiplexes, but to smaller theaters, sometimes referred to as art theaters, “where people go to be challenged,” Mrazek said.

The writer-director said he would be excited to share the experience of making this film with audiences at these theaters if invited.

“Catatonk Blues,” co-directed by Mrazek and Jared Martin, another part-time Monhegan resident, also stars Elizabeth Marvel, George Hamilton, Ryan Merriman, Fritz Weaver, Jane Atkinson and Josh Mostel (in a cameo appearance).

The actors were co-cast by Mrazek's friend, producer Fred Roos.

Roos, who had represented him on other projects, loved the script and was very helpful in strategizing how the film could be made on Mrazek's micro-budget.

“He was very helpful in putting together a tremendous cast. The acting is absolutely superb. They (actors) came for the project because they loved the script,” Mrazek said. “We had a wonderful artist in our director of photography, Joe Arcidiacono. His artistic sense of capturing Monhegan and its natural beauty was just a joy so it will be a beautiful film — and hopefully one that has something to say.

“One of the reasons I wrote this film is, hopefully, people can see, through a good piece of entertainment, that there are other ways of making a difference.”