> ## Content Index > Fetch the complete content index at: https://www.smdp.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover other available public pages before exploring further. # Michael Cain: Driving his cause on the SM Pier - URL: https://www.smdp.com/michael-cain-driving-his-cause-on-the-sm-pier/ - Published: 2004-08-02T15:00:00.000Z - Updated: 2026-10-23T04:47:07.000Z - Author: Guest Author - Tags: Entertainment, Pier, #archive-import *By DANIELE HAMAMDJIAN Special to the Daily Press* During the mid-’60s, in Albermarle, N.C., a 6-year-old boy by the name of Michael Cain spent his evenings climbing over fences and cutting barbed wire in hopes of getting a better view of the movie showing at the local drive-in theater. “From that point on, I fell in love with outdoor movies,” recalled Cain, now executive director of the Santa Monica Film Festival and founder of the Santa Monica Drive-In at the pier. But attaining success in the television and film industry certainly didn’t come overnight for the 44-year-old Texas native. It would take more than two decades, a short-but-successful run at commercial real estate and a moment of self-realization while sailing in the middle of the Virgin Islands before Cain recognized his passion for films could be put to good use. Along with 3,000 other hopefuls, he applied to the selective American Film Institute but was disappointed when he didn’t make the 126-student cut. Trailing behind, Cain ranked No. 127\. By a stroke of luck, he found out shortly after that one student opted out. Two weeks later, he was in Los Angeles taking production classes. By 1998, life was looking good for Cain. He was single and paving his way to a career as a television producer by working on low-budget movies that got picked up by HBO and Showcase. But Cain’s plans for the future would change after he received a memorable phone call that left him in disbelief. “I got a call that my dad might have pancreatic cancer,” he said. Cain immediately left everything and flew home, where doctors were giving his father two to six months to live. “My parents taught me hard work and taught me to over-commit,” he said. “They taught me to be the first one there and the last one to leave. It’s not that you have an obligation to help people … it’s just literally that you should.” As Cain and his three siblings pulled together, their father beat the odds and went on to live for another year and a half. Before his father passed away, Cain pitched him an idea: He would stay in Dallas and create a film festival to support the local filmmaking community and raise money for cancer relief. With his dying father’s blessings and only a handful of volunteers, Cain set his heart on the historic Deep Ellum, a district located just three blocks east of downtown Dallas. During the 1980s, Cain spent most of his time in what he describes as a four-block-by-four-block area with 1930s architecture surrounded by art galleries, restaurants and live music venues. “I always loved Deep Ellum, and that’s why I started the Deep Ellum Film, Music, Arts and Noise — ‘DEFMAN,’” he said. DEFMAN was founded in 1999 and has a dual mission of promoting independent filmmakers and helping improve the quality of life for individuals fighting cancer. “It’s a nonprofit organization, and we’re really protective about that,” insisted Cain. Since then, Cain and his team have helped 50 families — but it took a while for applications to come in. “As of last year, we were like, ‘Please, who needs help?’” he said. Cain, who is now engaged to 30-year-old Melina McKinnon, plans to get married in November in Johannesburg, South Africa, and says he is ready for kids. “I just know that I want to be married, have kids and travel the world, and the great thing about festivals is that it allows you to do that,” he said. Here the Daily Press caught up with Cain at the Santa Monica Pier, where he will show films outside weekly, with the first one debuting on Tuesday. Why Santa Monica? “I love Santa Monica. I was living here when I got the call about my dad. I had a place on 12th Street and Montana. It had taken me eight years to get to the westside, and I just like the vibe of it, you can walk everywhere. It’s ‘PC’ but does-n’t take itself too seriously. The people seem to be very cause-oriented.” Where do you see the Santa Monica Drive-In in five years? “(Smiling) Here’s our goal, this is what we always discuss. We’d like to put the screen on the edge of the pier so that people can watch from the sand and from the pier. Then it could grow to be 10,000 people. We’d love to do something with cars, so that people can sit in their cars and watch a movie like the old days. The pier is a just great place for us to be.” What are the challenges you’re facing to get that screen up on the pier? “I think it’s just the city letting us doing it once, see if they like it. They’ve been very cool with this. Richard Bloom, the mayor, came down and opened the very first one for us and said ‘Turn off the lights and get all the kids up on stage.’ They’ve been very supportive of us. I’d like to see more corporate sponsors come in and make more money for the charity. We made $75,000 last year. That paid the screen, the employees, all the flyers, then $10,000 went to the families. We’d like to see $75,000 be our donation to the cancer relief fund. This is the reason we do it, and if it touches them, then they’ll give. We try not to be too preachy about it, because people come to have a good time with their families. But for us, we donate our time simply because we believe in the cause.” What’s the process when you give the money to the families? “It’s in person. We go to their house or meet them at the hospital, which tends to be a lot of the time. It’s heartbreaking. We try to make it very fast because when you have cancer you don’t have a lot of time.” Any particular encounter mark you? “All I usually remember is to try not to cry while I go see the people.” Do you cry easily? “Yes. I would have done it if we had continued talking about my dad. One guy e-mailed us and essentially had testicular cancer and had to have them removed. He didn’t care about getting money for something for him, he wanted to buy something for his daughter. Those are the kind of things you just start tearing, it’s so much beyond what you can comprehend. We worry about ‘Can we pay our bills, what movie are we going to tonight, what are we going to have for dinner...’ and guys like that, it’s just about ‘my daughter.’ See what I mean? What I’d love for Santa Monica to do is really let us know who needs it the most.” Why not give the money to a foundation? “In particular, relief, because there are great organizations that do research already... like the American Cancer Society, Susan G. Komen, the Pancreatic Cancer Action Network... But very few help you pay your bills when you’re going through cancer. It’s like this revolving cycle, when you have no money, you have no hope, and if you have no hope, then why would you live? So if we’re able to give people back a little bit of money, even if it’s to pay the rent or the mortgage, car payment or buying them a wig. My dad told me at that time, ‘You have such little time left in the world, Michael, you have to figure out a way to help others, so you should do this.’ I started in 1999\. The first year, we had 2,500 show up, it was a nice little deal.” How did you meet your fiancée? “Her mother passed away with pancreatic cancer. And she came to volunteer for the film festival the first year, where I think there were five people working on it. I mean it was really small, we killed ourselves. She made me cry the very first time I met her at lunch. She came in and told me about her mom, and I knew my dad wouldn’t have much longer so I had to leave the room. When I came back... there was always a spark, but we were friends for a long time. She’s now the executive director of DEF- MAN, so technically she’s my boss. I’m just the president of the board.” What’s your best quality? “I love people. Hopefully they like me back. I genuinely am excited to see people. I love to think big.” And what’s your biggest flaw? “I over-commit. I’ll take too many things on my plate. There are too many worthy causes. It’s hard for me to say ‘no’ to any good cause.” What would you like to tell Santa Monicans? “Embrace us. Help us become your festival.” ![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/55/9f/559f9abc-8372-4a2e-8c2d-27386da4e363/content/images/2026/10/080204-03_01.jpg) (Photo: Special to the Daily Press) *Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on August 2, 2004.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/080204.pdf?ref=smdp.com)