Melbourne Independent Filmmakers Festival to Host Premiere of The Man Behind the Six Million Dollar Man: The Untold Story of Martin Caidin
By Space Coast Daily // October 3, 2025
27th annual MIFF runs from October 16 to 18, screening over 60 films
BREVARD COUNTY, FLORIDA — The Melbourne Independent Filmmakers Festival (MIFF) will host the world premiere of the much-anticipated documentary “The Man Behind the Six Million Dollar Man: The Untold Story of Martin Caidin” on Saturday, October 18, at 3:45 p.m. at the Premiere Theaters Oaks 10 in Melbourne.
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This documentary will spotlight the extraordinary life and legacy of Martin Caidin, a figure deeply woven into Brevard County’s cultural and scientific heritage. Caidin died of thyroid cancer on March 25, 1997, at the age of 69.
The film is produced by Jim Lewis under his company Communications Concepts, with all proceeds benefiting the festival’s charity partner, No Limits Academy.
For decades, Caidin lived in Cocoa Beach and operated on Florida’s Space Coast, becoming an integral part of the region’s narrative of space exploration and technological innovation.
The new film delves into the local dimensions of Caidin’s life: how he influenced media production in Brevard and helped bring parts of the Six Million Dollar Man franchise to his adopted home.
Caidin was far more than a writer of popular fiction. A self-educated polymath, he authored more than 80 nonfiction works and numerous novels, including Maroone, later adapted into the 1969 film, and Cyborg, the latter serving as the basis for the television hit The Six Million Dollar Man.
In addition to his literary output, Caidin was an active pilot, aviation historian, and space advocate. He was involved with Wernher von Braun’s rocketry efforts in the 1950s and was present for many of the Mercury, Gemini, and Apollo launches.
WATCH: The Melbourne Independent Filmmakers Festival (MIFF) will host the world premiere of the much-anticipated documentary “The Man Behind the Six Million Dollar Man: The Untold Story of Martin Caidin” on Saturday, October 18, at 3:45 p.m. at the Premiere Theaters Oaks 10 in Melbourne.
The documentary promises to reveal previously little-known chapters of Caidin’s life—among them his efforts in the 1970s to build a real-life exoskeleton, a precursor concept to modern bionics, and his role in bringing Six Million Dollar Man production to Brevard, including shooting episodes in Cocoa Beach and at the Kennedy Space Center.
Viewers will also hear first-person testimonies from those who knew him or worked within his orbit.
The 27th annual MIFF runs from October 16 to 18, screening over 60 films of varying lengths. This year’s theme is “Space Dance,” a nod to the festival’s location on Florida’s Space Coast.
The festival has long maintained a commitment to promoting local art and giving back to the community. All net proceeds from MIFF benefit No Limits Academy, a nonprofit Christian school that serves children with physical disabilities aged 6 to 21.
In recent festivals, MIFF has showcased feature-length works and indie films featuring national talent, while also spotlighting Florida-based filmmakers through programs like Florida Made Films and Rising Stars.
Tickets to the Caidin premiere and to other festival screenings are available HERE.
The premiere of The Man Behind the Six Million Dollar Man is more than a festival attraction—it is a homecoming of sorts for Caidin’s legacy.
For Space Coast residents, it reconnects to a storied past of innovation, aerospace, and creative ambition. For filmgoers, it offers a unique portrait of a man who blurred the lines between speculative fiction and real-world science.
By memorializing Caidin’s contributions, the documentary also invites reflection on how a regional figure helped shape pop culture and early ideas of human-machine integration, at a time when those concepts seemed futuristic.
As MIFF continues to raise the profile of Central Florida’s film community, this premiere stands as a symbolic high point: one in which the history of the Space Coast, the art of storytelling, and the dreams of tomorrow converge on the big screen.
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