Lucky Night is one of ten short films in the festival's Maine Narrative Shorts category, and one of more than 100 films that will be shown at the ten-day event in Waterville. It can be viewed Saturday and Sunday at 4:00 p.m., at the Waterville Opera House.
“I am just so absolutely excited to come back to Maine for the Maine International Film Festival,” Mendoza said from campus on Thursday afternoon, after flying in from Los Angeles. Throughout the making of the film over a year ago in Brunswick and Harpswell, he said the festival remained at the back of his thoughts.
“That was the dream, a place for the movie to end up. I wanted it to circle back to where it all started from,” he said. “Those were days full of a lot of hard work, in difficult weather, which is very Maine! But they were some of the happiest days of my life, working with some of the best people I could ask for.”
Mendoza's film follows a first-generation American called Rey as he spends a night searching for his missing $215 million winning lottery ticket. “Along the way, he wrestles with his dreams of wealth, the staggering pressure to succeed, and the cold New England night,” according to the film's blurb.
Acceptance to the Maine festival is a big deal, said Professor of Cinema Studies Tricia Welsch, who called Mendoza's film “smart, absorbing, suspenseful, and beautifully shot.” Miguel Pavón ’25 was the film's cinematographer. Andres Lopez ’24 and Maya Tokioka ’27 are the two lead actors, while Professor of English Aaron Kitch has a small voiceover role.
The film premiered at the Minority Film Festival in Jersey City, where Mendoza picked up the award for best director. Lucky Night was also chosen as part of the official selection at the OC Film Fiesta in Santa Ana California, and in mid-November it will be screened at the Los International Film Festival, where it also features on the official selection list.
“Lucky Night was so popular on campus when we showed it in spring 2024 that we had to run three screenings to accommodate the interest,” Welsch said. “We should offer the big world a chance to see Lucky Night.”
