Today we’d like to introduce you to Lu Mendoza.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I was born and raised in México in a conservative household. Throughout the years, I studied poetry and visual arts such as painting and drawing. Even though I considered myself talented in those arts, I never felt like they were mine to use and create. I wasn’t introduced to filmmaking until 2018, when I traveled to Florence, Italy, and started seeing filmmaking as a career. I quickly fell in love with filmmaking and decided to follow my best friend to Los Angeles. For the past two years, I have been dedicating all my energy to mastering the craft, but I still have a long way to go, and I can’t wait to see where it takes me.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle free, but so far would you say the journey have been a fairly smooth road?
It hasn’t been an easy road. After graduating from high school, I didn’t know what path to take or what career to chose. I followed my instincts and decided to give filmmaking a try. At first, I was terrified, I believed that I could never belong to the filmmaking world, but thanks to my friends’ support, I kept pushing. I applied to film school in Mexico, but I wasn’t treating my depression correctly, and it started to take over me. I decided to quit school and focused on more personal projects until I got the strength to travel to Los Angeles on my own. I luckily had a friend around ready to hold me when I fell, and I was prepared to support him in every way I could. Unluckily, the COVID lockdown happened at the beginning of my college years; I had to find new and more creative ways to keep growing as a filmmaker and person. Regardless of how many stepbacks I have encountered, I keep pushing, and I don’t give up until I reach what I want.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I based my art on my own emotions, I normally try to come from love, but I have to create from the pain of loving most of the time. My paintings are based on love from my friends and lovers. I recently finished five oil paintings based on my past lovers, especially guys. I avoided using pictures of them and natural colors to represent how they made me feel and how I saw their love. When it comes to filmmaking, my last film, “Arcadia,” tells the story of a young woman remembering her ex-boyfriend, who, throughout the relationship, hurt and harassed her. But looking back, she can see how she is slowly growing. I based this film on the last relationship I experienced, my ex-boyfriend hurt me badly, and it wasn’t until years later that I realized what had happened. This is the film I am the proudest of as I had to bring it from a place of darkness, and I had to push through a script I wasn’t ready to share. At the same time, during post-production, I started facing a more challenging time with my depression and didn’t had a team behind me to push me out of bed and do things, but then seeing my film get into film festivals for the first time kept pushing me through. Regardless of how hard or easy I have had it, I don’t particularly appreciate saying I am unique; however, I am a loyal and stubborn person. If I found something I want to do, I will not stop till I get it, and if I found people as passionate as me, I am willing to give my heart and soul to them. I am not a person to doubt people when they have a vision; I am the type of person that would support you and follow you to the end of the world.
Any advice for finding a mentor or networking in general?
As an introverted person, I have had numerous problems networking with people. However, I can say that I have found the people I trust the most by always being open to seeing the good and evil in people, and from the beginning, I try to be as honest as I can and show my traits. People are hard to trust, mainly in a world where liars are praised. I try to trust everyone, including liars and people with bad reputations. I luckily found my mentor long before I had to start college. As I began to look into the film industry, I found a filmmaker in a summer camp in Vermont. After three weeks of living with him and more artists, I started to get closer to him and see his perspective on the industry. He helped me found my passion, and although currently, he is living in New York, and most of our interactions have to happen through messages and zoom meetings, I am happy to say I found my mentor by trusting blindly.
Contact Info:
- Email: [email protected]
- Instagram: loumendozalu /lumendozae
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCKZkoUvEc8NR5OLMp-B481A
- Other: https://vimeo.com/loumendozalu
