Stevan Mena is a master of many disciplines. He has worked as a filmmaker, a novelist, and a musical composer across various projects, executing his ideas with shrewd pragmatism.
Mena was raised in East Meadow and now lives in Bellmore. His most recent film, "The Ruse," earned him the honor of being this month’s featured filmmaker of the Long Island Music and Entertainment Hall of Fame, which will hold a screening and Q&A in his honor on Sept. 27.
“I've been an aspiring filmmaker my whole life,” he said. “Back in 2023, I decided that The Ruse was gonna be my next picture. [It] premiered at the Toronto Film Festival in September of 2024.
Tom Needham, the vice chairman of LIMEHOF, runs the group’s Local Filmmaker Series program. “Each month, we showcase the creativity, passion, and dedication of local filmmakers, providing them with a platform to share their work and connect with audiences who appreciate the power of storytelling,” said Needham in a statement. “This series is an important part of our mission to support the arts and highlight Long Island’s impact on the entertainment industry.”
In "The Ruse," Mena brings his experience as a veteran editor and screenwriter, in addition to his award-winning direction.
The film follows the case of a vanishing in-home caregiver, from the perspective of their replacement, Dale, played by Madelyn Dundon. As she meets her new patient, everything about the household and the neighborhood becomes a source of paranoia.
Mena worked with celebrities including Alexandra Daddario in "Bereavement," Veronica Cartwright in "The Ruse" and Brian O’Halloran in "Brutal Massacre: A Comedy."
O'Halloran, prominently featured in the movie Clerks, has known Mena for years — O’Halloran was emceeing at the Long Island International Film Expo where Mena won the Best Feature award for Bereavement.
“Stevan is such a great guy,” O’Halloran said. “We met 20 years ago at the Long Island Film and Television Expo. He reached out to me and said, ‘Hey, I was thinking about if I could send you this script,’ and I was like, sure, I'd love to see.”
“He's so easygoing, and he had surrounded himself with a really great crew, and that's how we got started,” he continued.
Brutal Massacre: A Comedy released in 2007. Since then, O’Halloran has been a trusted confidant for Mena, serving as an early viewer of "The Ruse."
“The fact that he trusts me, and my opinion, to give him those types of notes, I find it a testament to the friendship we've developed over the years,” O’Halloran said. “'The Ruse' is such a great suspense thriller.”
Mena is planning his next project, a multimedia endeavor.
“Our next project is going to be called 'A Stranger Comes Along,'” he said. “What we've done with this is we've released the story as a novel. You have to try to cultivate your audience from a very early stage. Hopefully we'll be releasing that in 2026. If you like 'The Ruse,' it's a very similar genre: a horror, thriller, mystery type of film.”
Furthermore, Mena’s previously published novel, "Transience," is anticipating a film adaptation under the title "A Memory of Murder."
“We're very excited to turn that into a movie, but it's a much larger production, so it's a little bit down the road for us because we are still growing as a company,” Mena explained.
Mena’s movies are available to rent on Amazon Prime, and for his novels, Amazon or Kindle.
To learn more about Mena’s works, visit MenaFilms.org. For details on the special screening and other LIMEHOF events, visit LIMusicHallOfFame.org/Museum/.
