MacKenzie Meehan in “Come Stay.” Photo courtesy of Victoria Haynes Victoria Haynes’ short film “Come Stay,” which is having its world premiere at this year’s Maine International Film Festival, sees a former actress named Hannah (MacKenzie Meehan), who has settled in Maine, coping with a visit from her friend Cassie (Mary Cavett), a successful actress whose existence represents the life Hannah might have had. Haynes herself is an actress, wife and mother whose first foray into writing and directing sprang from a similar crossroads, while the birth of “Come Stay” mirrors her story in more ways than one.
Where do I know Victoria Haynes from? Born and raised in the Oxford County town of Waterford, Haynes left Maine to attend New York’s Tisch School of the Arts before embarking on her own successful journey into movies and TV. A friendship struck with late filmmaker Jonathan Demme while Haynes worked at a bookstore near Kezar Lake saw Haynes cast in Demme’s films “Rachael Getting Married” and “Ricki and the Flash,” and she went on to appear in TV shows like “Forever,” “CSI: NY” and Marvel’s “Iron Fist.” Victoria Haynes on the set of her film “Come Stay,” which is premiering this week at the Maine International Film Festival.
Photo by Annarosa Mudd “Come Stay” was born of an unhappy – and unexpectedly extended – homecoming. “I don’t know if I’d use the word ‘trapped,’ ” Haynes said, laughing, “but it felt that way .
