Director statement from Cinema Tropical press materials:

This film speaks of dreams, of the possibility and the struggle to fulfill a dream. And it also speaks of good people, of social barriers, and of roots.

When Elsa's grandfather left his home in Sicily to come to America, he told his wife, "There, beyond the sea—there is life. There, there is no hunger. Three months, six months—what do they matter? What matters is that we escape this hunger."

Today, in Argentina, Elsa's boyfriend tells her, "Here, there's nothing. Can't you see? If we took off, nothing would be left behind."

Everything comes full circle.

We're on a wheel of life which keeps on turning—where it's taking us or who is turning it, we don't know.

And all the while young people like Elsa try to live, try to love, and keep on dreaming.

An irrepressible force seems to guide Elsa, and all other Elsas—a force like a cry that erupts from the bowels of the earth, or like the secret and irrational hope of having, just once, a lucky day.

From a review by Judy Cantor, Miami New Times, April 10, 2003:

Walter, a character in Sandra Gugliotta's film A Lucky Day, has one of the most convincing lines in recent movie history: "What shitty times." In this Argentine director's debut, a film that feels so much like life itself, Walter refers not to the current war and its reverb but to Buenos Aires in 1999. A blackout seized the city for weeks then, and Gugliotta's story of four restless friends plays out in this apocalyptic atmosphere of darkness, demonstrations, and despair. Elsa and her friend Laura take what jobs they can get, handing out vitamin samples in morning traffic and conducting surveys on the street. Elsa is smitten with an Italian tourist she spent one night with before he returned home, and is trying to save enough to go to Italy. The girls, who are in their twenties, hang out with Walter, Elsa's sometime boyfriend, and Laura's crush Toni, spending every night gleefully smoking dope and taking pills. The foursome casually turns to crime to make money, forging prescriptions and selling them and charging merchandise to stolen credit cards. Elsa is so intent on realizing her dream ("I want to live in a place that I like, have money—a little, and be with someone I love") that she resorts to sleeping with her sleazy boss at the street marketing job and stealing his wallet to make the money she needs.

Gugliotta uses a gritty cinéma vérité style to capture a stark picture of a decadent and anarchic Buenos Aires. Yet the close personal relationships that have always characterized life in that city remain intact, as shown in sweet scenes of Elsa with her financially troubled father and dotty Italian grandfather. As Elsa, the sloe-eyed Valentina Bassi delivers a natural performance: a real girl with brains, stylish in her baggy jeans and T-shirts. The rest of the cast is equally convincing. When Elsa finally gets to Italy, it's not surprising that, as in life, things don't turn out the way she planned.


Director biography from Cinema Tropical press materials:

Born in Buenos Aires, Sandra Gugliotta studied cinematography at el Centro de Experimentación y Realización Cinematográfica (the Center for Film Experimentation and Direction), specializing in video production while in Spain.

In 1995 she received an award from INCAA (National Institute of Cinema and Audiovisual Arts) for her short film Noches Aticas. This film was chosen to be included in a compilation of shorts called Historias Breves I (Short Stories I), which was shown at many international film festivals, including those in Chicago, Havana, Rotterdam, Augsburg, and London.

Later, she worked as an executive producer and production designer for such independent films as 24 Horas (Algo Está Por Explotar), Picado Fino, El Nadador Immovíl, and Che: Un Hombre de Deste Mundo.

A Lucky Day represents Sandra's directorial debut and was filmed in Buenos Aires, Rome, and Sicily. A Lucky Day was selected by some of the most important film festivals, including Toronto, Torino, London, São Paulo, San Sebastian, and Berlin, where it received the Caligari Film Prize and a special mention from the jury.