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Today, Assistant Film Professor Paul de Lumen is traveling to Cannes on an overseas plane ride with Hollywood legend John Travolta and his family.

Fitting, given that the two worked together on Travolta’s aviation-themed directorial debut: a semi-autobiographical story about a young airplane enthusiast and his mother traveling on a cross-country flight in 1962, when propeller planes were being phased out of production in favor of jets. The film, Propeller One-Way Night Coach, will premiere at the Cannes Film Festival on Friday before streaming on Apple TV on May 29.

De Lumen, who has nearly two decades of experience as a cinematographer, was the director of photography on the film. Though the project was a personal one for Travolta, de Lumen was able to contribute his own artistic flair. On their first phone call, the two instantly connected about the miracle of flight and the magic of childlike wonder.

“I love stories like that, because as artists, that’s the feeling that we always nurture,” said de Lumen.

Ahead of that first meeting, de Lumen built a deck of visual inspiration to use as references for the camera shots. He loved the vintage, grainy look of Mad Men; the wide angles and airplane scenes in Catch Me If You Can; the green hues and depiction of loneliness in Edward Hopper’s paintings. Travolta responded enthusiastically to the ideas and complemented them with his detailed knowledge of the era.

“His superpower is that he knows, like, ‘this hairstyle is 1967,’ or ‘the collar needs to be like this; they changed it in 1965,’” recounted de Lumen. “It was even more fun creating the frames because I knew they were all accurate.”

To get the analog look of the 35mm film he wanted while staying within the production budget, de Lumen created a special look in the digital camera that mimicked Kodak motion picture film stock. He considers the preparation — figuring out the lenses, the camera, lighting, color — the most fun part of the process for him.

“You’re in control of everything before chaos hits,” he said with a laugh. Then, once it’s time for lights, camera, action, “you just gotta roll with it.”

De Lumen got involved with Propeller One-Way Night Coach through his longtime friend Jason Berger, who is a producer on the film. The two have collaborated many times for projects produced by Berger’s creative studio, such as Reluctantly Healthy with Judy Greer and Tab Time with Tabitha Brown. Berger, who happens to be a Saturday Night Fever superfan, and his son also have minor roles in this film.

This will be de Lumen’s first time attending the Cannes Film Festival, and he won’t be the only Spartan there.

Gracyn Carter ’26, Krystle Gomez ’26, Tomas Lluen ’27, Liam Oscar ’27 and Destiny Greer ’20, staff assistant for the film department, traveled with Film Tampa Bay as part of a FilmUSA program to give students exposure to the industry at the highest level. Alumni Tyler Martinolich ’05, executive director of Film Tampa Bay, and Rachel Christ ’17, who works in Los Angeles as a producer, are accompanying the group.

Cannes runs through May 23.