Kenny Riches’ fourth feature, a darkly tale of loneliness and a penpal con gone sideways, arrives after a string of festival wins.

Mouse, the fourth feature film from writer-director Kenny Riches, will open in Los Angeles on October 16, 2026, playing at Regal LA Live, Regal Paseo and Regal Edwards South Gate. The film arrives in theaters after a strong 2026 festival run that earned it awards in Brooklyn, Knoxville, and Cleveland.

Between stealing bicycles and breaking into cars, Denny’s only social outlet is spending time with his mother, who loves reading correspondence from their Japanese family overseas. Denny’s loneliness pushes him to sign up for a penpal service he finds in a classified ad. He begins writing letters to a woman named Tess and develops feelings for her, but lies about his nonexistent wealth and success.

What Denny doesn’t know is that the penpal service is a scheme run by Tess and her real-life boyfriend, Maury, to take advantage of the lonely. When the couple falls into financial trouble, they decide to travel to Denny and take him for all he’s worth. Upon arrival, they find that things aren’t what they seemed in Denny’s letters.

Written and directed by Riches, Mouse stars Riches alongside Sarah Coffey and Kimball Farley.

Mouse has built considerable momentum on the festival circuit this year. The film won both the Grand Chameleon Award and Best Film at the Brooklyn Film Festival, took home Best Feature Film at Film Fest Knox, and earned the American Independents Competition Award at the Cleveland International Film Festival. It was also an official selection at the Miami Film Festival and the San Diego Asian Film Festival.

ALSO CHECK OUT: Shaun Paul Piccinino Talks the Madeleine and Violet McGraw Sisters and Las Vegas in Double Trouble | INTERVIEW

Kenny Oiwa Riches was born in Toyota City, Japan, raised in Salt Lake City, Utah, and now lives in Miami, Florida. He holds a BFA in Painting and Drawing, a background in visual art that he carried into filmmaking.

His first feature, Must Come Down, premiered at the Cinequest Film Festival in 2012. His 2015 follow-up, The Strongest Man, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and was released by AMC International and Kino Lorber. His third feature, A Name Without A Place, premiered at the Miami Film Festival in 2019. Along the way, his work has received support from the Sundance Institute, Sun Valley Film Lab, US in Progress, the Knight Foundation, and PBS.

Riches has also championed other filmmakers’ work as a producer, with credits including My Heart Can’t Beat Unless You Tell It To (Tribeca Film Festival, 2020) and Sanzaru (Slamdance Film Festival, 2020). He is a co-founder of The Davey Foundation, a grant-giving organization for filmmakers founded in memory of David Fetzer, and a partner in the production company Dualist.

The film Mouse opens October 16, 2026, at Regal LA Live, Regal Paseo, and Regal Edwards South Gate in Los Angeles. For audiences looking for a distinctive independent film with a festival pedigree, it’s a film to put on the calendar.

Watch the exclusive interview with Kenny Riches below. Let us know what you think.

For news and interviews, contact Gig Patta at [email protected]. Follow https://x.com/GigPatta, https://www.facebook.com/OfficialGigPatta, https://www.instagram.com/gigpatta, or https://www.tiktok.com/gigpatta for all his posts and musings on entertainment.

Source: LRM Online Exclusive, Dualist