Stranger Things

STRANGER THINGS wins IFP Lab Finishing Award Package!

Ron Eyal — Thu, 18 Feb 2010 01:28:22 +0000

Amazing news! Eleanor and I are very happy and proud to announce that STRANGER THINGS has won the IFP Narrative Lab’s Finishing Grant! The award is a package of services worth $45,000, including post-production services from Goldcrest Post New York, post-graphic services from Edgeworx, Inc., legal consultation from Gray Krauss LLP, publicity consultation from International House of Publicity, test screening space courtesy of The Tank, and promotional materials from 4over4.

This award make an enormous difference to us in finishing STRANGER THINGS. We’d like to say a huge thank you to all the grant donors listed above, Rose Vincelli, Amy Dotson and everyone at the IFP, and the grant jury members: producer Lisa Cortes (Precious); Warrington Hudlin, filmmaker and founder of DV Republic and Black Filmmakers Foundation; and filmmaker Paola Mendoza (Entre Nos).

We also wanted to congratulate Rebecca Richman Cohen whose documentary WAR DON DON won the Documentary Lab’s finishing grant.

Our fellow finalists for the Lab Grant were Russell Costanzo and Mellisa Miller with THE TESTED and Amy Seimetz with CITY ON A HILL, both awesome films.

The IFP’s Press Release can be found here: http://www.ifp.org/ifp-presents-90000-in-grant-packages-to-independent-filmmaker-lab-alumni/

First time feature filmmakers: IFP Filmmaker Lab open for entries

Ron Eyal — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 20:42:19 +0000

Christina Beck and Annette Murphy (PERFECTION) get feedback on their cut from editors Kate Williams and Sabine Hoffmann, in the 2009 IFP Lab

The IFP Filmmaker Lab is accepting applications. This is an amazing opportunity for all you first-time feature filmmakers out there. Eleanor and I participated in the 2009 Lab last summer and it was an incredible experience – it made an enormous difference to how we’ve approached finishing our film STRANGER THINGS. During the course of the lab, we got advice from some amazing mentors (indie producers Scott Macauley, Gretchen McGowan, and Anish Savjani, editor Brian Kates, new media genius Lance Weiler, just to name a few…).

There’s one lab for narrative films and one for docs. Each section accepts 10 films. Applications are due February 12 (for documentary) & March 26 (for narrative), so hurry up and apply!

Adeel in Chris Morris’s Four Lions

Eleanor Burke — Fri, 22 Jan 2010 16:10:59 +0000

Adeel is currently on the front page of the Guardian website, starring in a very funny clip from Chris Morris’s new film FOUR LIONS, which will premiere at the Sundance Film Festival this Saturday.

Click on this link to see the clip:

http://www.guardian.co.uk/film/video/2010/jan/21/chris-morris-four-lions-sundance

London ADR Session

Eleanor Burke — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 22:08:22 +0000

The holiday season is over and it’s straight back to work for independent filmmakers. Ron and I have just returned from London where we caught up with a lot of people and got the new year off to a great start with a very successful ADR session / get-together with some of the Stranger Things cast.

Record quantities of tea and crumpets were consumed!

We would like to thank Bridget, Adeel, Keith, Victoria and Taran for their wonderful work.

The New Year Parade

Eleanor Burke — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 15:54:35 +0000

If you are based in New York, be sure to check out Tom Quinn’s film THE NEW YEAR PARADE on Reel 13 tonight. Tom was in the IFP Narrative Lab a couple of years before us and has been a fantastic mentor to me and Ron in making STRANGER THINGS. THE NEW YEAR PARADE is the story of a brother and sister making it through the first year of their parents’ separation. It was the winner of the Slamdance Jury Prize for Best Narrative and is a nominee in the Independent Spirit Awards for the John Cassavetes Award this year. The film is also available on Netflix and Amazon.

Happy New Year from the Stranger Things team!

Ron Eyal — Sat, 02 Jan 2010 01:58:16 +0000

Wishing all of our supporters, fans, cast and crew a fantastic new year. Thank you all so much for your support over the last year. We’re looking forward to exciting new developments with the film in 2010.

Congratulations to Christina Beck

Ron Eyal — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 05:53:48 +0000

Congratulations to our IFP lab-mate Christina Beck, who was just awarded the Adrienne Shelly Foundation’s female directing grant for her wonderful film PERFECTION. Christina came to New York to receive her award, which gave us the chance to catch up over drinks — with Melissa and Michael from the Lab too.

Paramount to start micro-budget film division

Ron Eyal — Fri, 11 Dec 2009 06:14:42 +0000

According to the L.A. Times, Paramount is launching a new production business for films budgeted at less than $100,000. Apparently they’ll be financing 20 or so films per year, which sounds like good news for independent filmmakers! Unfortunately they won’t be acquiring completed films like ours, but who knows for the next one!

Bridget Collins on audiobook!

Eleanor Burke — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 14:58:39 +0000

Bridget Collins will be reading the audiobook for her new novel A Trick of the Dark, which was published in September.

Bridget is still receiving recognition for her first novel The Traitor Game. This summer she won the 2009 Branford Boase Award, which is an award for excellence in writing given to the most promising new writer and their editor each year. Congratulations Bridget and her editor Emma Matthewson!

You can read an interview with Bridget about The Traitor Game here.

Adeel Akhtar’s updated Bio

Eleanor Burke — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 19:15:56 +0000

Adeel has sent us news of what he’s been doing out there in the world since shooting STRANGER THINGS and we’ve updated his bio on the website, so check it out. Not only did he sport a dashing turban in the Bollywoodized version of Wuthering Heights (which toured the U.K. for six months this year, ending at the Lyric Theatre Hammersmith) but he recently finished work on Chris Morris’s new film Four Lions, which is a satire based on a group of Islamist terrorists in the North of England.

Independent Film Week Update

Eleanor Burke — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 00:21:55 +0000

We’ve had a great time at Independent Film Week. There’s been a screening of a scene from STRANGER THINGS by Rooftop Films outdoors in DUMBO, an industry screening at the Clearview Cinema Chelsea (where it was very exciting to see how great the film looked projected onto a big old screen) and lots of meetings and talks. It’s been really lovely to reconnect with all the other IFP Narrative Lab Fellows and to get to meet some of the Documentary Lab Fellows, whose films look fascinating, by the way.

STRANGER THINGS at Independent Film Week

Ron Eyal — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 00:37:42 +0000

As IFP Filmmaker Narrative Lab fellows, we’re invited to participate in the 2009 IFP Independent Film Week, a film market and conference held in New York City from September 19th to 24th. We’ll be in the Emerging Narrative section of the IFP Project Forum (along with the other 9 films from the IFP Filmmaker Lab), meeting with industry and festival programmers to discuss STRANGER THINGS.

Read more about it in the Indiewire Press Release.

Filmmaker Magazine chooses us for 25 New Faces of Independent Film

Ron Eyal — Fri, 17 Jul 2009 22:30:41 +0000

We were chosen to be among Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film, their yearly list of up-and-coming talent in indie cinema!

From the article:

“…Burke and Eyal riff on the themes of homelessness, loss and human vulnerability in their delicately beautiful debut feature, Stranger Things…”

You can read the rest of the article (and check out the other new faces) online, or get a hard copy of Filmmaker Magazine from your local newstand or Barnes and Noble.

STRANGER THINGS selected for IFP Filmmaker Lab!

Ron Eyal — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 23:45:38 +0000

We have some very exciting news to share with you: STRANGER THINGS was selected to participate in the IFP Filmmaker Lab, a workshop designed to prepare in-progress independent feature films for the festival circuit and beyond. During the workshop we’ll be hooked up with various mentors – from producers to editors to composers – who will help us finish STRANGER THINGS.

The Lab is very competitive (they choose just 10 films from across the country) and we’re also invited to participate in Independent Film Week, the IFP’s film market which takes place during September, where we’ll meet with festival programs, investors, distributors…

Indiewire press release about the lab participants: