On location with THE STRANGE ONES (starring Alex Pettyfer) in WIllow, NY
THE STRANGE ONES, will open at the Quad Cinema in NYC this Friday, January 5 with showtimes at 2:50pm, 7pm and 9pm throughout the weekend. The 7pm Friday screening will be followed by a Q&A with directors Lauren Wolkstein and Chris Radcliff.
The film also opens in 10 other cities including Los Angeles, Chicago, Houston, Phoenix, Tampa, Miami, Denver, Orlando, Baltimore, and Kansas City. If you're unable to make it to the theater, please know that the movie will also be available on iTunes and your Video-On-Demand service, and Hulu will also be streaming the film this year.
The Los Angeles Times called THE STRANGE ONES, "an artful, boundary-pushing debut from Radcliffe and Wolkstein." Film School Rejects called it: "masterful and unforgettable."
The feature film was produced with help from the Hudson Valley Film Commission during the summer of 2016. Locations included places in Cornwall, New Hampton, Cornwall-on-Hudson, Willow, Accord, Kerhonkson, Rosendale, Catskill, Phoenicia, Malden-on-Hudson, Walden, Goshen, West Hurley, and SPAF in Saugerties.
Producer Ben Packman wrote: "The Hudson Valley Film Commission provided a tremendous amount of help in facilitating our production. Whether it was suggesting locations, caterers, lodging, they were extremely organized and prompt in helping us find everything we needed."
THE STRANGE ONES, which screened at the 2017 Woodstock Film Festival, follows two travelers on the road. A young man (Alex Pettyfer) and a boy (James Freedson-Jackson), appear to be on an adventure across an undefined remote American landscape. We assume they are two brothers on vacation, yet something feels off kilter. Who are these men and what are they after? The outstanding performances in this atmospheric thriller are a tour de force and the unforeseeable events furnish unsettling suspense. The often wet, blurry landscape, the repetitive background sounds of nature, and the determined facial expressions of the duo are one moment tender, hostile the next, with a guarded innocence on the face of the boy who falsely calls himself Jeremiah, coalesce into unease as we fear for the boy's safety. Even when circumstances become dire, their relationship remains enigmatic, as Jeremiah accepts the aid of sympathetic strangers, without revealing the true nature of their connection.
Directors Christopher Radcliff and Lauren Wolkstein are NYC-based filmmakers best known for their award-winning short films, including THE STRANGE ONES, which screened at the 2011 Woodstock Film Festival in 2011, and SOCIAL BUTTERFLY, which screened at the 2013 Woodstock FIlm Festival. Their first feature film, THE STRANGE ONES, (an adaptation of their short film of the same name) premiered at SXSW 2017.
As a not-for-profit, 501c3 organization, the Hudson Valley Film Commission promotes and create sustainable economic development by supporting and attracting film, video and media production in the Hudson Valley and Catskills. The organization has worked with over 500 films by providing help with locations, cast & crew referrals, vendors and more since 2000.