The Strange Ones

Directed By Lauren Wolkstein

Mysterious events surround two travelers as they make their way across a remote American landscape. On the surface all seems normal, but what appears to be a simple vacation soon gives way to a dark and complex web of secrets.

  • ABOUT
  • BIO
A house fire sends a teenage boy, Sam, and a twenty-something man, Nick, on a road trip across rural America. As they head towards what Nick believes could be a second chance, they tell people at diners and rest stops that they're brothers Nick and Jeremiah and on vacation. Seeming jealousy on Sam's part over anyone spending time with Nick soon suggests that a darker relationship exists between the two males. Sam has difficulty interpreting the difference between reality and dreams. Nick tells him that it doesn't matter and that Sam can turn his dreams into reality.
Lauren Wolkstein is a NYC-based filmmaker originally from Baltimore, Maryland. In 2017, her debut feature THE STRANGE ONES, starring James Freedson-Jackson and Alex Pettyfer, premiered at SXSW to critical acclaim. She co-directed the film with Christopher Radcliff, based on their Sundance short of the same name. Lauren’s previous shorts, including SOCIAL BUTTERFLY (Sundance ’13) and CIGARETTE CANDY (SXSW ’10 Grand Jury Prize), have played festivals around the world. She is also a television director who has directed episodes for Ava DuVernay's critically acclaimed series QUEEN SUGAR, Marvel's CLOAK & DAGGER, and USA's DARE ME. In 2013, Filmmaker Magazine listed her as one of the “25 New Faces of Independent Film." Wolkstein is a 2017-2018 Women at Sundance Fellow through the Sundance Institute, and she is a MacDowell Colony Fellow for Summer 2018. Lauren earned her MFA in film directing from Columbia University and is currently an Associate Professor of Film and Media Arts at Temple University.