The Filmmakers

Eleanor Burke and Ron Eyal are a writing and directing duo who use actor-centric methods to create a fresh style of dramatic filmmaking. They were recently featured in Filmmaker Magazine’s 25 New Faces of Independent Film.

Burke and Eyal grew up far across the pond from each other, one in England, the other in California. They met while attending NYU’s Graduate Film Program and started their collaboration with the short film Ruth and Maggie, which premiered at the 2006 Slamdance Film Festival. Both filmmakers have received several accolades for their films and screenplays, including the 2011 Best Director Award at the Phoenix Film Festival and a fellowship award for excellence for Eleanor Burke from director Ang Lee. Ron Eyal is a fellow of the 2011 Toronto International Film Festival Talent Lab and Eleanor Burke is a fellow of the talent lab at the 2011 Edinburgh International Film Festival.

Their debut feature, Stranger Things, won the Grand Jury Prize for Best Narrative Feature at the 2011 Slamdance Film Festival. It also won Best Feature at the Woodstock Film Festival and was an official selection of the Karlovy Vary International Film Festival and BAMcinemaFest. The film was a selection of the 2009 IFP Independent Filmmaker Lab, where it won the lab’s top award.