From left to right: Vomitface, Jeffrey, Goryhole, Tremor

ALL PRACTICAL EFFECTS! NO CGI! 

Synopsis

A grieving, isolated graphic designer, MiMi, finds comfort in the form of mischievous, interdimensional monsters trying to get a new leash on life after leaving their demonic homeworld.

Who's Behind This Movie?

I’m Christopher Elston,  the co-creator, co-writer, sfx artist, puppet maker, stop motion animator, and director of my first full-length feature, Mimi and Friends. I've been making shorts and writing stories all my life and finally decided to jump into feature filmmaking. I knew I had limited resources and funds to work with. What I did have was my talented fiance, awesome, experienced filmmaker friends, and my apartment. So I decided to create a monster story that could take place in my apartment, with creatures I could build as puppets, and with sets I could make for stop motion. I created the puppets first and built the story around them! Over a year later, we have our film, MiMi and Friends! This is truly a love letter to the monster puppet films of the 80s and 90s with practical effects, puppets, stop motion, gore, and a lot of heart. Fans of these genres will be very satisfied!

What We Need & What You Get

We have almost completed production on the film with our own funds & donated time of our cast and crew. We are seeking additional funds for post-production costs. We also plan to rent out various theaters for exclusive showings, make blu-rays, etc. As a backer, you can get exclusive perks such as producer credits to put on your IMDB, your name in opening and or closing credits, exclusive blu-rays, and more.

How Much We Need & Where It's Going

All of the funding of the film thus far has been covered out of pocket and by donated time from actors and crew. Our goal is to be able to give some funding to those who have donated their time and to hopefully cover costs to quickly finish the few scenes we have left to shoot. Once that’s done, there will be the costs of the rewards we’re offering here, like blu-rays, posters, and shipping (which is really high.) Anything extra will go towards the cost of putting the finished film in theaters and travel associated with a theatrical presentation. Like a lot of independent films, we’re relying on self-distribution, and that can be expensive.

The Impact

With the resurgence of practical effects in horror films, there hasn't really been a little creature feature like Gremlins, Critters, Ghoulies, or Puppet Master. We want to change that by creating a wild, zany world of little creature stories for the audience who grew up on these amazing films. All backers of this campaign are helping us fulfill that vision and helping us continue to create awesome fun monster movies like we saw in the 80s and 90s! We have no plans to stop and will continue to be filmmakers for years to come!

The Rewards!

Christopher with his original art for MiMi & Friends all done in pen!

Here's a short we made for fun (Just Chassity & Chris), Doctor Drain Brain!