Bill Boll is the writer and director of April is My Religion, the movie you’ve seen fliers for all over campus. He has a B.A. in psychology, a law degree from Saint Louis University and has spent most of his adult life in love with filmmaking. The moral of this story?
Stop worrying about your major, kids.
Boll’s film, shot entirely on digital video, is the first locally made feature to be selected for the St. Louis International Film Festival. Much of the film was shot on SLU’s campus.
The movie’s main character is Jack Wesson, a college freshman who suddenly finds himself running with a crowd much hipper and wiser than his usual dorky peers. Wesson promptly falls in love with the most beautiful girl in the new group, and-of course-gets his heart broken. But this is not the average teenage drama. There are drugs in this one.
Boll explains that the film centers around “the situation of living in a dorm, not having someone look over your shoulder for the first time . You know, parents like to think there’s more supervision than there really is in the dorms.” Lack of supervision leads the previously sheltered Wesson to excess.
The movie was pieced together from 28 hours of video, a luxury Boll wouldn’t have had with regular film. He explained how thrifty and liberating the use of digital video was.
The versatility of the video allowed Boll to portray altered states like being drunk, stoned and dreaming. “I don’t know how I would have done that with film,” he said.
Boll made his first movie while he was studying abroad in France in 1985. He spent all his income on Super-8 film, and recruited every English-speaking person in the small town to appear in his production.
“It was awful,” Boll said of his first endeavor. After finishing the ill-fated project, he vowed not to spend another dime on a movie until he had something worthwhile to create.
April is My Religion began as a book, which Boll wrote during the early `90s. A tenacious production staff and a talented cast finally helped Boll realize his dream: a full-length feature worthy of acclaim. “Adam Hackbarth was the one-man crew. He held the mic and did everything else.”
Boll said his law degree helped him as well because he isn’t intimidated by legal jargon. “You learn what to look for and what to let slide.”
So what is Boll’s advice to students with a passion for filmmaking? “Learn how to be poor and still live well. Chances are you’ll spend a lot of time without money; it’s a war of attrition.”
See April is My Religion’s premiere this Sunday, Nov. 11 at 1 p.m. at the Tivoli in the U-City Loop as part of the St. Louis International Film Festival. For more info visit www.billboll.com.
