WAMG Interview – Peter Bolte: Writer/Director of ALL ROADS LEAD – SLIFF 2013

St. Louis-area native Peter Bolte – a graduate of Webster University, returns to his home turf for ALL ROADS LEAD, a feature  was shot here and in Pinckneyville, Ill. that features a local cast and crew. After discovering lost footage of a raging car fire that took the lives of two young girls, a group of filmmakers decides to investigate the stories of those involved. Their journey leads them from the concrete jungle of New York City to the rural countryside of the Midwest. In the small Illinois town of Colston, they interview and befriend residents touched by the tragic event. Hard workers struggling through trying times, the townsfolk appear to draw strength from the caring support of their community. However, as the filmmakers dig deeper, a darker side of Colston begins to emerge, and it becomes evident that the girls’ death may be more than an accident. As an ominous cloud of deceit begins to hover over the interviewing process, the filmmakers must decide how to expose the truth and protect themselves.

ALL ROADS LEAD screens at 6:30 Sunday, November 24th at The Tivoli Theater as part of The St. Louis International Film Festival. Peter Bolte will be in attendance and will host a Q&A after the screening.

For ticket information, visit Cinema St. Louis’ site HERE

http://www.cinemastlouis.org/all-roads-lead

Peter Bolte answered some questions about ALL ROADS LEAD before his visit back to St. Louis.

Interview conducted by Tom Stockman November 20th, 2013

We Are Movie Geeks: I watched the trailer for ALL ROADS LEADS and I assumed it was a documentary. Then I looked it up on IMDB, saw actors listed, and realized it was a narrative. Is it a mock documentary?

Peter Bolte: Yes, but I usually don’t use the word ‘mockumentary’. It is a narrative, fictional film and I use formal documentary tools and techniques to tell the story. The reason I don’t like to use the term ‘mockumentary’ is because usually there is some form of mannerism in that, whether it be stylized acting or how they’ve edited it to tell their story, there’s some sort of mannerized way they’re doing it which makes it stick out. I wanted to create a film that was naturalistic on the level that, if you turn it on and you’re halfway through it, you would assume this was a real story. There are a couple of faces in the film that people know, who have followings, etc. There are close to thirty speaking roles in the film so people know people and I’m not trying to hide it from being fictional.

WAMG:  Is it based on a true story?

PB:  It is not. The catalyst for ALL ROADS LEADS was something real that happened. In February 2005, a car exploded outside of my house. There was a blizzard going on, 16 inches of snow, and I grabbed my old mini DV camera, and started shooting it and I captured the car exploding. I sat on that footage for a long time and finally it came to me and I spent a month or so writing the story and coming up with the background of what happened, what could have happened. That became ALL ROADS LEADS, a small town crime thriller that follows the story of two young runaway girls from the Midwest.

WAMG: Were you able to incorporate that footage in the final film?

PB: Yes. Aside from that, I started creating fake archival and situational archival footage. The two young girls are my sisters in real life so I had old family footage of them and photos and things from friend’s parents, so it’s a hodgepodge that creates the backbone and all the characterization of these people.

WAMG: I’m not going to ask about the plot. I can tell just by the film’s trailer that it’s the type of mysterious story that’s best left to unfold on its own.

PB: Yes, I’ll leave it at this; there’s a documentary within a documentary.

WAMG: ALL ROADS LEADS takes place in Colston, Illinois.  Is that based on a real town?

PB: No, it is a fictional town, but yes in the sense that we have a dying economic infrastructure in this country with loss of industry that has happened over the last 25 to 50 years. This decline has collapsed many small rural towns that once thrived on these industries. In that sense it’s based on a real town and then there’s a commentary about the prison-industrial complex that comes into many of these municipalities that can double the size of the town and offer state subsidies, but that does that really help the town? There’s all these questions. These are the layers that make it a real place.

WAMG: Where was ALL ROADS LEADS filmed?

PB: It was filmed in Pickneyville, Illinois. I had connections to that town because my mother’s side of the family is from there. That’s just north of Carbondale, about 100 miles from St. Louis. We filmed some parts in St. Louis, St. Charles, and some in Brooklyn, New York. The storyline takes it through all these different places, sometimes blurring it, sometimes not.

WAMG: Did you use St. Louis landmarks? Will I recognize locations?

PB: No, it’s not St. Louis, it’s Colston. It was not supposed to be in St. Louis. I’d say shot 50% in Illinois, 25% in Missouri, and 25% in Brooklyn.

WAMG: Tell me about some of the actors you used in the film.

PB: I went through Talent Plus and got several auditions for various characters because I wanted to reach out to local talent. I had their audition videos sent back to me to watch and I pieced together a handful of the local principals for the speaking roles. I also used some talent that I am friends with in New York and L.A. that I wanted involved and they liked the story. David Yow plays the local bar owner and his claim to fame is that he was the lead singer of the bands Scratch Acid and Jesus Lizard . They were punk bands out of Chicago and Austin in the ‘90s. In my film he’s methodical and toned-down, not the crazed front man he’s known to be. Another key player is Nick Sandow, who plays Samuel Carter, the prisoner. He’s a New York character actor who’s been in Orange is the New Black and Law and Order and is making his name as a director. He’s got Scorsese on board co-producing his new feature. Then there are some actors from New York that auditioned. I did all the casting myself because it was super low-budget.

WAMG: You grew up in St. Louis?

PB: I did. I grew up in St. Charles. I did my undergraduate work at Webster University in the painting department. Then I moved in 2000.

WAMG: When did you start making films?

PB: I made a couple during my undergrad days that were just arty, esoteric and experimental films. Then I got more serious around 2002. I made a film called CONSUMING CAPITALISM that played a lot of art galleries and smaller venues. I believe it played the Filmmaker’s Showcase in St. Louis. I was living in Baltimore at the time and was in the post-baccalaureate program at The Maryland Institute College of Art  and then moved up to New York at that point. I did not go to school for filmmaking but I gripped on sets for free for the first year and started networking. I slowly worked my way into more paid jobs, got into lighting and camera departments, and I worked up through the ranks for three or four years until I started getting better jobs and was able to forge a path for my career.

WAMG: Did you grow up a movie buff?

PB: I did. I always painted but I loved movies growing up.

WAMG: Who were some of your favorite filmmakers?

PB: I’ve been influenced by so many. I go through bouts of obsessions with certain directors. I really admire the naturalism of John Cassavettes and Godard for the opposite reason. He’s got a stylized way of working that I love. I admire Antonioni and American directors like Hal Ashby and Scorsese and Kubrick for the master of the craft. There are so many.

WAMG: What do you think St. Louis offers budding filmmakers that other cities may not?

PB: It’s extremely difficult to get a film made and this is my second feature. I’m trying to raise money for another project and I’d like to shoot in St. Louis. There’s something about St. Louis  – it has a charm about it but it also has a big-city vibe. Being from there, there’s a place in my heart for St. Louis. It used to be the fourth largest city in the country and it’s an example of a larger city where industry has left and I think these are places where progress can actually happen. Young filmmakers should look at a city like St. Louis to make their films. There are a lot of young networks going on in St. Louis and it’s a place where real creativity can be spawned.

WAMG: How has ALL ROADS LEAD been received so far?

PB: This is the world premiere this weekend at The St. Louis International Film festival.

WAMG: Oh, good. Good luck with the premiere then and enjoy your visit back to St. Louis.

PB: Thank you.