FILM SPOTLIGHT
Ly Bolia
Associate Professor of Communication, Georgia State University
Independent Cinematographer
When Ly Bolia was a teenager, his father tried to convince him to become an architect. He couldn’t see much of a future in his son’s real passion—comic book writing—so off Bolia went to Georgia Tech, where he earned an architecture degree and discovered he didn’t particularly enjoy drawing floorplans.
But while he was there, he began working in computer graphics, creating stories and characters on the fly. He applied to work at computer graphics firms around the country, but they all told him he needed a film degree.
“So I told myself, I’ll apply to three film schools and if I don’t get into any, I’ll quit,” Bolia said. “When I got into NYU, that’s how it all got started.”
After his program at NYU, he bought a camera and started shooting low-budget independent films, working as an electrician on larger productions. Then a friend called to tell him about a teaching position at Georgia State.
“I realized I hadn’t come to NYU to become an electrician,” he said. “I thought, If I could go down to teach at Georgia State, I could get back to this idea I’d started off with: making films.”
It’s a challenge to balance teaching with freelance work, but recently he’s found time to work as a cinematographer on a number of shows for the Velocity Network, including “Café Racer” and “What’s in the Barn.” He also writes and shoots his own short films.
Bolia encourages his film students to find mentors early on in their programs—“This business is all based on word of mouth”—and cautions that working in the industry can be draining.
“It takes a certain amount of persistence because there’s no glamor, really, in all this work you’re going to be doing behind the scenes,” he said. “It’s a lot of hard work and long hours, and sometimes people don’t realize that.”
—Erin Crews
PANTHERS SHAPING ATLANTA'S FILM INDUSTRY