Support THE JACQUES BOLSEY PROJECT

Ever so often, you come across a crowd-funding project that is really special. Our new friends, the LA-based team from The Jacques Bolsey Project have a real winner on their hands, and its just a matter of time before we hear a lot about this film at festivals and on TV outlets nationwide.

Imagine finding out in film school that your great-grandpa invented the Bolex & your family never mentioned it! This is exactly what happened to Alyssa Bolsey, the film's director.

Here is more about this exciting documentary and how you can help below. This project has our full support!

THE JACQUES BOLSEY PROJECT

One Renaissance man's fight against his own mortality.


THE JACQUES BOLSEY PROJECT (Development Teaser) from HME on Vimeo.
LOGLINE

In the early 1920’s a prolific inventor, Jacques Bolsey, put motion-picture cameras into the hands of amateur filmmakers. Decades later, the dramatic life of the mysterious Renaissance man is uncovered.



ABOUT THE FILM

With a working title of “The Jacques Bolsey Project,” this documentary follows the life and struggles of Jacques Bolsey, a forgotten inventor whose 1924 innovation, the Bolex camera, links the earliest amateur filmmakers to some of today’s creative giants in directing and cinematography, including Steven Spielberg, Peter Jackson and David Lynch. The Bolex, a direct precursor to today’s modern home video camera, forever changed the face of filmmaking. It was a camera accessible to most, if not all people, giving amateur filmmakers a tool to tell stories and to record their lives.

Until several years ago the story of the man behind this camera was a mystery, even to the inventor’s own family. It wasn’t until 2004 when his great-granddaughter, Alyssa Bolsey, stumbled upon boxes that had been housed in the family basement for decades, that the story has come to light. Through these materials and thousands of feet of film dating back to the 1920’s, it has become evident that the documentary is more than a narrative of one single man. It is a narrative of motion picture development. Furthermore, it is a story of pushing technology forward and the documentation of one’s life through moving images. Today, Jacques Bolsey’s ideas of the accessibility and the miniaturization of cameras are more prevalent than ever. It is a story of perseverance, vision and the untimely death of a man who had his hand on the pulse of the future. Nevertheless, as influential as his invention of the Bolex was, it was but one notch on his belt among the many other significant inventions he had created during a lifetime marked by turmoil, revolutions and world wars.



SYNOPSIS

The inventor of the Bolex camera was Jacques Bogopolsky/Boolsky/Bolsey, known to his friends as JB. He was a Russian Jew who traveled the globe to realize his vision of empowering the amateur artist. Beginning his journey in Russia, he traveled to France, Switzerland and finally to the United States, all the while setting up numerous companies to achieve his goal of improving the fortunes of humanity. In the process of achieving his vision, his profits, as well as his future legacy, would take a backseat to moving his ideas forward. Money was but a means to an end and was not a primary motivator.

As he navigated the tumultuous times, his only fear lay in his certain and unavoidable mortality, a fate that would halt progress towards realizing his visions. It was a fear that would drive incredible speed and productivity in his work.

JB was a complex man who was far from perfect but who followed his dreams while encountering obstacle after obstacle. Poor business decisions, deceitful advisors and alleged foreign industrial espionage led to a boom and bust business economic cycle. An attraction for beautiful women, including a rumored affair with one of Charlie Chaplin’s ex-wives, in combination with a demanding personality, led to complications within his personal life. Still, to many he was viewed as being larger than life. He was an inventor who was greatly respected in his day for his contributions to society, yet somehow was forgotten with the passage of time.

In death, as in life, JB’s story has undergone many twists and turns. For the half century since his passing, little has been known about the inventor. The contents of JB’s life’s work, including plans for his inventions, documents, cameras and films shot on those cameras, have been buried in a cramped basement in White Plains, NY. To “Google” his name is to come across misinformation and confusion. To some, the scope and timeframe of his work appear implausible, impossible. But was it? With his words and work unearthed and available for study for the first time, we will find out. It is a story of insatiable drive and a will to survive and create; a story that will counter the doubts of skeptics.

This story was brought to light as a result of an accidental discovery by Bolsey’s great granddaughter over 40 years after his death. During her second semester of film school, Alyssa Bolsey was confronted with the realization that her enigmatic great-grandfather, Jacques Bolsey, had been one of the pioneers of the consumer motion picture camera revolution. He was in fact, the inventor of the iconic Bolex camera. Why had this significant family history never been shared with her? With more questions than answers, Alyssa is presented with a mystery she is compelled to solve. She assembles a team of filmmakers, historians and family members to help her tell the story of a man who, almost a century ago, created a device that is still used today. It is time to uncover everything and she won’t take silence for an answer.

Read More about this exciting project or make a pledge HERE!

- Lena