Family Moviemaking

Our 2012 family silent film

Long ago, my beautiful teaching partner Cass showed me a homemade movie that her amazingly creative and talented family had made together, with her at the helm. Each family member - young and old - had a role, the joy and fun was evident, and the whole experience was memorialized on film. It was memory-making at its best! As soon as I saw it, I was infected with the movie-making bug and knew that I had to gather my family for our own version. What an amazing time we had collaborating on script ideas, making costumes and props, gathering for the big filming experience, and then later watching the finished product and laughing until we cried. I originally only intended for our family movie-making to be a one-time experience, but as soon as we finished filming that first time in 1999, everyone was asking, "When is our next movie?"

We've explored fairy tale, mystery, and even musicals, blending bits of our favorite movies, literary characters, songs, TV shows, and just general family history into a big, chaotic, mush pot of delight.

So, founded in 1999 by using a print shop titles and a VCR for production, "Boltz Heritage Pictures" now has several movies that are close to our hearts. They are not Hollywood blockbusters and maybe nobody else will ever want to watch them, but they are our treasures. As the children grow up and loved ones pass away, we have these golden gems to remind us of who we are together. We re-watch them when we need a laugh, quote movie lines to one another across the miles, and always cherish how they have captured our family at particular moments in history.