The Roar: Renowned Filmmaker Tells Story of the Beginning of His Career as a Trinity Student

By Nipuni Gomes

Molina and his crew working on Revelation
Photo courtesy of William Molina

Filmmaker William Molina, ’84, was among Trinity’s last cohort of film majors when, 36 years ago, the university’s Department of Journalism, Broadcast, and Film was in the process of dropping the film component and turning into what is known today as the Department of Communication.

Now an award-winning cinematographer, Molina traced the beginning of his career to his freshman year at Trinity when, although with a limited budget and resources, Molina persevered with a whole lot of passion and determination.

His first 9 minute, 16 mm film, Revelation, which he completed in his sophomore year at Trinity, was nominated for the 1982 Ninth Annual Student Film Awards, hosted by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences.

Molina chose Trinity over other strong film programs, such as that at the University of Southern California, for the opportunity of four years of hands-on training.

“I wanted to get right into making movies, not looking at a book for two years before I could even touch the camera,” Molina recalls. “I was able to be more independent at Trinity. The good thing was that I got to dive right in and start making movies, and that was a golden opportunity.”

Molina has fond memories of the production of Revelation, “The first and most critical part of making a film is finding a story. I had gotten inspired through an English class taught at Trinity. We had a short story by D. H. Lawrence called ‘The Horse Dealer’s Daughter.’ In the story, I found a passage that made me say, ‘this is what I’m going to make my movie about.’”

Molina and his crew filming the river
scene of Revelation
Photo courtesy of William Molina

In one particular passage of the story, the main characters, Mabel and Dr. Ferguson, see each other from a distance in a cemetery and, when their eyes meet, they feel discovered by one another, as if each knows the other’s deepest thoughts and secrets. Based on this, Molina wrote a two-page script for a film that would depict the intensity of that moment. However, this sort of film was easier imagined than done.

“I liked period films and period stories and love stories and that kind of stuff so, when I saw that, I went, ‘that’s the movie!’” says Molina. “Doing a period piece can present problems in itself. The story was set in the 1800s, so I knew that I had to somehow get costumes and stuff, and so that’s how I approached the Trinity drama department, because I was also a drama student, and I got cooperation.”

Molina and his teammates spent several weeks scouting for an ideal location to shoot the film. They finally found it in the city of Boerne, over 30 miles away from San Antonio. Soon after the shooting started, the crew of Revelation realized that one scene involved plunging into a lake in the middle of the winter.

The water was very cold, not only for the actors but also for the crew. The crew could wear scuba suits, but the actors didn’t have a choice because they hated the bulky look of the scuba attire. “Long story short, it was freezing!” Molina laughs.

Resources were scarce, and the students needed to make the most of what they had. Although the school provided camera, sound, and some post-production equipment, the filmmakers had to fund their own film stock and crew expenses. Molina recalls that his budget for Revelation was around $1500, money he had to come up with through parents and other relations.

“It was a labor of love, definitely. We all did it because we aspired to do films,” says Molina. He is still very touched by the coming together of all these Trinity students to make the films. “I have fond memories of that time.”

After the filming, editing, and more long nights of manual film-cutting and editing, Revelation was good to go.

“[It] was a really good movie, and I really appreciated his attention to detail,” says David O. Thomas, Molina’s mentor at Trinity and now the Director of Ohio University’s School of Film. “What is interesting is the amount of time and effort he spent in this project.”

Crew of Revelation filming the beginning
scene of the film
Photo courtesy of William Molina

Michael Jay Smith, Molina’s technical professor and mentor on camera work and equipment, also sings praise of Molina’s hard work. “Those who really were successful in that department were mostly self-driven. They had the burning desire already.”

Molina’s hard work paid off when Revelation was nominated as a Mountain and Southern Regional Finalist in the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences’ Ninth Student Film Awards, and was later awarded the University Film and Video Grant.

Molina’s second film, Diverse Reflection, is a modernized version of Revelation, with the same premise in a different setting: the 1980s club scene. Before graduating from Trinity, he also participated in a peer’s 25-minute long film, Battleground.

Molina moved to Los Angeles in the late 1980s but later returned to Texas. In 1993, he received an Emmy nomination, and a “Best Cinematography” award for his work on the Discovery Channel special “Oceans of Air.” In 1996 and 1999, the International Cinematographer’s Guild Film Showcase honored his work with two distinct Artistic Achievements in Cinematography awards.

He is currently the President of Storm Pictures, and a member of the International Cinematographer’s Guild Local 600 and Society of Camera Operators. His most recent, award-winning documentary, Truth be Tolled, presents the controversy behind the tolling of US Highway 281.

Even after three decades, Molina’s mentors still remember the boy in a small film department with big dreams. Thomas puts it best: “I knew he was going to get it right. He’s always been a cinematographer, whether he wanted to be or not!”