January 2015
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About Ad
Ad Bol: Seeking Truth in Thrillers
Truthfulness. That is at the core of Ad Bol’s films. “That’s also why I prefer to write my own scripts: it’s easier for me to find truthfulness – and to convey that in a film – if the story’s emotional core is based on my own experience.”
Filmmaking got a hold of him during his first year at the prestigious Gerrit Rietveld Academy of Art: he painted but also experimented with film – and his work got him noticed. A young production company offered him a job as director for TV programs and commercials, and he left school to take the opportunity. While he continued to paint, from then on he focused on making documentaries and commercials for large international organizations. These projects gave – and still give – him the opportunity to find creative solutions and experiment visually as well as technically in various circumstances with different means.
This rapidly built skill set resulted in his first feature film CASTINGX (2005), a dark voyage into voyeurism, seduction and revenge that premiered at the Dutch Film Festival and was reviewed by Luc de Rooy as 'an outline of a future masterpiece'. His short film SWEET BETTY was the result of a collaboration with Robby Muller and Rutger Hauer at the Rotterdam Film Factory. It was shown at the International Rotterdam Film Festival 2007.
His second feature BLINDSPOT (2008), which won multiple awards internationally, was also a psychological thriller. It’s difficult to pinpoint for Bol why he prefers this genre. He does remember being deeply fascinated when he saw Apocalypse Now while finishing his ‘sensible’ Master’s degree – before he went his own way and attended the Rietveld Art Academy. But this fascination is not just about the suspense or the action, he says: “It’s actually more important that the characters get under your skin; there has to be a development there. In the protagonists themselves, and in their relationships too.”
Next to strong character development, his films distinguish themselves through a constant tension driven by unexpected turns, in a style reminiscent of Alejandro González Iñárritu and David Fincher. Still, Bol stresses that his brand of unpredictable suspense is not only a goal in itself: it also is an instrument that makes emotional undercurrents tangible. This intention is also reflected in the way he directs his actors: “I don’t want an actor to interpret a character’s emotion – I want to see an emotion that is the actor’s – that is real in that very moment. I want them to relate to their own experience, just like I do when I write the script. ” And he wants the camera to do that exact same thing: make the story tangible, truthful.
Bol will direct his next film together with Rutger Hauer. VICTOR K. tells the story of a merciless and highly accomplished assassin, who becomes the hunted and is forced to abduct his junkie daughter and his despondent ex-wife in order to protect them from his potential killers. In his search for truthfulness, Bol will surely use this web of conflict and dilemma as a means of revealing the truth about the character’s human nature – even if that human is a cold-hearted killer.
Badges
Credits
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Heart of Eternity (
2018 )
Film Director -
Angel Snuck (
2016 )
Film Director -
VICTOR K. (
2015 )
Film by Ad Bol (Drama and Thriller) Director, Writer, Producer Meet VICTOR K. a brilliant, sixty-something hitman with no remorse whatsoever, except for having abandoned his family. A master of engineering, he uses a smart killing system to stage his murders as accidents. But when a job in Barcelona unexpectedly requires the collateral death of a young girl, he refuses to proceed with the hit. His drug kingpin client BADIA runs amok and puts a contract out for his death. Kramer knows he must make himself scarce, but being in the city where he once lived with his family, he can't help but to look for his daughter LUCIA. Having walked out on her years ago, Kramer returns, only to find his ex-wife Mia in despair over LucÃ�Âa's severe drug addiction. The Millennial not only spends the day strung-out on Angel Snuck, European's latest designer drug, but is also shacked up with her degenerate punk dealer in a squatted building. Kramer and Mia pry Lucia from the clutches of her depraved dealer and lover, but they are still haunted by Badia and the Barcelona police force. Kramer must strategize his final plan, the one that stands a chance to deliver them all from the dark side they've been living on for so long. Will he succeed in this quest for redemption? -
Idiosyncratic (
2013 )
Film (short) by Ad Bol (Comedy) Director, Writer, Producer -
Blindspot (
2008 )
Film by Ad Bol (Drama and Thriller) Director, Writer, Producer, Editor BLINDSPOT is a sexy, psychological film-noir which features the story of a man who is sucked into the psychological web of two women on the run. On the run from themselves and from their past. One - wild, tempestuous and adulterous, the other - introverted, bitter and revengeful. Only the dance is pure - with the gun loaded. Written by Eager Films BV -
Sweet Betty (
2007 )
Film (short) by Ad Bol (Drama) Director -
Castingx (
2005 )
Film by Ad Bol (Drama and Thriller) Director, Writer, Producer 'Castingx' is a psycho chiller-thriller. A dark journey into voyeurism, seduction and revenge. An unusual love story where reality and fiction merge in a deathly blur. Steven is a loner. He has a job in a shabby gasoline station on the border between the civilized world and the wastelands of a forbidding desert. Bored and restless, he indulges in fantasies about movies, dreaming to be a famous film director himself. When occasionally a woman stops at the pumps, he secretly puts her on tape, using the security camera. Actually he is casting. The only one who seems to believe in Steven's ambitions is Tony, the assistant of his father, who owns the petrol station. Steven's father Charly is most of the time engaged in the production of cheap porn movies. He treats his son with cruel contempt, since the death of Steven's mother, years ago. Steven never stopped missing his mom. He visits her grave almost every day, even asking her advice about his first feature film. Then, one day, Helena ... Written by Ad Bol -
Legacy of Lies
Director
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