2021 Arts Award: John Garret Mohler
by Katy Gilmore ‘24
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John Garret Mohler ‘21
Major: Film Studies
Minor: Marketing
To start off, just tell me a bit about yourself!
Year I’ll give you the rundown for sure. I’m John Garret Mohler, and I’m a senior at Boston College. I’m a film major, marketing minor, and philosophy minor (lots of diverse interests there). As far as clubs and involvement on campus: I’m the co-president of the Boston College TV, I’m assistant director of digital media for the Campus Activities Board, and I do a bunch of freelance projects on the side which take up a fair amount of my time. I’m also doing internships on the side. This semester I’m doing one for a film production company based in New York called FilmNation Entertainment.
What’s your most meaningful experience with film at BC?
My most meaningful experience with film at Boston College would be sophomore year when John Michalchyk (the head of the film department at Boston College) told me about the Salmanowitz Grant in which we were able to film a social justice documentary-style film and get funding to travel across the world. Transportation, travel, stay— all that kind of stuff was included. I partnered with Professor Mary Conroy to discuss an idea. It was that there was a priest living in New Zealand who had been captured by ISIS in Iraq (he was an Iraqi priest who then moved to New Zealand as an immigrant after getting captured). I went to New Zealand to meet up with him and talk about his story. We made a short film called “Saving Faith” about that journey and experience to hear about what he went through and how he had resilience going through that traumatic event. It was an eye-opening experience to learn about the problems in the world and share that to a greater audience. In that way it’s one of the best experiences I’ve had because I was able to share a story that hadn’t been told with a new audience. It was really incredible.
Mohler shoots for his film, “Saving Faith”
What influences your work? Or, what gets you excited to create?
I think it ties back into the project as a whole. My favorite part is to be able to tell untold stories, whether documentary or narrative. I think the most exciting thing to me is learning about an insight or somebody’s story or background that I think is unique and being able to bring that out through film. I think it’s a special power of film to go into depth about certain stories and present them to people and have them relate in their own unique ways.
Do you have a mentor or inspiration when it comes to film?
One of my mentors would be John Michalchyk in the sense that he has helped me since the beginning. He’s instilled confidence in me and always presented me with a bunch of opportunities including a lot of the things I’m doing now. So it’s been really special to work with him and have his guidance in film.
It’s also been very special helping new film students develop and get better at what they do. Also, a lot of the staff in the film department at BC like Joe LaRocca or Gautom Chopra are really devoted to helping the students however they can both outside and inside of class to develop to the best of their abilities. They’re really devoted to making students grow as people and as filmmakers with whatever role they want to play in film or entertainment. So it’s really special getting to work with the department. I think they are my biggest inspiration and center of growth for me for sure.
Mohler shoots for his film, “Saving Faith”
How have you kept on creating during the pandemic?
Right at the beginning with the turn of covid, nobody really knew what was going on. It was kind just like bars: everything was shut down, not half open. It was kind of the same thing for film, especially for students. All of our travel plans got cancelled. With travel restrictions we didn’t want to cut off from the countries. Everything got shut down kind of right around when I was working on that second student documentary about Mary Dyer.
Once we got back at the beginning of the year, things really kicked off. Things started opening up again for film opportunities. For example, I did a freelance gig for the YMCA to help them promote what they needed to. We just social distanced for the interview, and it worked out. Since then I did a 72 Hours Film Fest and I’m working on my thesis film project right now. It’s definitely been doable as a student to continue to make things through the pandemic outside of the original shut down which really stopped everything.
Do you have any advice for students who are involved or want to get more involved with film at BC?
Yeah, 100%. My biggest piece of advice, which is not only for film but for anything, is if you are really passionate about art and you want to improve (regardless of whether or not you want to take it down the road), I think you should take advantage of all the opportunities at BC first in whatever you’re interested in. Then, also start to look for opportunities outside of campus to get you more of a diverse set of experiences. You can do that through a collaboration of BC’s arts professors. They’re especially interested in developing the students. Take advantage of the great professors and faculty at BC and continue to develop past the world of campus life. Learn more about the whole world whether it’s through grants, friends of people, or other experiences. For myself, I did freelance and travelled with the Salmanowitz Grant, so I did stuff that’s past what’s just class-related. That stuff’s good if you really want to continue to hone your skill, talent, or art. Do whatever it is that will get you that diverse range of experience would be my best piece of advice.
