Filmmaker Tommy Nickoloff met the late singer-songwriter Jason Molina on a soccer field at Admiral King High School in Lorain in the summer of 1988. Molina was 14. Nickoloff was 16. Molina graduated and went on to study at Oberlin College, where he remained friends with Nickoloff. Molina’s bands SONGS: OHIA and Magnolia Electric Co. would become national acts that toured the U.S. and Europe and put out several records before Molina died at age 39.
“His passing was a major impetus for getting my own mental health in order,” says Nickoloff, who’s directed a documentary about Molina, You Fuckers Figure It Out: A Jason Molina Story,in a statement. “With hard work and determination, my depression and anxiety slowly faded over the next decade. Putting a pen to paper was one of the best medicines. It seemed that I owed Jason [Molina] something for that. I owed him forever believing in me in the first place. I owed him for the expression he was ever so willing to inspire, even from the other side.”
When Nickoloff attended a family reunion in Lorain in 2021, he shared Molina’s song “Leave the City” with several cousins. They had no idea Molina was from the area, and Nickoloff set out to make his documentary. His movie includes interviews with siblings and friends as well as bandmates and artist William Schaff, who created album cover artwork for Molina.
Nickoloff has submitted to 20 film festivals across the United States and the United Kingdom, with more than 30 additional submissions planned throughout Europe and North America. Festival selections are expected to begin in February, and Nickoloff has hopes for a world premiere at the upcoming Cleveland International Film Festival.
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