Written by Hudson Lehew and Grace Stark
Alumni, sisters, and winners of The Coca-Cola Refreshing Films program, Gracie and Bella Hall, shot an entire feature film in Boise, which is set to premiere later this month.
“I trust her so much”, said Bella Hall of her sister. “We’ve done a lot of our films before, but this was our first feature film, so [we were] kind of taking everything [we’ve] learned from previous projects into this one.”
The sisters graduated with degrees in Film and Television in 2023 and began work on their film, “Misophonia”, soon after. The film follows Martin, a man who loses his job due to an outburst caused by misophonia and is forced to move in with his sister.
They began shooting the film in 2023 and editing in 2024, where Bella directed and Gracie served as producer. Throughout 2025, the film was screened at several festivals as far as Texas and Iowa.
“It’s kind of an interesting dynamic, with us being sisters as well as professional collaborators,” Gracie Hall said. “It really strengthens our professional working dynamic and partnership.”
The sisters’ passion for film stemmed from their childhood, where they would create movies and other video projects for fun. Bella added that participating in the Idaho 48 Film Festival, as well as other film festivals, helped to prepare them for the pace of film production.
Similar to the protagonist of the film, Bella Hall has misophonia, a condition where certain sounds trigger emotional or psychological responses.
“We’re turning that condition into a dramedy, and we’re infusing a lot of whimsy,” Bella Hall said. “It’s pretty out there at times, how we are displaying the feeling of misophonia, and how we visualise what it feels like to hear certain sounds.”
Bella emphasised that visual effects (VFX) were essential to portray the condition the way she envisioned it. She explained that while there are several personal stories “sprinkled” throughout the film, it still required significant research on the condition.
“Misophonia is just a range of things … so we wanted to represent as many different people as we could,” Bella Hall said.
The sisters shot in several famous locations across Boise, such as The Idaho Penitentiary, Boise Little Theatre, Boise High School and the Egyptian Theatre, where the film will debut on Nov. 22.
“[It was] super fun, just getting to film these different iconic Boise places … and getting to highlight different parts of Boise that have been special throughout our childhood,” Gracie Hall said. “[Boise is] just the perfect location for this story.”
The sisters described Boise as an optimal location for filmmakers, adding that they had no trouble acquiring permission to film at any locations.
“[It is] really a very kind of special dynamic, the way Boise rallies around different creatives and believes in artists and filmmakers and performers,” Gracie Hall said. “I really feel very lifted up throughout this whole process by the community.”
For other students like Cinema Club Secretary Hunter Haubett, seeing alumni find success in Boise’s film industry is motivating and illustrates the possibilities of a film degree.
“It’s reassuring, and it’s really cool to see people find success in an area like Boise,” Haubett said.
As a third-year film and television arts major, Haubett emphasised the importance of networking, building relationships with teachers and finding ways to work on projects with other students. He noted that seeing the relationship between professors and alumni is comparable to “old friends”.
“You just see all those people who have films and those stories they want to tell,” Haubett said. “It pushes me forward in what I want to do in making films post-grad. They did it, so I can do it too.”
The sisters held two crowdfunding campaigns to fund “Misophonia”, one for production and one for post-production, which ended up raising enough for the entire movie.
The cast and crew included around 100 people, consisting mostly of students the sisters met during their time at Boise State. While most of the crew was able to alternate between roles, the Hall sisters and some other crew members were required to be on set for 18 days straight.
Three of the actors in the film were a part of SAG-AFTRA, an American union representing professionals in film and media worldwide. The actor’s presence required the sisters to register the production as a SAG production. Gracie Hall said the process required extensive paperwork and communication with SAG members, as well as navigating union regulations and performer contracts.
With fight choreography, dance sequences, VFX, practical effects and an animal actor, Bella Hall said the film was not without its challenges.
“[We were] unintentionally adding almost every challenging thing you could put into a production for a first feature,” Bella Hall said. “Really learning as we go and having a massive baptism by fire moment.”
While Bella and Gracie have plenty of experience creating short films, this project “built up [their] creative stamina and endurance”, Gracie Hall said.
Bella added that the two are currently in the pre-production process for their next feature film, which Bella described as having “whimsy” but being “quite different” tonally from their previous film.
“It was a really fun and challenging project,” said Gracie Hall. “You never know what you’re about to get into until you’re in the thick of it.”
