Hellcat: The True Story of an Unreasonable Texan
Set along the Texas Gulf Coast, this film follows Diane Wilson, a shrimp boat captain, who has spent decades standing up to the powerful petrochemical industry threatening the waters her family has fished for generations. What begins as a local fight to protect Matagorda Bay becomes a sweeping challenge to the entrenched machinery of industrial resource extraction. Facing corporate giants and the US Army Corps of Engineers, Wilson, the winner of the 2023 Goldman Environmental Prize for North America, battles everything from plastic pollution to toxic mercury buried in the bay’s sediment. What emerges is a powerful portrait of an unlikely but relentless environmental activist whose determination proves that it is possible to challenge even the most formidable systems. Wilson’s fight is deeply rooted in place and community, offering a story of resilience and hard-won victories that speaks to anyone who has ever wondered whether ordinary citizens can stand up to powerful interests—and win. —Michelle Svenson
SCREENS WITH:
FOG EATERS
Directed by Kyle Baker
When toxic mercury appears in California’s mountain lions, scientists trace the pollutant through the food web to a surprising culprit—the coastal fog itself. (US 2025, 20 min)
Director/s
Fax Bahr
Fax Bahr began his career as a documentary filmmaker, co-directing Hearts of Darkness: A Filmmaker's Apocalypse (1991) with George Hickenlooper and Eleanor Coppola and winning a Primetime Best Director Emmy. He was a writer and director on In Living Color and The Jamie Kenney Experiment. He was a co-creator of Mad TV. He wrote the screenplays of Son-In-Law (1993) and In the Army Now (1994). Hellcat: The True Story of an Unreasonable Texas Waterkeeper (2026) is his second feature documentary.
Expected Guests
FAX BAHR • Director
DIANE WILSON • Protagonist