5 people. 32 years.
What the Hell Happened
Synopsis
At 22, we all had a plan. Some stuck to it. Some got knocked off course. None of us knew how hard it was going to be.
Our 90-minute documentary WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED compresses 5 lives over 33 years: a Black man who dreamed of becoming an artist; a white woman who had a child at 22; a high school dropout from a broken home; a man with a B.A. in Math working at McDonald’s; and someone battling addiction and depression.
These were our friends in college. In 1992, just after graduation, we borrowed a VHS camera from a local public access station and interviewed them—curious to see how their lives would unfold. After graduation, they spread out across the country, their paths winding in different directions—two of them ultimately landing in Philadelphia. What followed were brushes with prison, moments of major success, and shocking tragedies. We wanted to learn how their starting points shaped their outcomes: whether they achieved their goals, found love or happiness, escaped poverty, and what they learned about what truly matters.
Shot over three decades on ¾” tape, VHS, Super 8, Hi-8, Digital 8, HDcam, and 4K, the film’s texture evolves alongside its subjects. At its center is a time-lapse of a flooded Mississippi River—a relentless, shifting image of time itself, always moving forward and reshaping everything in its path, whether we’re ready for it or not.
Part documentary, part time capsule, part reckoning, WHAT THE HELL HAPPENED is a road map for anyone trying to make sense of how we become who we are. By compressing decades into moments, it reveals how small choices become major turning points—and the resilience it takes to navigate the twists and surprises that shape a life.
A documentary about life, love and friendship.
Produced and Directed by Matt Wilkins and Eliza Fox.
Bios
Matt Wilkins
In 1989, a friend and I painted a house in exchange for my uncle’s Super-8 camera. We got ripped off, but I’ve been making films and TV shows ever since. I’ve been a cook, delivery driver, videographer, and producer. I’ve worked as a Field Producer, Story Producer, Supervising Producer and Writer on “Hoarders,” “Inside Homicide,” “Yard Crashers,” “Mountain Men,” “My 600 Pound Life,” “Twisted Love,” “Twisted Sisters,” “Fog Of Murder,” “Violent Minds: Killers On Tape,” among others. Full filmography at IMDB.
Counting public access skits, I’ve made over 30 short films and 3 narrative features. In one sweet stretch, I received 16 grants in 14 years from the Seattle Arts Commission, the King County Arts Commission, Artist Trust, The Allen Foundation for the Arts, 4Culture and the NW Film Forum to make several shorts and my first two narrative features “Buffalo Bill’s Defunct” and “Marrow.”
Our films have played Seattle International Film Festival, Portland Film Festival, Cinequest, Italian TV RAI Uno, Cinematexas, The Smithsonian Institute and won a Judges Award at the NW Film and Video Festival from Simpson’s creator Matt Groening. I was commissioned to make a short film by MTV that played at Sundance, called “McMullen’s Machines.” I am currently finishing my first feature documentary, “What the Hell Happened,” about the lives of 5 people over 34 years.
Eliza Fox
I started this project when I took a class at public access in Iowa City in 1992, then checked out a VHS camera and microphone. Back then, before cell phones, pictures were taken mostly on vacations and special occasions like birthdays, and it was even more rare to shoot videos. There weren’t a lot of camcorders around and most people were not used to being filmed, so many were reluctant to participate. There were other friends that I really wished we would have gotten, but they were too shy to be interviewed. In the end, we have these people, and I really appreciate their bravery and honesty.
Over the years, I performed in, shot, wrote and produced several short films including “The Gods Looked Down and Laughed,” “Interior Latex,” “Fart Perfume,” “The Communicators,” three narrative features “Buffalo Bill’s Defunct,” “Marrow,” “The Things We Tell the Ones We Love,” and now a feature documentary — “What the Hell HappenedFull filmography at IMDB.
