Before Eliza Fox graduated college, she checked a VHS camera out of a public access station and roped her husband Matt Wilkins into filming their friends. It was an attempt to capture what they were all like at that point in their lives — in all their youthful angst and glory — before they settled in new cities, started careers and raised families.
That footage was only the starting point for the couple’s documentary “What the Hell Happened?” The Philly-based filmmakers followed up with the pals they interviewed in 1992, creating portraits of five lives over three decades. Their stories will soon screen at the Philadelphia Film Festival.
“What the Hell Happened?” introduces the friends in Iowa City. There’s Doug, a chemistry grad who cracks jokes and smokes cigarettes through his interview. Tim lives out of a trailer while he pays off the debt from his math degree. Anthony is an aspiring artist wary of a 9-to-5 existence. Daniel, Wilkins’ younger cousin, is searching for a path after dropping out of high school…