Synopsis

Phantom Springs is an action-driven documentary in development that chronicles the exploration of North America’s deepest underwater cave and the plight of the springs that are critical to its existence. 

The film showcases the San Solomon Springs, a string of oases in bone dry West Texas, as a world-class dive team explores one of its outlets, Phantom Springs, to uncharted depths. As the divers delve deeper into the cave, their exploration becomes an elegy: for a lost partner, for a diminishing aquifer, and for the West Texas town of Balmorhea that has always relied on it. The film will cover a two-week expedition to the cave, wherein the dive team will continue their decades-long project to explore and map its stunning underwater passages. It will also feature the history of the springs, the work of scientists to document the health of the ecosystem, and a projection of the future. With an increasingly dire slate of water issues cropping up across the state, there has never been a more important time to educate about the importance of Texas’ water resources.

A person in scuba diving gear inside a dark cave, illuminated by a flashlight, with a yellow underwater exploration equipment nearby and stalactites hanging from the ceiling.

Our Team

A woman sitting in a boat on a river, smiling, wearing a wide-brimmed hat and a white jacket, holding a yellow paddle, with green trees and a hill visible in the background.

Morgan O’Hanlon

Morgan O’Hanlon is an Austin-based writer and journalist whose work has appeared in Texas Monthly, Texas Highways, Texas Parks & Wildlife Magazine and other newspapers and magazines. Her storytelling focuses on the intersection between politics, policy and the outdoors.

Co-Director
Portrait of a man with long brown hair, beard, and hearing pipes, sitting on a black stool in front of a yellow patterned background, wearing a black jacket, gray pants, and black and orange sneakers.

Wil Hughes

Wil Hughes is a filmmaker whose career spans over a decade of working on major studio feature films and episodic superhero series. Blending the technical precision of large-scale Hollywood productions with an intimate and modern approach to natural scenarios, Wil now focuses on documentary cinema. His work centers on human-driven storytelling using intentional imagery to capture authentic moments.

Co-Director
A woman with long brown hair wearing a large sunhat and green tank top, smiling in a desert landscape with mountains and sparse vegetation, under a clear blue sky. 
Producer

Katy Baldock

Katy Baldock is an Emmy-nominated film Producer and multidisciplinary artist based in Marfa, Texas. With a passion for conservation and visual storytelling, she focuses on the use of creative outlets as a tool to advocate for connection with and protection of natural environments and wildlife. She has spent a decade working in documentary and natural history film production, with works including The River and the Wall, Deep in the Heart: A Texas Wildlife Story, and The American Southwest. 

Underwater Cinematographer

SJ Alice Bennett

SJ Alice Bennett is a High Springs, Florida-based photographer and cinematographer specialising in underwater cave and expedition imagery. A GUE-trained cave diver with over a decade behind the camera in overhead environments, her work brings a technical diver's eye to visual storytelling.