“A dreamy movie that evokes Flannery O’Connor’s biggest project: an inquiry into the broken nature of grace.”—Alissa Wilkinson, Vox

Directed and co-written by four-time Academy Award nominee Ethan Hawke and filmed in and around Louisville, Wildcat invites the audience to weave in and out of celebrated Southern Gothic writer Flannery O’Connor’s mind as she ponders the great questions of her writing: Can scandalous art still serve God? Does suffering precede all greatness? Can illness be a blessing?

In 1950, Flannery (Maya Hawke) visits her mother Regina (Laura Linney) in Georgia when she is diagnosed with lupus at twenty-four years old. Struggling with the same disease that took her father’s life when she was a child and desperate to make her mark as a great writer, this crisis pitches her imagination into a feverish exploration of belief. As she dives deeper into her craft, the lines between reality, imagination, and faith begin to blur, allowing Flannery to ultimately come to peace with her situation and heal a strained relationship with her mother.

2023, U.S., DCP, 108 minutes. Content advisory: mature themes.