“Fire on the Water is a strikingly visual and dramatically vivid exploration of the confrontation between Texas fishermen and industrious Vietnamese refugees who have moved in on their fishing grounds. Director-cinematographer Robert Hillmann was present for some extraordinary happenings in the course of the on-going cultural clash on the Texas Gulf Coast. A film rich in irony and pathos, Fire on the Water assembles a colorful cast of characters including Jim Craig, an extremely sympathetic shrimp wholesaler who tries to give the Vietnamese a helping hand, only to come to grief from all sides in the end. A good man who believes (too late apparently) in the classic ideals of the American dream, Craig is captured during such intense value-shattering experiences that his reactions elevate him to near heroic status. Almost as fascinating and surprising are the film's intimate observations of a Vietnamese family caught up in the crisis and the troubling depiction of the actions of the local KKK, whose Titan is marine diesel mechanic to both sides, and a man capable of declaring himself a ‘radical racist Christian' while also revealing that he is 100% American Indian! A sensitive and balanced essay in non-fiction cinema, Fire on the Water is immensely aided in its aims by Hillmann's exceptional camerawork and by Michael Chandler's razor-sharp editing.” Bay Area Filmmakers Showcase, 1982
Nominated for an Emmy Award, Fire on the Water was selected for numerous international film festivals, including Telluride, Toronto, Edinburgh and Mannheim, and was a first-prize winner at the 1983 American Film Festival of independent films.