The Invisible Mammal - Documentary Feature, USA

Texas Premiere!

Against the backdrop of the sixth mass extinction, an all-woman team of biologists set out to save bats from a deadly fungal disease, but when the COVID-19 pandemic interrupts their work, they are sent down a path of discovery that illuminates the connections between bat conservation and the spread of infectious disease.

Kristin Tièche is an award-winning filmmaker, producer and editor based in San Francisco, CA, with a passion for crafting immersive, character-driven stories that shine a light on sustainability, conservation, and science. With hundreds of hours of film and television credits to her name, she specializes in documentary storytelling that captivates, informs, and inspires action.

Kristin’s distinct storytelling voice is evident in her acclaimed short films, including Forms of Identification (2011), The Spinster (2013), The Bat Rescuer (2016), and Velo Visionaries (2015-2017). Her first feature documentary, The Invisible Mammal, following a team of women scientists working to prevent the extinction of a species of bat, premiered in 2025 at DocLands Film Festival in Marin County and took home the Audience Choice award.

Kristin holds an M.A in Television-Radio-Film from the Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. When she's not behind the camera or in the editing suite, she shares her expertise as a film instructor at Diablo Valley College and SF Film School, mentoring the next generation of visual storytellers.

Kristin’s feature documentary editing credits include; Sundance Audience Award winning "Fuel" (2008), PBS/Independent Lens film, "Power Paths" (2009), "Healing a Soldier's Heart (2015), "We Rock Long Distance" (2015), "From India With Love" (2017), "Somebody Clap For Me" (2017), "UberLand" (2019), and "Onanya" (2023). She has edited non-fiction series for national broadcast such as "Building Impossible" (Nat Geo), "Someone They Knew with Tamron Hall" (Court TV), "Judgment with Ashleigh Banfield" (Court TV), "Aerial America" (Smithsonian), "Animals Gone Wild" (Nat Geo), "Design on a Dime" (HGTV), and "$40 A Day" (Food Network). Kristin also received regional Emmy nominations for episodes she edited for "Eye on the Bay" (KPIX/CBS-5).

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Director Statement
As a woman filmmaker, I was immediately drawn to this fascinating story of a team of pioneering women in science working to find a nature-based solution to save a bat species from extinction. As soon as we scheduled our first day of filming with our lead participants, I knew that there was a lot more to the story than just bats. It was crystal clear that it was a film about the way that women work together, mentor each other, share in successes, strive for professional goals, see themselves as professionals, find inspiration and help each other overcome failures. It’s also about women finding their place in the field of science and making contributions heralded by the global scientific community.

​This particular theme of “The Invisible Mammal” is what helped me develop my unique lens to this nature/conservation film. The world of the characters in this film – one in which women are not only leading the way, but helping other women climb the ladder in a male-dominated profession – is not always represented in film and storytelling. Being a woman filmmaker gave me an opportunity to deeply connect with the women featured in my film, earn their trust, and more holistically portray them on-screen as real, relatable human beings.