

THE MYCELIAL GAZE
Fungi challenge me to explore the unknown, to look beneath the surface, to adapt, to respect imperfections, to slow down and always seek an alternative path. Through the fungal lens I tend to see the world in its innumerable connections.
Originating in space, present at the very dawn of life on Earth, fungi know how to interact with their environment. As recyclers they are experts in sustainability, transforming fossil fuels without generating waste. As parasites with metamorphic capacities, they engender diseases that are central to the health of all other living beings. And by communicating symbiotically with plants to survive, fungi inspire me to think about my own relationships differently.
At the heart of this project is my intention to create an awareness of the unique skills and qualities that the study of mycology can offer. Whether it‘s the meaning of a deep experience of nature, cultivating healthy food, revitalizing land or making connections between people, exploring the capacities of fungi allows me to experience the fertility of life and death. From traditional gathering to mushroom cultivation, from art to activism, from citizen science to the hard sciences: a rapidly expanding myco-culture is myceliating around the world.
To me, making a film is first of all an experience of sharing. I’m looking for complicity during those unique encounters. My ethos as an artist is largely influenced by ideas found in deep ecology in which all beings are seen as having an inherent value, awareness, and intelligence. Sharing intelligence might be the only way to create a future when living within the endangered ecosystems of our time in which man-made disturbances exceed all other geological forces. Our era is one of unprecedented change and during this Great Acceleration, it will become increasingly necessary for all of us to move towards the fringes. What will we choose to do at those edges?
THE MUSHROOM SPEAKS offers a vision of interconnectivity and collaboration. Patterns of resilience, self-reliance, stewardship and healing are infused throughout the conversations of this film. The narrative explores through a personal journey of thoughts, a kind of rhetorical mycelium, a fungi-inspired perception where ideas become spores as the fungus transforms that which is concrete. In contemplating the fungal consciousness I seek to celebrate a joyful relationship to the natural world.
Fungi have astonishing powers to change things very quickly.
And so do we.
(inspired by Anna Lowenhaupt Tsing, Maria Sabina, Silvia Plath, Peter McCoy and Radical Mycology, Geoffroy Grignon, Merlin Sheldrake, Paul Stamets, Terence McKenna and his family, Vanja Palmers and many other fungi enthousiasts along the way...)
THE MUSHROOM SPEAKS explores the healing qualities of fungi and their ability to regenerate. This personal journey takes us on a walk alongside parasites, symbionts and decomposers offering ideas of both interconnectedness and collaboration. Driven by a vision of resistance, the encounters seek possibilities of renewal and question what connects us when the world seems to be falling apart. With mushrooms and their allies the film invites to imagine a myco-cultural (r)evolution. What if the fungus could help us address and radically change our relationship to this world?

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teaser
mushroomed cinema

VIDEO ON DEMAND
https://dafilms.com/film/14430-the-mushroom-speaks
https://www.justwatch.com/ch/Film/The-Mushroom-Speaks
https://www.filmingo.ch/en/films/1370-the-mushroom-speaks
NEXT SCREENINGS
7 November 2022 - 18:00
THE MUSHROOM SPEAKS @ FRONTIERS IN PSYCHEDELIC SCIENCE, Zürich
https://mailchi.mp/c98c2ecb69fc/newsletter-frontiers-in-psychedelic-science-nov-15491253
10 November 2022 - 21:00
THE MUSHROOM SPEAKS @ QUINGS Netzwerk Academy ,Emmenbrücke
18 November 2022 - 20:00
THE MUSHROOM SPEAKS @ TaB* Atelierkino Reinach AG, Reinach
26 November 2022 - 20:00
THE MUSHROOM SPEAKS @ Neues Kino, Basel
10 December 2022 - mushroom lunch & filmprojection (tba)
THE MUSHROOM SPEAKS @ Cine Club Indiana, Vevey
Ciné-club Indiana
FESTIVALS
WORLDPREMIERE at CPH:DOX, Compétition Dox:Award (April, 2021)
WORLDPREMIERE at VISIONS DU RÉEL, Compétition Nationale (April, 2021)
KRAKOW FILM FESTIVAL, Docs+Science Section (June, 2021)
DOKUFEST, Green Dox Programme (August,2021)
LA MANUFACTURE D'IDÉES, Hurigny, France (August, 2021)
with Vinciane Despret & Tomas Saraceno
Podcast SOON (https://lamanufacturedidees.org/2021/06/30/the-mushroom-speaks/)
BIOMIMICRY FESTIVAL - Copenhagen, Denmark (August, 2021)
DOCS AGAINST GRAVITY - https://mdag.pl/18/en/warszawa/movie/Rezerwacja-3
DOKUMENTARFILMTAGE BRUGG https://brugger-dokumentarfilmtage.ch/filme/the_mushroom_speaks/
FOODxFILMFESTIVAL www.foodxfilmfestival.org
INDIE MEMPHIS FILM FEST https://www.indiememphis.org
CAMDEN FILM FEST, Main, US, CINEMATIC VISION AWARD
https://pointsnorthinstitute.org/films/the-mushroom-speaks/?parent=/ciff/films/?_
ALL ABOUT FUNGI Festival @ TOP KINO VIENNA
https://www.topkino.at/kino/schwerpunkte/schwerpunkt_detail?schwerpunkt_id=1628157610414
IMAGINE SCIENCE FILM FEST, New York (Special Mention Best Science Film)
https://www.imaginesciencefilms.org/ny14/lineup
SMART & SUSTAINABLE FILM WEEK in CHINA
Bejing, Hangzhou, Shanghai, Wuhan, Chengdu, Xi’an, Guangzhou and Guiyang
JI:HLAVA FILM INT DOCUMENTARY FILM FESTIVAL
DENVER FILM FEST
https://denverfilmfestival.eventive.org/schedule/6151f251b4a86d00c0ab71a0
GLIMMERGLASS FILM DAYS, New York
https://glimmerglassfilmdays.eventive.org/films
GLOBAL SCIENCE FILM FEST, BERN (Special Mention)
FUNGI FILM FEST, PORTLAND
https://www.fungifilmfest.com/
KASSELER DOKFEST : THE MUSHROOM SPEAKS @ THE OPENING CEREMONY
https://www.kasselerdokfest.de
WORLD OF KNOWLEDGE FESTIVAL ST PETERSBURG
SOLOtHURNER FILMTAGE - NOMINEE PRIX du PUBLIQUE
https://www.solothurnerfilmtage.ch/de/solothurn-2022/programm/the-mushroom-speaks
ANTENNA FILMFESTIVAL SIDNEY
https://tix.antennafestival.org/Events/The-Mushroom-Speaks/Sun-Feb-6-2022-18-30
DOCPOINT HELSINKI, FINLAND
https://tix.antennafestival.org/Events/The-Mushroom-Speaks/Sun-Feb-6-2022-18-30
TEMPO DOCUMENTARY FILMFEST, SWEDEN
https://tempofestival.se/en/film/the-mushroom-speaks/
ENVIRONMENTAL FILM FESTIVAL, WASHIGTON
INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL OF SCIENCE DOCUMENTARY FILM, OLOMOUC
SPORE LIBERATION - CINEMA RELEASE IN SWITZERlAND : 26. MAI 2022 - SPORE LIBERATION
BERN https://www.rexbern.ch/filme/the-mushroom-speaks/
BASEL https://www.kultkino.ch/film/mushroomspeaks/
ZüRICH https://www.riffraff.ch/kinoprogramm/185786/the-mushroom-speaks.html?demnaechst=&sort=start
OLTEN https://www.lichtspiele-olten.ch/
WETTINGEN https://orientkino.ch/2022/mushroom-speaks/
AARAU https://www.freierfilm.ch/
ST. GALLEN https://www.kinok.ch/index/program/movie/4965/premiere/true/subnav/true
LUZERN https://www.kinoluzern.ch/kinoprogramm/185786/the-mushroom-speaks.html?demnaechst=&sort=start
MäNNEDORF https://www.movies.ch/fr/film/mushroomspeaks/l/E/
SAINT CROIX https://www.cinemaroyal.ch/filmotheque/item/3987-the-mushroom-speaks-vost.html
GENEVA https://www.cinema-bio.ch/the-mushroom-speaks/
NEUchATEL https://www.passioncinema.ch/the-mushroom-speaks-en-presence-de-la-realisatrice/
DELEMONT
LA CHAUX DE FONDS https://www.cinevital.ch/de/la-chaux-de-fonds.html?city=5&sdate=2022-06-25&start=2022-06-23
LAUSANNE http://www.zinema.ch/sites/zinema/programme.htm
VEVEYhttps://cinerive.com/#filter
ORONhttp://www.cinemadoron.ch/
...and mush more
ask for a screening:
we are myco curious
