A Flower
In the shady slopes of the French Tarn gorge, a flower has just bloomed. She is called Ladyslipper.
Planet Fungi Northeast India
Planet Fungi: Northeast India
In the ultimate armchair travel adventure, the hero of fungi lovers across the globe, photographer Stephen Axford, is on the hunt for the answers we all want to know. What fungi is edible? What fungi is poisonous? And, why do scientists now think fungi is absolutely essential to life on this planet? Stephen Axfords’s images of mushrooms have been featured in leading science and nature magazines across the globe. His exquisite time-lapses of fungi growing are showcased in the award-winning documentaries Planet Earth 2, Fantastic Fungi, Hostile Planet, Our Planet and The Kingdom – How Fungi Made The Earth. Teamed up with filmmaker partner Catherine Marciniak, they join a global team of scientists and conservationists on a mission to document and conserve the wild fungi in some of the richest and most biodiverse places on the planet, jungles that are continually threatened with habitat destruction and now climate change. The fungi safari in northeast India is part of that mission. In this documentary, he is in north east India at the invitation of the not for profit organisation, Balipara Foundation. One of their projects is mapping the biodiversity of the forests of the Eastern Himalayas and they’ve just added fungi to the list. However, the real heroes and experts of “Planet Fungi – north east India” are the tribal people who have lived on the edge of the forest fringe for generations. They take Axford and the audience on a journey into the extraordinary, beautiful and sometimes bizarre world of fungi. They share their knowledge of the fungi that kills, the fungi they eat, the fungi that is used for medicine and the fungi that is important to feed the jungle. We discover 34 species of fungi that are possibly new to science, including an extremely bright, luminous mushroom … which is very exciting. In “Planet Fungi – north east India” you’ll discover that world of mushrooms that is truly magical, and their variety and beauty will blow your mind
Director
Catherine Marciniak
Stephen Axford
MEET THE DIRECTOR
Catherine Marciniak, Stephen Axford
Presenter, photographer and time-lapse videographer Stephen Axford's images of mushrooms have featured in leading science and nature magazines across the globe, and in many documentaries including Planet earth 2, Fantastic Fungi, Hostile Planet, Our Planet and The Kingdom; how fungi made the earth. He even has a mushroom named after him – Panaeolus axfordii. He has been invited to document the fungi in Nepal, India, China, Myanmar and Chile, and of course it is a constant obsession in the fungi hotspot of his home on the NSW North coast. Catherine Marciniak has had a successful international career as a documentary director and cinematographer. Credits include ‘Steel City’, ‘Who Do You Think You Are?’, the ‘Life Series’, ‘Hospital-an unhealthy business, ‘Dino Stampede’ and 'Beyond the Royal Veil'. Over the past decade, Catherine has worked as a Senior Features Reporter at Australia's public broadcaster the ABC. She has won many awards for her documentaries and was a Finalist in the Walkley Awards for excellence in journalism in 2019.
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