SPINELESS

2021 |Switzerland |3:40 |English

SPINELESS spotlights myriad tiny spineless lives and their intimate alliances with fungi. From gastropod politics to blowfly banquets, fungi provide the stage for endless arthropod antics. The foundation of forest life, fungi offer invertebrates haunts and hideouts, fodder and feasts, albeit with the occasional skirmish and showdown. The forest floor thrums with frenzied enterprise, but when the ruckus gets too much, a forest elder has the final word.

Director

Alison Pouliot

MEET THE DIRECTOR

Alison Pouliot

Alison Pouliot is an ecologist and photographer with a special interest in forgotten corners and lifeforms; the fungal, the spineless and those that slip between the cracks. Author of The Allure of Fungi and Wild Mushrooming, Alison’s research spans both northern and southern hemispheres where she is actively involved in fungal research, awareness and conservation.

SEE MORE FROM 2021

A Flower

In the shady slopes of the French Tarn gorge, a flower has just bloomed. She is called Ladyslipper.

2021 |France |9:34 |French

A Mushroom Poem

A mushroom wonders, "What if I could fly?" But it would feel lonely high up in the sky. A mushroom thinks back to its life on the ground. It feels right at home with its friends all around.

2021 |Canada |1:33 |English

Aura of a Wonderland

An experimental short film loosely inspired by the photographic work of Justine Kurland and excerpts from Rebecca Bengal's short story, "The Jeremys". Part trance-state, part dance odyssey, Aura of a Wonderland follows a group of girls who after abandoning their vehicle in an act of rebellion set out on an uncharted hallucinogenic journey of discovery into the freedoms of what bonds each other, and the mysteries of nature to the wilderness of self.

2021 |USA |13:47 |English

Between the Trees

Between the Trees immerses you in the forest as the hidden complexity of trees and the incredible community they create is revealed. We follow Arne’s journey in the summer of 2020 as he emerges from a lockdown that deprived him from nature. He ventures deep into the Snowdonian rainforest as he explains the fascinating, slow-grown life of the forest, and tries to recapture a lost connection with nature.

2021 |UK |22:25 |English

Darwin’s Balls

Re-discovery of an ancient fungus and its strange place in history. Returning from Antarctica Erik discovers a mysterious Beech tree fungus in the mountains of Ushuaia on Tierra del Fuego. Curiosity takes over and he follows the fungus through the history of the indigenous people, Darwin's voyage on the Beagle and into his mouth.

2021 |USA |5:32 |English

Fluxus Fungi

Fluxus Fungus is an experimental personal story involving my relationship with fungi, through images that I made, mainly in 35mm, during the last years. The film is an unfolding of my master's research in Visual Arts, entitled The Poetics of Fungi. From these photographs, I created a narrative based on reflections inspired by readings by authors such as Anna Tsing, Donna Haraway, Paul Stamets and Peter McCoy.

2021 |Brazil |9:00 |Portuguese

Foraged!

You think you know foraging? Think again! Consumption is subjective.

2021 |USA |0:43

Fungi

Jamaican singjay star Eek-a-Mouse meets radical electronic folk musician with nyckelharpa in Swedish forest. Song based on Böl-Olles Schottis.

2021 |Sweden |3:32 |English

Fungos Sanitatem

Fungos Sanitatem (working title) is a teaser for a feature length documentary that follows five people on their healing journeys with medicinal mushrooms. From spinal cord injuries to brain tumors. First hand testimony takes the viewer into the remarkable world of nearly miraculous healing.

2021 |USA |6:51 |English

Grateful Dean

This portrait film follows Dean Robert, an eccentric self-sufficient mushroom cultivator who lives in an RV. It explores the adventurous and carefree van life, while also acknowledging that this reality can sometimes be deceptive.

2021 |Canada |8:20 |French

Harmonia

Harmonia is a short dream-like video that centres on a conjoined costume for two siblings. Hand-dyed with foraged fungi, this garment is made for a picnic experience based in togetherness. Functioning as a jacket-cum-picnic-blanket, Harmonia considers loss, materiality and potential of objects that motivates us into action.

2021 |Canada |4:54

Kingdom Fungi

A long time ago, a bifurcation occurred in human consciousness, when the understanding of power as a responsibility to nurture and regenerate life was replaced with a new idea of power: power is for domination and destruction. The former engendered a partnership based model for human civilization, promoting balance and harmony. The latter is the paradigm that humanity still exists in today, manifesting primarily as patriarchy. To return to partnership, we must bring our awareness to the light side of chaos and to the dark side of order.

2021 |USA |2:14 |English

A Message from our Founder

SPINELESS

SPINELESS

Alison Pouliot

A Flower

A Mushroom Poem

Aura of a Wonderland

Between the Trees

Darwin’s Balls

Fluxus Fungi

Foraged!

Fungi

Fungos Sanitatem

Grateful Dean

Harmonia

Kingdom Fungi

Catch Our Spores