Radical Mycology Convergence: Sept. 24–27, 2026 | Mulino, OR

The Mushroom Speaks

The Mushroom Speaks

2021 |Switzerland |89:00

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
Director
Marion Neumann
MEET THE DIRECTOR

Marion Neumann

Driven by her love of curious encounters, Marion Neumann is an intuiti- ve fi lmmaker. Her work is rooted in personal experience, navigating bet- ween documentary and experimental approaches, weaving narratives between science, poetry, and contemporary social issues. Her work aspi- res to create a sense of wonder to refl ect on ways of being in this world. THE MUSHROOM SPEAKS is her 2nd feature fi lm. As a cinematographer her illustrious collaborators include Jiska Rickels, Pauline Julier, Michel Fav- re, Nicolas Humbert and Werner Penzel. Based in Geneva, she co-foun- ded an artist collective and continues to work with fungi.

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Aura of a Wonderland

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2021 |USA |13:47 |English
Kingdom Fungi

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
Let Things Rot

Let Things Rot

This short film is a journey into the forest with Chilean mycologist Giuliana Furci who reflects on how the so called end of a life in fact leads to new beginnings. Filmed in Chile's striking Araucanía Region landscape, the short presents the wonderful Fungi Kingdom through a poetic perspective that reflects on the importance of allowing for natural cycles of degeneration to unfold. The film encourages viewers to perceive death as the start of something new and as a beautiful part of life's cycle. It features an original soundtrack composed by Enrique Barrenengoa and Elisabetta Monacelli and is narrated by Andy Thorstenson.

2021 |Chile |7:25 |Spanish
MycoMythologies: Infrastructures for Each Other

MycoMythologies: Infrastructures for Each Other

MycoMythologies: Infrastructures for Each Other summons human, mycelial and computer-vision-agencies to join together in a performance of entanglement, providing understanding that the practices of human and other-than-human infrastructures are made with and informed by one another. Working with the AI network of styleGAN - trained on datasets of human faces, mycelium, roots, rivers, pipelines, roadways and extraction facilities - infrastructures in the latent space are generated to enfold and erode into each other. Becoming infrastructures for each other. The video essay is an attempt at polyphonic montage that allows the digital image to be formed with agency of multiple human and non-human forces while revealing its constitutive parts - the pixels. The infrastructure that enables humans to generate and see digital images is exposed with pixel sorting flow , hinting at the fact that digital images are one of the tools that enables human beings to see beyond our species, thus its production should be questioned constantly.

2021 |USA, Slovenia |13:08
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

2021 |Australia, India |50:00
Solutions (Tie Breaker)

Solutions (Tie Breaker)

Under what conditions will something contradict itself, become fractured, replicate the oppositional framework in which it is nested, or — alternatively — embrace its other side or half, or become whole or integrated? One view of “difference” entails incompatibility, and the other, integration. Litmus paper’s color-changing ability comes from lichens, which are symbiotic fungi-algae associations that extend their intrinsic mutualism outward. Thousands of lichen species proliferate on many surfaces in a nonparasitic manner, using the surfaces as substrates and serving as substrates for other organisms. Biologist Scott Gilbert noted, “We are all lichens,” meaning human bodies are also associations of co-functioning organisms, rather than entities siloed apart from nature or each other. Here, clouds of lichen anchor and buoy the test and dream of democracy; the color break in the ties indicates not a “winner,” but the deconstruction of the oppositional, violent logic of “other” itself. Seeing ourselves reflected in all that appears “other,” we are compelled to engage with all that surrounds us with care and responsibility, rather than fear or exploitation. As lichens are incredibly diverse, so are we; like lichens, we have the potential and power to ground and express our differences through mutualism, rather than separatism or suppression.

2021 |USA |2:30
The Future is Rotten

The Future is Rotten

A secret culture of foragers spend their lives hunting the Matsutake. Coveted in Japan for its flavor and symbolism, the treasured mushroom can bring up to $1000 kg but its true value lies underground. A genius networker and healer of ruined landscapes, the Matsutake might just be our last, best hope for an American forest system run amuk. The rare fungi appears in troubled and depleted forests, collaborating with trees to help each other grow through a mutual collaboration. Humans continue to be stumped on how to cultivate these rare and valuable mushrooms and voices urging the U.S. Forest Service to change it's fire fighting laws are growing. Characters from Oregon and Northern California invite us into a forest, a mushroom farm and a kitchen to demonstrate what happens when we collaborate and share the greater value found right under our feet - the mushrooms that help to preserve our ecosystem and are still delicious on our plates.

2021 |USA |14:50 |English
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