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Mushrooms as medicines, mushrooms as hallucinogens, mushrooms as ecological hope: the new Swiss documentary “The Mushroom Speaks” explores what mushrooms can do.
“Do you know the Weisser Rasling?” asks the mushroom picker. She is one of the protagonists in Marion Neumann’s documentary «The Mushroom Speaks». The director says no.
“You can eat it, nothing happens to the woman,” explains the mushroom picker with a mischievous grin. “But the man doesn’t feel like it anymore afterwards. And he can no longer. Women used to cook mushrooms for their husbands when they had enough children.”
Eight years of work on the film
The protagonists of “The Mushroom Speaks” deal with the different influences of mushrooms on people – on the body, the psyche, well-being.
The director worked on the film for eight years. She herself was not a mushroom expert before that. Her fascination was awakened by a lecture. Marion Neumann went on a journey through several countries. Interviewed researchers and hobby mushroom enthusiasts. The director is fascinated by the relationship between the inconspicuous creatures and their environment.
Clouds thanks to mushrooms
“Fungi, for example, contribute to the formation of clouds,” explains Marion Neumann in an interview. “The water has to hold on somewhere. For example on fungal spores.”
Legend:
Through her research for the film, director Marion Neumann became a mushroom connoisseur herself.
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Another protagonist uses mushrooms to clean up the environment. For a project he is working with indigenous people whose water is contaminated with chrome. “I take the mycelium, i.e. the fungal filaments, and put them in the contaminated water,” he explains in the film. “Then I see if the chromium attaches itself to the mycelium. This is how you can remove the fungus threads together with the chrome from the water.»
Breakdown of cigarette filters
Filmmaker Marion Neumann has another example of how mushrooms can be used: against cigarette filters.
“Normally, these take 20 years to decompose,” she says. “Oyster mushrooms decompose the filters in just two months.”
Legend:
Only one percent of the fungi has been identified so far.
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Only one percent of the fungi are described
Many of the experiments shown in «The Mushroom Speaks» do not take place in large laboratories, but in garages. Research into mushrooms is still in its infancy, says the director. Not enough money has been invested in it yet.
There are an estimated five million species of mushrooms in the world. Only one percent of them have been described so far.
Legend:
The film shows the beauty of the inconspicuous mushrooms.
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Inconspicuous and gross?
Mushrooms have been underestimated for a long time, says Marion Neumann. Because they are inconspicuous. Because many find them disgusting. Or because they are often associated with decay.
“They are essential for every natural process on earth,” says Marion Neumann. “They just do their job. In order to save the world, it would be up to us to do our job too.” «The Mushroom Speaks» draws attention to this interaction between humans and mushrooms.
Theatrical release: 05/26/2022.