''Know Your Mushrooms'' is a 2008
documentary film by Canadian director
Ron Mann.
[Jason Anderso]
Know Your Mushrooms. Directed by Ron Mann. (G) 73 min. Opens Jan 30 at the Royal (608 College).
''Eye Weekly''
The 74 minute Sphinx Productions film examines the counterculture Telluride Mushroom Festival, held annually in
Telluride, Colorado and some of the
mycologists and
funghiphiles that gather there such as Larry Evans and
Gary Lincoff, author of seven mushroom identification guidebooks, including the ''Audubon Field Guide to Mushrooms''.
The soundtrack includes music by the
Flaming Lips and
The Sadies
The Sadies are a Canadian rock and roll / country and western band from Toronto, Ontario. The band consists of Dallas Good, Travis Good, Sean Dean and Mike Belitsky. Dallas and Travis are the sons of Margaret and Bruce Good, and nephews of Bria ...
.
''Know Your Mushrooms'' is more about hard science and
gourmet cuisine than space-outs and the munchies.
Synopsis
Director
Ron Mann and his partners at the first
Telluride Mushroom Festival
Telluride may refer to:
* Telluride, Colorado, the county seat of San Miguel County in southwest Colorado
* Telluride Ski Resort, a ski resort located in Mountain Village, Colorado
* Telluride Film Festival, a film festival that takes place in Tel ...
in
Colorado, collect and consume mushrooms of every variety, particularly the aesthetically unappealing. Mushroom fans and
fungi experts explore and investigate during the four-day festival.
Gary Lincoff and
mycologist
Mycology is the branch of biology concerned with the study of fungus, fungi, including their genetics, genetic and biochemistry, biochemical properties, their Taxonomy (biology), taxonomy and ethnomycology, their use to humans, including as a so ...
Larry Evans lead a wild mushroom hunt.
*Day One: Displays of local mushrooms and cooking demonstrations.
*Day Two: Discussion and lecture.
*Day Three: Health effects of fungi and cultural roles. Discussion include mushroom's potential, for example, possible
anti-cancer properties or
mythological
Myth is a folklore genre consisting of narratives that play a fundamental role in a society, such as foundational tales or origin myths. Since "myth" is widely used to imply that a story is not objectively true, the identification of a narrat ...
significance in shamanistic cultures.
*Day Four: A
parade
A parade is a procession of people, usually organized along a street, often in costume, and often accompanied by marching bands, float (parade), floats, or sometimes large balloons. Parades are held for a wide range of reasons, but are usually ce ...
. Quizzes and short
animation
Animation is a method by which image, still figures are manipulated to appear as Motion picture, moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent cel, celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited ...
s present controversial fungi, such as
magic mushroom
Psilocybin mushrooms, commonly known as magic mushrooms, are a polyphyletic informal group of mushroom, fungi that contain psilocybin which turns into psilocin upon ingestion. Biological genera containing psilocybin mushrooms include ''Psilocyb ...
and
fly agaric, the documentary provides an in-depth introduction to fungi.
Cast
* Larry Evans as Larry Evans
*
Gary Lincoff as Gary Lincoff
* Andrew Weil as Andrew Weil
* John Cage as John Cage
* Terence McKenna as Terence McKenna
* John Allegro as John Allegro
References
External links
*
{{Ron Mann
2008 films
Canadian documentary films
2008 documentary films
Documentary films about food and drink
2000s English-language films
2000s Canadian films
English-language Canadian films
English-language documentary films