The story follows a husband and wife who earn a meager living by hunting wild mushrooms. During the warm months, Lucien and Regina gather a diverse bounty of edible fungi from area woodlands and then go door-to-door selling them to upscale restaurants. When winter comes, and mushrooms go into dormancy, the couple must find temporary work as kitchen laborers to make ends meet. They constantly struggle to get by, dependent on variables of rainfall and temperature–living without the protection of any safety net.

Jason grew up foraging with his family on the West Coast—Oregon and Northern California. Mushrooming is something he’s passionate about. And, because it really hasn’t been shown before in a fiction film, Cortland decided to make foraging the central action of his latest project.

How to Fund a Mushroom Foraging Film

The producers drummed up some initial funding for the project on Kickstarter, and that helped them finish the initial production phase last Fall.  Now, to put on the final touches, the film is up for a final round of funding on United States Artists. I asked Jason how they got their funding, and why they decided to go with United States Artists.

“We decided to work with United States Artists (USA) this time for a few reasons. First, because USA is a non-profit organization, all donations to our film are tax deductible. That’s something we wanted to offer our donors. Second, because USA is somewhat selective about who they accept, the association helps raise the pedigree of the project to some degree. That can help attract other grants and festival invitations. Third, and most important, because we’re former recipients of grants from the Texas Filmmakers Production Fund, we qualified for a matching grant from The Austin Film Fund. For the first $3000 we raise, donors effectively double their donations. It’s a sweet deal and we’re very appreciative of the support.”

People can donate to the cause at the film’s USA web page.

“United States Artists accepts artists who have previously won a grant, residency, or fellowship—so the lineup is somewhat curated based on having an established track record in an artistic discipline,” Jason continues. “That’s the main qualifier—once they vet you, it’s very easy to get a project up and running. They even offer an online training session and one-to-one support to help artists learn about developing their fundraising strategies for both their immediate needs and their long-term career. So it’s a pretty cool organization.”

The film has been selected for  the  “Gotham in Progress” European film market in November, in Poland. Jason and Julia will both be going to Poland. They will spend a week or so meeting European sales agents and distributors who might be interested in the film.

Now, Forager is almost done—but not quite. According to Jason, there is still some work to do.

“We’re at the “fine cut” stage—which means that we’re still making small adjustments to scenes, but the overall structure is in place. We’ll lock picture in the next few weeks, and then all the technical finishing work begins to prepare the film for distribution—adding an original score that Chris Brokaw is composing, editing and mixing sound,  color correcting all the footage, and creating an HD master.  So, creatively, we’re very close to being finished—but we have a couple months of technical work left to do to make sure the film looks and sounds right when it’s projected for an audience. This is, of course, a very precise and costly part of the filmmaking process.”

When Julia and Jason moved to New York to start developing the project, he joined the New York Mycological Society (NYMS) to learn about the regional species of edible mushrooms. “The core members of the NYMS really took me into their inner-fold and I soon was drawn into the deeper study of mycology,” he explains. “Learning about taxonomy, using keys, microscopy, taking workshops and attending large forays to learn from mycologists like Tom Volk, Tim Baroni, Kathie Hodge, and Rod Tulloss; that experience didn’t just change the script, it’s really permanently changed what I think about and do with my free time. I’m a mushroom geek for life.”

According to Jason, “It’s a unique and beautiful world that was begging for a proper cinematic exploration.”

Check out the trailer for Now, Forager:

More on Now, Forager

Keep an eye on the Now, Forager Blog.

There Will Be Mushrooms: New Film Explores the Emotional Hazards of Foraging

Interview with Jason Cortlund at Mushroom Palace

The comments under the video at the TED website are quite interesting too. Not everyone is convinced this idea will make the cut in the long run. Here it is:

Lot’s of blogs and news sites mention MycoBond  but they pretty much all say the same thing. Might as well learn about from the evocativedesign website. I can’t find any independent comments or reviews of anyone who has actually used the product. I’d like to hear from someone using an evocativedesign product who is unaffiliated with the manufacturer.

“Fly Amanita”  features:

The thoughts of an Amanita muscaria (also known as Fly Agaric or Fly Amanita) mushroom on his species’ relationship with humans.  Starring Jan Johnson. Costume by E.B. Brooks. Directed by David Fenster.

The costume is very well done. It looks like the video was done in HD so the quality is very good. Perhaps that also explains why I had a little trouble streaming it (quite a few halts and dropouts during the process).  If you have that trouble, just let the whole thing load and then play it again from the beginning and it should run smooth.

I also noticed another relevant video directed by Fenster–”Dr. Bob Cummings“–which is a portrait of a mushroom expert. It contains excellent advice and tips on mushroom collecting, and outstanding images of fungi. Check out that huge Ganoderma specimen in his lab!

Good stuff David and thanks for doing it. I hope you will do many more along these lines.

Worthwhile Fungal Videos on YouTube

You may not agree that these videos are worth watching, but they are among the best recently uploaded to YouTube. Here are the ones I chose. You can see them (and many others) at Fungal Visions.

Biology 1B – Lecture 1: Introduction/Fungi: This is a full lecture from the University of California at Berkeley. The quality is good and the lecturers know there stuff. Since it is the first lecture of this general biology course, there is a lot of housekeeping discussed, but the beginning of the part concerning fungi begins around minute 14 and shortly thereafter.

Fungi for Biofuel: Prof. Amir Sharon, Tel Aviv U: A short explanation of the work being done in Israel on the use of fungi in the development of biofuels. Not overly exciting, but informative.

Paul Stamets Discusses Bioremediation and the BP Spill: A short interview with Paul Stamets, in which he discusses his ideas about, and the basis for, using fungi to remediate the damage caused by petroleum spills.

Growing Mushrooms–Unlocking the Food Chain: A sincere dude shows us some mushrooms growing in a pot of orchids. He makes a case for growing mushrooms for food and/or barter.

Giant Mushroom Safari Cloaks the Sun (HD): A fine, high quality video giving a ground-level view of an expanded mushroom cap (Chlorphyllum molybdites according to the video). Make sure you switch the resolution to 720p for the full effect.

YouTube has been having some technical difficulties today, so if you get an error, try again later.

Fungus Fest celebrates all things mushroom

Thousands of people headed to Santa Cruz, CA this weekend for the annual fungus fair. “The fascination starts with the food thing and then it becomes ‘My gosh, look at these things. They’re a mystery, mysterious. They’re ephemeral. They come and go,’” said Phil Carpenter. Carpenter is the co-chair of the 36th annual Santa Cruz Fungus fair, an event celebrating mushroom’s place in our ecosystem, featuring those unique to the Central Coast. It’s a curious hobby, but one that’s quickly understood when by spending time at the festival.

Fair celebrates local fungus

Foragers exploring the fair organized by the Fungus Federation will find examples of fungi from Monterey, Santa Cruz and San Benito counties. Hundreds of species collected earlier in the week are on display, cooking classes will showcase mushroom recipes, and identification classes will differentiate food-friendly fungi from the poisonous kind until 5p.m. today at the Louden Nelson Center. The Fungus Federation, an informal group of fungi enthusiasts with about 350 members, works all year to put together the Fungus Fair, Maley said. This is the weekend they showcase their passions.

Fungi Make For Fun Fair In Santa Cruz (includes video on right side)

From the toxic to the delicious, fungi lovers got a chance to see more than 300 varietals on display, just a small sample of the 3,000 to 5,000 found locally.”A lot of them are really beautiful to look at. It’s kind of interesting to figure out which ones are edible and avoid the ones that can kill you,” said Frank Dean, of San Jose.”I learned they’re very good with cookies and sweet. So, I try to make a gelato and here it is. It’s very good,” said Massimo Caporale, with Gelato Massimo.

Santa Cruz Fungus Fair: Mushroom fun

Glistening with an olive-gold allure, the Amanita phalloides has a disturbing appeal when viewed close up. Not isolated under glass or plastic – so close you could put your nose right on it accidentally, the death cap, as it is more commonly known, nestles innocently enough in its basket, surrounded by baskets of other poisonous cousins – none of them quite as alluring as this most deadly of toadstools. But that whiff of danger is just one of the things that makes a visit to the Santa Cruz Fungus Fair – now in its 36th year – not only educational but also entertaining.

Mushroom fair draws Santa Cruz fungofiles

Basket after basket of fungi nestle in landscaped mounds of fallen leaves and tree stumps in the Louden Nelson Center auditorium this weekend for the 36th annual Fungus Fair. “You walk in and it’s like you are in the forest,” Fungus Federation member Jim Maley said. “The smell is overwhelming.” Foragers exploring the fair organized by the Fungus Federation will find examples of fungi from Monterey, Santa Cruz and San Benito counties. Hundreds of species collected earlier in the week are on display, cooking classes will showcase mushroom recipes and identification classes will differentiate food friendly fungi from the poisonous kind until 5 p.m. today at the Louden Nelson Center.