The Microcosmos of Fungi

Free with RSVP!

With filmmaker Maya Han and New York Mycological Society president Sigrid Jakob in person 

This program of short films employs a range of cinematic techniques to reveal the surprisingly animate world beneath our feet. Lisa Jackson’s Lichen trains macro 3D lenses on an ancient species; scientist and tinkerer F. Percy Smith’s enigmatic Magic Myxies uses time-lapse microcinematography to follow slime mold; artist Janelle VanderKelen explores plant sentience through animation in Language Unknown; David Fenster’s meticulous costuming gives voice to the inner thoughts of a mushroom species in Fly Amanita; and much more. Followed by a conversation including filmmaker Maya Han and New York Mycological Society president Sigrid Jakob.  

Program: 

Lichen. Dir. Lisa Jackson. 2019, 12 mins.  

Pantano. Dir. Azucena Losana. 2019, 6 mins.  

Magic Myxies. Dirs. F. Percy Smith, Mary Field. 1931, 10 mins.  

End of the Season. Dir. Jason Evans. 2020, 13 mins.  

C18H10N2O4. Dir. Maya Han. 2023, 5 mins.  

Language Unknown. Dir. Janelle VanderKelen. 2022, 6 mins. 

Fly Amanita. Dir. David Fenster. 2010, 4 mins. 

 

Guests: 

Maya Han is the Cultural Coordinator for NYMS; founder of the Myco Film Festival; and an artist, writer, and experimental filmmaker. Her work is a form of soft activism, critically engaging with issues of race, gender, class, diasporic identities, and marginalized histories. She can usually be found in Paris or in Brooklyn, where she is cultivating our garden. 

Sigrid Jakob is the current president of the New York Mycological Society. She is passionate about community science and spreading the joy of fungi to more NYC communities. She can be found on the club’s year-round weekly mushroom walks or her DNA lab in pursuit of discovering fungi new to science. She also co-leads the Green-Wood Cemetery Fungi Phenology Project, a long-term survey of the fungi of that beautiful green space. She is also a board member and sequence validator for FUNDIS, a nonprofit dedicated to protecting fungi. She has an MFA in Photography from the School of Visual Arts. @greenwoodzombie and @dung_fungi on Instagram.

This program is supported by the Simons Foundation.