Ergot: The Story of a Parasitic Fungus

Greening the Desert(en)

Permaculture expert Geoff Lawton describes how he and a team of volunteers grew an oasis in arid, salty lowland, despite extremely high temperatures and minimal irrigation. The site is the lowest dryland expanse on Earth: a plain in Jordan, two kilometres northeast of the Dead Sea, and 400 metres below sea level.

The Secret Life of the Sun(en)

Kate Humble and Helen Czerski reveal the inner workings of the sun and investigate why scientists think changes in the sun's behaviour may have powerful effects on our climate.

WEED(en)

This 1971 color anti-drug use and abuse film was produced by Concept Films and directed by Brian Kellman for Encyclopedia Britannica. “Weed: The Story of Marijuana” combines time-lapse, montage, illustrations, animation (by Paul Fierlinger and emigre Pavel Vošický) and dramatized, documentary-style interviews to survey the evolving role of cannabis in U.S. society, with emphasis on the legal risks faced by young people. A unique score of experimental synthesizer music is provided by Tony Luisi on an EMS VCS 3 “Putney”

Mush Luv(en)

Tony and Ajani, two mushroom foragers based in Minneapolis, spend the day foraging at a local park and musing on the power of nature.

The Commons(en)

A group of teenagers go out to a den in the woods for a night of drinking, unaware that their behaviour touches on issues of ritual, folklore, mysticism and UFOs.

Biosludged(en)

Biosludged reveals how the EPA is committing science fraud to allow the ongoing poisoning of our world with toxic sewage sludge that's being spread on food crops. Features former top government scientist and EPA whistleblower Dr. David Lewis.

Sages et rebelles(fr)

A look at the daily life of midwives across Quebec.

The Last Season(en)

In search of the lucrative matsutake mushroom, two former soldiers discover the means to gradually heal their wounds of war. Roger, a self-described 'fall-down drunk' and sniper in Vietnam, and Kouy, a Cambodian refugee who fought the Khmer Rouge, bonded in the bustling tent-city known as Mushroom Camp, which pops up each autumn in the Oregon woods. Their friendship became an adoptive family; according to a Cambodian custom, if you lose your family like Kouy, you must rebuilt it anew. Now, however, this new family could be lost. Roger's health is declining and trauma flashbacks rack his mind; Kouy gently aids his family before the snow falls and the hunting season ends, signaling his time to leave.

Médicaments : Les Profits de la pénurie(fr)

Injectable anti-inflammatories, anticoagulants, anti-infectives, anticancer drugs and even cotton wools are in short supply. Like many others in France, the pharmacy at Rennes hospital is constantly on the edge. Over the past two decades, shortages of medicines and health products have increased twentyfold in Europe. With almost all laboratories affected, practitioners and health establishments are forced to juggle with quotas to make up for shortages. Some even have to prioritise patients in terms of access to treatments, according to scales established by the laboratories. In the Netherlands, hospital pharmacies have resigned themselves to manufacturing the molecules they lack.

Legacy(en)

Is there a mental health crisis in agriculture in Colorado? Farming and ranching has become increasingly difficult over the years. An industry that is typically viewed as romantic, hardworking, and "salt-of-the earth" is actually a job full of tremendous stress outside of anyone's control. Combine that with the enormous generational pressure to continue the family farm, and you have a large group of people that are suffering silently. How do we take care of those that are taking care of us?

Cheap Food(fr)

Industrial food production has provided the public with an abundance of food at very low prices. But with obesity and diabetes at record levels in Europe, there is clearly a problem with the food we eat. This documentary puts the spotlight on the agri-food industry and reveals how low-cost ultra-processed foods are really made.

Mushroom Growing Made Easy(en)

This video provides step-by-step instructions for cultivating Psilocybe cubensis mushrooms at home. Viewers areintroduced to the mushroom lifecycle, sterilization techniques, inoculation methods, substrates, incubation, terrariums, humidification methods, casings, agar media, strain isolation, and bulk growing.

LSD: Problem Child and Wonder Drug(en)

LSD: Problem Child and Wonder Drug captures the fascinating story of LSD as it is eloquently told by Dr. Albert Hofmann, the 100-year-old sage-scientist who brought LSD into the world. With interviews and presentations by Rick Doblin, Alex Grey, Ralph Metzner, Carl Ruck, Goa Gil, and others, this historic message from the father of LSD is a timeless relic and an immediate source of inspiration. The story is told through an account of the 2006 International LSD Symposium in Basel, Switzerland. At the now-legendary conference, eighty speakers and two thousand participants gathered for three days in honor of Dr. Hofmann's 100th birthday and to hear Dr. Hofmann speak about his life, his discovery, and his thoughts on the psychedelic experience. It was also an occasion for leading doctors, researchers, artists and thinkers in the psychedelic field to present their work.

Cott's Age Old Odyssey(en)

An Arthouse film made only using footage taken during a sunday trip to the cottage. Features a self composed soundtrack and avant garde visual flourishes.

Comprehensive School(en)

The joys of 1960s modern education - as seen at a not-exactly-typical local comp.

WICCA(en)

I was scrounging around the neighborhood for inspiration. Within a block from my apartment, I found a wild mushroom in the grass, and an advertisement for a psychic named Sara.

I Am(en)

I AM is an utterly engaging and entertaining non-fiction film that poses two practical and provocative questions: what’s wrong with our world, and what can we do to make it better? The filmmaker behind the inquiry is Tom Shadyac, one of Hollywood’s leading comedy practitioners and the creative force behind such blockbusters as “Ace Ventura,” “Liar Liar,” “The Nutty Professor,” and “Bruce Almighty.” However, in I AM, Shadyac steps in front of the camera to recount what happened to him after a cycling accident left him incapacitated, possibly for good. Though he ultimately recovered, he emerged with a new sense of purpose, determined to share his own awakening to his prior life of excess and greed, and to investigate how he as an individual, and we as a race, could improve the way we live and walk in the world.

Urine's Superpowers(fr)

That smelly, pale yellow liquid that people flush down the toilet every day is an industrial fertilizer, a diagnostic tool, a medicine, a renewable energy resource; it is an inexhaustible substance that is produced daily in huge quantities. This is the golden story of urine.

Chemistry in the kitchen(cs)

Infested! Living With Parasites(en)

Dr Michael Mosley explores the bizarre and fascinating world of parasites by turning his body into a living laboratory and deliberately infesting himself with them.