SXSW Film

Know Your Mushrooms

Documentary Feature, Special Screenings
D: Ron Mann

Every August, a growing number of fungiphiles descends upon the mountain enclave of Telluride, Colo., for that town's Mushroom Festival. Know Your Mushrooms centers on the 2007 event and follows, primarily, the exploits of Larry Evans, a braided, nomadic mushroom hunter with an encyclopedic knowledge of the eukaryotic critters. Know Your Mushrooms enables viewers to do just that, hipping us to the already obvious facts that mushrooms can feed you, kill you, and bliss you out. However, did you know that oyster mushrooms have proven highly useful in cleaning up oil spills, capable of absorbing and neutralizing carcinogens yet remaining highly edible and delicious? And that grocery-store mushrooms have been sprayed so heavily that they should likely be avoided? While the film is at times too cute by half when it plays up the psychedelic potential of its subject, it effectively underscores the notion that mushrooms could very well save the world.

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Saturday, March 21, 5pm, Alamo South Lamar