Planet Fungi in Tasmania

Planet Fungi update on recent film shoot in Tasmania and crowdfunding campaign, how to get involved in what promises to be the biggest fungi bioblitz ever, and where you will see Planet Fungi footage in projects screening in cinemas and on TV.

This month we shot the final sequences for our new fungi documentary FOLLOW THE RAIN in Tasmania. It is the height of fungi season on the wild west coast and in this update we’ll share some of Stephen’s photographs of the fabulous fungi we found there.

This final chapter of FOLLOW THE RAIN explores the threats to the biodiversity of fungi and the opportunity we humans have to conserve not just fungi but all the environments in which it thrives.

Watch the trailer here: https://bit.ly/GoFundMeFollowTheRain

Catherine is head down now on editing these final chapters.

We would like to do a big shout out to all those who have signed up to be part of the FOLLOW THE RAIN journey.

Over the past month 186 people and organisations have donated nearly $14,000 to help fund the big ticket items of post-production: music composition and production, colour grade, sound mix and graphics, raising just under a third of our target of $43,000. This is an incredible achievement and we thank all our donors - large and small, for supporting this awareness raising project.

If you haven’t donated here are some reasons to be part of the FOLLOW THE RAIN journey that might interest you …

 If only a fraction of our followers donated $10, $20 or $50 we would easily meet our target. Every little bit helps and of course big bits - like $100 or $200 help even more. And we do give back in return ,,,

People who donate to our Go Fund Me Campaign receive a credit as a crowdfunding investor and a free streaming link. And with us they get to make a difference by helping to spread the word about how critical fungi are to life on this planet. Stephen and Catherine are pouring their money, their time-lapses and 10 years of research and passion into this documentary - they just need a little help from you to make it as powerful as it can be.

Can you pledge $100 now? $50? $30? $20?

And don’t forget to check out all the free content on our website.

Help fund the FINAL POST-PRODUCTION on our new documentary.

Help fund the FINAL POST-PRODUCTION on our new documentary.

OTHER NEWS

FUNGIQUEST

The second Australian fungi bioblitz FUNGIQUEST is happening right now 1 May - 31 May. Find out how you can get involved in this video Planet Fungi produced with FungiMap.

Download your free FieldGuide - How do I describe my fungus?

This promises to be the biggest fungi bioblitz in history! Go to the official event page.

You can either log fungi sightings via the QuestaGame app or the iNaturalist app.

For our international followers you can use the guidance in this video and the Field Guide and make a difference globally by uploading your photographs and notes anytime, anywhere to iNaturalist.

PLANET FUNGI FOOTAGE IN THE DOCUMENTARY - THE GIANTS

This documentary is a poetic, exploration of the complex organisms we call TREES and Australian activist Bob Brown the man who has spent his life trying to save them. Planet Fungi’s forest fungi and time-lapse footage helps to tell the story of the fungal life of a forest, combined with a brilliant interview by mycologist Dr Tom May.

It takes all the kingdoms of life to create a forest and this documentary introduces us to this interwoven world in a beautifully intimate story. I highly recommend it. Screening in cinemas around Australia. Our international audience can stay updated to when and where you can see if via THE GIANTS website.

And it is a tiny, tiny taste of the PLANET FUNGI footage and fungi story you will see in our documentary FOLLOW THE RAIN.

PLANET FUNGI FOOTAGE IN KANGAROO VALLEY

KANGAROO VALLEY is currently screening on Netflix and includes a number of PLANET FUNGI’s time-lapses as the story introduces us to the magic and perils of night downunder in Australia. This documentary is the coming-of-age story of a young kangaroo joey called Mala, learning what it takes to survive her incredible first year. The odds are not in her favour: only one in five joeys make it to their first birthday. Mala’s greatest enemy is the dingo pack that stalks her family. Among them is the young dingo, Miro, who turns out to be her greatest mentor. A great documentary for the family.

WHY WE ARE MAKING FOLLOW THE RAIN

Did you know humans are only just starting to understand how important fungi are to life on our planet and how critical they are in protecting us from the impacts of climate change? Now we realise that without fungi, the world as we know it would not exist - forests would not exist, and we would not exist. The push is on to document as many species as possible, as fast as possible, and then to understand what they do in the ecosystem.

Raising awareness about fungi is critical to achieving that goal. Your contribution will assist in achieving that mission.

This feature documentary will be the ultimate showcase for the beauty and science of fungi. Our passion for fungi has had the most extraordinary outcomes, from discovering new species, to immersing ourselves in fascinating fungi science, to creating exquisite time-lapses of fungi growing.

We are going to share our world of fungi with you in a way that has never been done before. We are pouring everything we have into this project – 10 years of passion and research. We know the story will be captivating, with fungi adventures in the Gondwana forests of the subtropics, the ancient grand forest of the Tarkine, the desert country of the Flinders Ranges and World Heritage forests of Lord Howe Island.

We will introduce our audience to passionate mycologists and fungi enthusiasts, and we even take you zombie fungi hunting. You will be investing in a project that is inspirational, showing how we can all make a difference to understand the planet we live on.

We know we can reach our goal. In fact, if everybody who receives this email gives just $25, $50 or $100, we’d easily meet our target.

So we’re asking you, to personally donate today.

Again a big thanks to all who have contributed so far and for those that have we would be grateful if you could spread the word far and wide via your networks to anyone else you think would be interested.

So we’re asking you, to personally donate today. To help us build that momentum, and show the If you want to make your contribution tax-deductible, please contact us as we hope to soon be partnering with an Australian Foundation who can enable that.

Thanks to Tasmanian National Parks and Wildlife Service for supporting the project with location permissions for this final shoot.

You can also find us on Instagram and YouTube - @Planet_Fungi.

With love and gratitude,

Catherine and Stephen