#LOUIE SCHWARTZBERG MAGIC FLOWERS MOVIE#

* Rick Chatenever, award-winning columnist and former entertainment and features editor of The Maui News, is a freelance journalist and documentary scriptwriter/producer.How do you create a bona fide вЂњfragrance destinationвЂќ for shoppers? Just ask Jeff Gennette, MacyвЂ™s, Inc. But itвЂ™s the same thing - IвЂ™m looking at communities that connect.вЂќ Here I am 14 years later looking at the micro world, at the mycelial network. вЂњSo for me, whether IвЂ™m looking at fungi, flowers, pollinators or people, itвЂ™s the same thing. вЂњIt was a celebration of ordinary people doing remarkable things,вЂќ he says of that earlier film. ItвЂ™s fitting to premiere вЂњFantastic FungiвЂќ at the Maui Maui Festival, which he describes as вЂњa consciousness-raising festival.вЂќ In 2004, the festival showed his вЂњAmericaвЂ™s Heart and Soul,вЂќ the first documentary from Disney since WaltвЂ™s вЂњTrue Life AdventuresвЂќ in the 1950s. Zooming into rhythms and patterns of nature that touch your soul.вЂќ вЂњThe essence of what I do is help make the invisible visible. I could see the world from the point of view of a tree or a flower, or even geological time.вЂќДЇorty years later, he says his work opens windows. вЂњIt also fulfilled my sense of wonder, because now I could compress time.

It took me a month or two to shoot a four-minute roll of film - shooting one frame every 10 seconds to get shots of light, or clouds or fog or a sunset, and then maybe one shot every 20 minutes to shoot a flower. вЂњPlus, it worked for me because film was so expensive. This revolutionary breakthrough made it possible for him to transform time-lapse from a laboratory tool to an art form. A friend who built guitars for the Grateful Dead created motors for him that ran on flashlight batteries capable of shooting one frame at a time outdoors.

#LOUIE SCHWARTZBERG MAGIC FLOWERS MOVIE#

вЂњWhen I graduated from college, I wanted to make high-quality films but I had no money.вЂќ He retrofitted some 35-mm movie cameras from the вЂ™30s. ThatвЂ™s what the mycelium shows - that itвЂ™s all one.вЂќД®conomic circumstances drove Louie to time-lapse after he earned an MFA from UCLA Film School in the early вЂ™70s. The biggest surprise for me in making the movie is the whole idea about connection. ThereвЂ™s a blueprint how life can be modeled. вЂњItвЂ™s also a metaphor for how we need to be connected to each other, working as community, not being greedy.

ItвЂ™s like an underground internet thatвЂ™s a shared economy, not based on greed but encouraging systems where life can flourish. ItвЂ™s a bridge where trees can speak to each other. ItвЂ™s the bridge between plants and animals. His film, featuring dazzling visuals and a host of scientists, doctors and other experts, makes the case that fungi are вЂњthe connective tissue in the ecosystem that knits life together. Our DNA is more closely related to fungi than it is to plants. We have a symbiotic relationship with them. It started 3.5 billion years ago, before there were animals. вЂњMycelial networks break down organic material, and break down rock, and create soil. This led him to mycelial networks - fungiвЂ™s fibrous underground strands that he likens to вЂњan underground internet.вЂќ вЂњSo then if plants are critical, what do they need to survive? Well, they need water, they need light, but they also need soil. Without them we wouldnвЂ™t have the food we need - fruits, vegetables, seeds.

вЂњWhen I heard about the bees disappearing, I realized I couldnвЂ™t tell that story without talking about flowers and how they co-evolved.вЂќ That became вЂњWings of Life,вЂќ a Disneynature feature narrated by Meryl Streep.ДЇrom there he discovered вЂњthe importance of pollination - how bees, bats, hummingbirds, butterflies are critical to our survival.

Louie schwartzberg magic flowers