Lis and Juli are unlikely heroes: instead of weapons or shields, they carry baskets to collect mushrooms. These indigenous foragers and scientists lead this immersive docu-sci fi journey through Mexico’s forests to unveil secrets from the Queendom — the world of fungi and those whose lives intertwine with it.
SYNOPSIS
THE QUEENDOM (WT) is a study of entanglements: between women and mushrooms, mycelia and forests, humans and non-humans, and generational knowledge and modern science.
Eliseete and Julieta are young, scientifically-trained indigenous women in the forests of Oaxaca and Mexico State. They face discrimination, poverty, deforestation, climate change, and violent territorial conflicts, but they envision a different future.
THE QUEENDOM (WT) introduces Eliseete and Julieta in their daily lives and traces their connections to mushrooms and the obstacles they face as indigenous scientists. As they work on their parallel projects, the women come together to share knowledge and explore visions of how fungi can reshape the future. These imagined possibilities are brought to life by sci-fi inspired sequences. Interwoven throughout the film are intimate moments with the Mycelium that expand our perception of the natural world and allow us to connect with the inconspicuous beings that we share the planet with.
Part observational documentary and part speculative cinema, THE QUEENDOM (WT) envisions a sustainable future built through the collaboration of science and tradition, of humans and nature.
Director Statement
Mushroom foragers often say the mushroom finds you. Mushrooms found me just as I was searching for ways of counteracting the apocalyptic narratives of the future.
I am excited to tell this story as part of a web of collaborators.
Our approach prioritizes filmmaking as a collaboration.
Cinema allows us to inhabit other points of view and forms of being—to see and feel the invisible—but speculation allows us to rethink the world to come. We want to change the narrative of extraction to that of collaboration and introduce new kinds of heroes that are already building better futures.
Supporter Statement
"Mystical, spiritual, scientific, and topical. Intersection of ancient knowledge with modern science through women. So much wisdom coming to light around how fungi are perhaps the saviours of the universe and perhaps, even, humanity’s sanity."
ABOUT FILMMAKER(S)
Director Otilia Portillo Padua
Her works include the feature documentary THREE VOICES (2012), which screened at SXSW, Ambulante, Morelia, DocsMX, Margaret Mead Film Festival, Documenta Madrid, Lima Film Festival, FIDBA Buenos Aires, and London MexFest. The film was considered one of the audience favorites local documentaries for that year and had limited theatrical distribution. In 2019, she premiered the short documentary BIRDERS for Netflix. Otilia has participated in Berlinale Talents Doc Station (2011) and Guadalajara Talents (2011). She has been a grantee of the National Young Creator’s Fund, the Stimulus for Cinematographic Creators from the National Film Institute, and the Sundance Institute. She studied architecture at Cambridge University and the Architectural Association, London.
Partner at Oscura Producciones, a company that specializes in documentaries about nature, history, and culture, she has worked as a history advisor and iconographic researcher for films, television, and theater.
Paula was the online producer of FINDING FOOTBALL (2018) and PERPETUAL PLANET MX for Nat Geo (2018). She produced NOMADS in association with the Smithsonian Channel. The film received the top prize at the 2020 Wildlife Conservation FIlm Festival and was nominated for Outstanding Cinematography at the 42nd Annual News & Documentary Emmys.
Elena is award-winning creative producer and cultural strategist who has been working in the documentary industry for over 15 years. Between 2005 and 2016, Elena served as the director of Ambulante, a nonprofit organization and traveling film festival that she co-founded with Gael García Bernal, Diego Luna, and Pablo Cruz to support documentary film culture in Mexico. In 2017, Elena co-founded the Mexico City-based production company No Ficción. With the company, she has produced over 10 films in the past four years including MIDNIGHT FAMILY (d. Luke Lorentzen), which premiered at Sundance 2019 (The Orchard/1091) and was shortlisted for the 2020 Academy Awards; VIVOS (d. Ai Weiwei), which premiered at Sundance 2020 (Netflix); USERS (d. Natalia Almada), which premiered at Sundance 2021 and received an award for Best Director (Film Constellation); and most recently, A COP MOVIE (d. Alonso Ruizpalacios), which premiered at the 2021 Berlinale and received a Silver Bear for Outstanding Contribution in Editing (Netflix).
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Women Make Movies (WMM), Inc. is a 501(c)(3) non-profit media arts organization registered with the New York Charities Bureau of New York State and accepts charitable donations on behalf of this project. Your donation will be spent by the filmmaker(s) toward the production and completion of this media project. No services or goods are provided by Women Make Movies, the filmmaker(s) or anyone else associated with this project in exchange for your charitable donation.
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