Coming to theatres today, Wednesday, September 29: THE CREEPING GARDEN
Tim Grabham and Jasper Sharp’s exploration of the strange world of slime mold debuted at Fantasia last year. Other screenings have included Hot Docs, Fantastic Fest, Imagine Science, CPH:DOX, Leeds, Cleveland, New Horizons, Revelation, and DOXA.
Grabham and Sharp go on a wide-ranging cinematic forage for slime mold, the bizarre, mobile organisms that used to be considered fungi, behave a bit like a plant and a bit like an animal, and come in a range of types, most resembling something out of a science fiction film. Rather than taking a straightforward TV nature doc approach, the film refreshingly adopts a distinctly quirky tone, down to its unearthly score, as the directors profile several individuals who work with slime mold in intriguing ways. Beyond scientists or amateur foragers who study the strange lifeform, the film visits with a visual artist who collaborates with slime mold, a computer scientist who has demonstrated their ability to create some rather uncanny mapping of pathways, and a composer who incorporates them into his won creative work. Beyond this, the filmmakers even revisit a fun 1931 film starring slime molds, Percy Smith’s MAGIC MIXIES, and its pioneering use of time-lapse photography. The overall result is a clever, fascinating work of science-nonfiction.
