Toby Kiers

In The Underground Astronaut

Science

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Synopsis

The Underground Astronaut

Beneath our feet lies a mystery. A complex underground network of mycorrhizal fungi keeps our ecosystem alive by exchanging nutrients and carbon with almost all plants on Earth. Remarkably, no one knows exactly how these sophisticated and ancient systems operate, or how they are affected by climate change.

 

The Underground Astronaut follows evolutionary biologist Toby Kiers, named one of the 2022 TIME100 Next Innovators, on her quest to map the world’s fungi networks and understand their behaviour before it’s too late. A fragrant and urgent journey underground. “No fungi, no future.”

 

Credits

Character
Toby Kiers
Director
Marleine van der Werf
Country
Italy, Netherlands
Duration
17 min
Year
2023
Co-producer
Basalt Film
All eyes are on Toby Kiers as she maps the world’s underground fungal networks before it’s too late.
Portret Toby Kiers

Biography

Toby Kiers

Evolutionary biologist Toby Kiers’ (1976) groundbreaking research on fungi is drawing considerable attention from the international media, including Time Magazine and The New York Times. Her mission is to map the world’s unknown fungal networks. This is of critical importance because, according to Kiers, they are indispensable to our ecosystem and store large amounts of CO2 – a key weapon in our fight against global warming.

Acclaims

  • Named one of 2022 TIME100 Next Emerging Leaders Shaping the Future
  • Executive Director and Chief Scientist at SPUN (The Society for the Protection of Underground Networks)
  • Winner of the Ammodo Science Award (2019), the E.O. Wilson Award for Natural History (2021), the NWO Stairway to Impact Award (2022), the Spinoza Prize (2023) and the Tyler Prize for Environmental Achievement (2026)
Still The Underground Astronaut

SPUN

In 2021, Toby Kiers launched SPUN, an organisation that aims to protect and harness the mycorrhizal networks that regulate the earth’s climate and ecosystems. On their website you’ll find reports from their various expeditions, a world map of underground ecosystems and step-by-step guide on how to take soil samples, and more. 

Visit the SPUN website 

Ted Talk

Lessons from fungi on markets and economics

In 2019, Toby Kiers gave a Ted Talk about the trade of nutrients between mycorrhizal fungi, plants and trees. Their interdependent relationship is a perfect display of opportunism and market economics. 

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SCREENINGS & REACH
Best Short Film
Scinema International Science Film Festival
Nomination Best Short Science Series
SILBERSALZ Science & Media Awards 2023

Premiere and film festivals
The Underground Astronaut premiered in 2023 at the Go Short Film Festival in Nijmegen, the Netherlands. Since then, the film has travelled internationally, with screenings at, among others, Docville Leuven in Belgium and the Scinema International Science Film Festival in Adelaide, Australia, where it received the award for Best Short Film. The film was screened at the Silbersalz Science & Media Awards in Germany, where it was nominated for Best Short Science Series alongside four other Ammodo documentaries. Other festivals and events, many of them with a focus on climate, include:

  • Braga Science Film Festival, Minho, Portugal
  • Cinema Verde, Gainesville, United States
  • DOK Film Market, Leipzig, Germany
  • Environmental Film Festival, Zagreb, Croatia
  • Eye Filmmuseum, Amsterdam, the Netherlands
  • Festival MAAS – Studium Generale, Maastricht, the Netherlands
  • InScience Film Festival, Nijmegen, the Netherlands
  • International Film Festival Ekotopfilm, Bratislava, Slovakia
  • St. Louis International Film Festival, St. Louis, United States
  • Utrecht University Betweter Festival, Utrecht, the Netherlands
  • Changing Climate, Changing Lives Film Festival, Bangkok, Thailand

Partner screenings
The Underground Astronaut was broadcast on the Dutch public television channels NPO2 and NPO2 Extra via NTR. The film is also available to stream on NPO Start.

In 2024, the film formed part of the fringe programme accompanying Nicole Beutler’s performance Atmen, as well as the exhibition TRANSMISSION by the art collective Touki Delphine, presented at Hi-Lo in Marrum and MU Hybrid Art House in Eindhoven.

Beyond festivals, exhibitions and events, the film also reaches audiences through collaborations with cultural institutions, educational organisations and streaming platforms, including:

  • Docuseek in the United States
  • Eye Film Player and the archive of the Eye Filmmuseum in Amsterdam
  • Research TV in Canada
  • Green Library in Croatia
  • Labocine
  • Netwerk Filmeducatie (a database of films and educational materials for Dutch education)
The Underground Astronaut at MU Hybrid Art House in Eindhoven, as part of TRANSMISSION by the art collective Touki Delphine. Photo: Hanneke Wetzer.

Director

  • Portret Marleine van der Werf

    Marleine van der Werf

    Marleine van der Werf (1985) is a filmmaker/ artistic researcher with a documentary practice. In her films and multi-sensory installations she collaborates with scientists. Her projects have been shown at IDFA, Future of storytelling NY and Art Basel. In 2018 she won the Next Talent award and in 2019 she was selected as a European Talent for Science Media. In 2021 she became a Sundance Institute Interdisciplinary Program Grantee.

Curious for more?Watch mountain hydrologist Walter Immerzeel in Moving Mountains