Industrian Pilz is a film that examines the culture of industrialization through the lens of mycology – the botanical study of fungi. 

Emerging in the wake of West Germany’s absorption of a decaying East German state, the industrial zone at Brück/Linthe bears witness to certain post-unification organizational strategies currently being deployed in the conversion of the East’s agricultural sector.

Set within a landscape absent from the postwar suburban development common to the west, the site – composed of West German industries employing robotic technologies to manufacture materials for the construction industry – sits in stark contrast to an existing agricultural region where on average 1 in 5 are unemployed.

Splicing original investigative footage shot in the industrial zone with archival film clips, interviews of local residents, scenes of cultural globalization from popular media, and samplings from the music and musings of pioneering myco-aesthete, John Cage, the Pilzfilm explores the flotsam and jetsam drifting in the wake of West Germany’s absorption of a decaying East German state.

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CREDITS:

Premiered at the Viper International Film and Video Festival, Basel, Switzerland and screened at Anthology Film Archives (New Filmmakers Series)

Narration: Clare Miflin, Mark Shepard, Bertrand Ivanoff

Interviews: Carolin Tabel

Camera: Mark Shepard

Translations: Dan Amarel, Claudia Dias, Bertrand Ivanoff, Erwin Redl, Sabine Schenk

The Committee: Dan Amarel, Erwin Redl, Lytle Shaw, Mark Shepard, Carlos Tejada

Project Support:
The New York State Council On The Arts, The Experimental Television Center, USIS Berlin Amerika Haus, Ministerium Für Wirtschaft, Mittlestand, Kultur Und Technologie Die Landes Brandenburg, Kulturamt Des Landkrieises Potsdam-Mittelmark, The British Council, Berlin, Czech Ministry Of Culture, Trust For Mutual Understanding, Pro Helvetia Ost-West, Open Society Fund, The Center For Metamedia