Beneath our feet lies a mystery. A complex underground network of fungi keeps our ecosystem alive by exchanging nutrients and carbon with plants and trees. Remarkably, no one quite knows how these advanced and age-old systems operate, and how they are affected by climate change. The Underground Astronaut follows the American 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 high-stakes journey into the soil. “No fungi, no future.”

Directed by Marleine van der Werf
Marleine van der Werf (1985) is a filmmaker, visual artist and artistic researcher who works from a documentary starting point. She often collaborates with experts in the fields of science, philosophy, and technology. Her films have screened at international festivals where she has won several awards, including the Scientist Award (2019) at the Abu Dhabi Imagine Science Film Festival.