Playing with Fire: An Ecosexual Emergency

Introduction by Directors Beth Stephens & Annie Sprinkle and Q&A moderated by Madison Young!

Playing with Fire: An Ecosexual Emergency is a joyous ecosexual documentary born from the ashes of California’s devastating fires. When lightning ignites the redwood forest
surrounding their home in Boulder Creek, longtime lovers Beth Stephens and Annie Sprinkle are forced to evacuate — and their lives are forever transformed.

They blend loss and grief into ecosexual art, moving through fire as destructive, regenerative, and erotic forces, while fusing humor, community care, social justice and environmental
awareness into a lush and fiery journey of transformation.

The film unfolds through an ecosexual lens (imagining the Earth as a lover) while weaving stories from formerly incarcerated firefighters, an Indigenous scholar, fire artists, neighbors, a witch-therapist, a fire-play massage fetishist, and a fire tassel twirling burlesque queen.

Partially narrated by Boulder Creek’s mythical white peacock Albert and culminating in a ceremonial Wedding to Fire on a riverbank in the redwoods, Playing with Fire is a creative
and urgent call-to-action as the climate crisis worsens, and is a powerful portrait of queer resilience in the face of a world in flames.