Yarsagumba, also known as the ‘Himalayan gold’, is a rare mushroom that is picked in the remotest corners of the Nepal Himalayas. The prices can reach up to $30.000 per kilogram (2.2 lb). A decade ago, Nepal was struck by the yarsagumba trading craze, as mushroom prices soared in international markets. Since then, the local population has become increasingly dependent on this precious resource. ‘The Mushroom at the Top of the World’ follows the story of a village in Nepal’s Rukum district, where, in the aftermath of the People’s War, villagers have turned to mushroom picking in order to restructure their livelihoods. The documentary addresses the issues of the precarious world of rural Nepal and portrays the people and their resilience in daily struggles to make a living in the relentless mountainous landscape.

The film takes us on a short journey to three remote mountainous villages in Mid-Western Nepal. In these villages, German anthropologist Michael Oppitz shot his legendary ethnographic film ‘Shamans of the Blind Country’ (1981). A mobile cinema brings the film back to the places where it was filmed four decades ago, and gives local new generations an opportunity to revisit their own history through the ‘’magic’’ of cinema. Viewing their own past and present everyday life on the screen, the spectators go through a disenchanting experience.