Playing with Fire: An Ecosexual Emergency is a joyous, mythopoetic documentary born from the ashes of California’s devastating wildfires. When lightning ignites the redwood forests surrounding their home in Boulder Creek, longtime lovers and artist-activists Beth Stephens and Annie Sprinkle are forced to evacuate with their dog, Butch—and their lives are forever transformed. They don’t just survive the CZU Fire—they are changed by it.

Blending loss and grief with art, humor, intimacy, and community care, 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 becomes both a love letter to queer resilience and an urgent, creative call-to-action as the climate crisis worsens.

Beth Stephens is a renowned art professor at UC Davis, artist, and filmmaker. Annie Sprinkle is a trailblazing sex-positive feminist and performance artist. Together, they pioneered “sexecology,” a fusion of sexual pedagogy and environmental activism. They are partners and activists who have shaped a queer, pleasure-based environmental movement through their collaborative work creating art, hosting eco-weddings, making films, leading workshops, and writing books. They have produced several publications and films. They are Guggenheim Fellows and Eureka Fellows. Exhibitions include the Venice Biennale and documents 14 and multiple venues around the world.