Film Review: ‘Playing with Fire’ turns a loving lens on destruction
What makes this film different is instead of hard facts and figures or suggestions for future policy, it explores the impact of fire on human life.
In the past two decades, California has been burning hot. Cal Fire's lists of the largest, deadliest and most destructive fires in the state’s history are now dominated by fires from the late 2010s and 2020s. Drier and hotter conditions, lack of forest management and increased populations in rural areas add collateral damage to each fire.
The loss experienced by individuals and communities is both physical and psychological. Years can pass before healing happens.
The 2025 documentary film “Playing with Fire: An Ecosexual Emergency” is a response to the CZU Lightning Complex Fire of 2020 near Santa Cruz, Calif. that burned for 38 days and charred or destroyed over a thousand structures and over 80,000 acres of land. In their film, artists and Boulder Creek residents Beth Stephens and Annie Sprinkle document how a community heals from such destruction.
Some were lucky enough to save their homes and animals during the catastrophe, thanks to brave firefighters and volunteers; however, many lost everything to the flames. In the film, we hear first-hand from those who experienced the fire, evacuation and aftermath.
While the filmmakers’ home was spared in the blaze, their trauma was intense and very real. In the film — to help facilitate their own healing — Stephens and Sprinkle embark on a journey to better understand how humans coexist with fire. To this end, they speak with visual and performance artists, firefighters, therapists and historians about the ways humans live side by side with fire.
“We have ten or fifteen years to really try to redesign our societies to get back into balance,” Melissa Nelson, professor of Indigenous Conservation and Sustainability at ASU, says in the film. We see Nelson and others advocate for regular maintenance-burns to manage forested land, much like Indigenous peoples did for millennia before colonization.
Lots of thought has been devoted to the increasing problem of modern wildfire in California and the rest of the country. What makes this film different is instead of hard facts and figures or suggestions for future policy, it explores the impact of fire on human life. It looks at ways people have adapted to the aftermath of fire destruction, but also the ways people can move forward in harmony with fire as a respected force of nature — a partner rather than an obstacle to prosperity.
Stephens and Sprinkle's documentary style is playfully raw and joyful. Even when describing the horrific events of the fire, they focus on the community’s proactive response. In the face of destruction and horror, they highlight the joy they feel when reunited with members of their community.
In an especially poignant moment in the film, they speak with formerly incarcerated firefighter Brandon Smith, co-founder of the nonprofit Forestry and Fire Recruitment Program, about the struggles that former inmates face when trying to find firefighting work after their release. Even those who received extensive firefighter training and have ample experience as an incarcerated firefighter can have a hard time finding work due to their past record.
While it is easy to drown in the sadness of thousands of inmates exploited for their labor in violation of the 13th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, we are instead inspired by the passionate vision Smith has for the future of firefighting.
Stephens and Sprinkle describe themselves as ecosexual artists. Admittedly, I was confused by the moniker at first. It sounded silly and bizarre. After seeing their film, however, it makes perfect sense. They describe its meaning as taking the earth and its elements as a partner, respecting it and loving it as you would a lover.
This metaphor extends to their multimedia art in the film — a series of marriage ceremonies to the different elements of the earth. While the ceremonies are theatrical and fantastic, they represent a way of thinking that could be our only hope to survive this tumultuous climate-changed world in which we live.
“Playing with Fire: An Ecosexual Emergency” will screen in select U.S. cities this fall, including at REDCAT in Los Angeles on Sept. 26, Chicago on Sept. 29, New York City on Oct. 10 and 11 and San Francisco on Oct. 25. The film will release digitally on-demand in the U.S. and Canada in November. For screening and ticket information, visit SprinkleStephens.ucsc.edu/playing-with-fire. Run time is 71 minutes.
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