What happens if you give magic mushrooms (psilocibine) to experienced Zen practitioners who have never used drugs? What does that teach us about the mystical experience of oneness with nature? Based on these questions, psychiatrist Franz Vollenweider and Zen master Vanja Palmers set up a legal science experiment in a monastery at the top of Mount Rigi in Switzerland. Exactly 50 years after the magic mushrooms were officially banned, a new story begins in what is now called the “psychedelic renaissance”. While in 2021 most studies with psychedelics mainly focus on their promising medical applications, Frans and Vanja are already going a step further. Can the combination of meditation and psilocibin help humanity get out of the mess we have created on ourselves and the planet with our neo-liberal society?
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Like It Is (1968)
This documentary on the "youth movement" of the late 1960s focuses on the hippie pot smoking/free love culture in the San Francisco Bay area.
LSD: The Beyond Within (1986)
This refreshingly frank and impartial study of the discovery and development of the notorious hallucinogenic drug is notably free of moral judgmental, and features contributions from such legendary heroes of psychedelia as Albert Hoffman - the Swiss scientist who discovered the drug - Aldous Huxley - author of 'The Doors of Perception' - Ken Kesey - author of 'One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest.
Tree (2010)
Structural study of a tree. Light, water and air coax it out of the soil in a manner foregrounding time’s relativity to different forms of life on Earth. Made the day my brother got his fork-lift license.
Idea (1968)
The Bee Gees preform in this special created for German TV. Also featured are Julie Driscoll, Brian Auger, and the Trinity, and Lili Lindfors.
A New Understanding: The Science of Psilocybin (2015)
A New Understanding explores the treatment of end-of-life anxiety in terminally ill cancer patients using psilocybin, a psychoactive compound found in some mushrooms, to facilitate deeply spiritual experiences. The documentary explores the confluence of science and spirituality in the first psychedelic research studies since the 1970s with terminally ill patients. As a society we devote a great deal of attention to treating cancer, but very little to treating the human being who is dying of cancer.
Grant Morrison: Talking with Gods (2010)
Philosopher, pop-icon, shaman and story teller - as one of the most influential comic book writers in the market today, Grant Morrison is all of these things. His explosive and often controversial 30 year career has made him a household name for comic fans, and he shows no signs of slowing down. Morrison's career is now taking a new turn, as he explores media beyond comic books. With film and television projects on the horizon, more and more people are asking "Who is Grant Morrison?" Grant Morrison: Talking with Gods is a feature length documentary that takes an in depth look at the life, career and mind of the man behind such pivotal titles as Batman RIP, The Invisibles, All Star Superman, The New X-Men, and many more. Featuring candid interviews with Morrison and his most important collaborators, Talking with Gods reveals an intelligent and thought provoking side of comic books that is often overlooked in Hollywood adaptations.
Dosed (2019)
The documentary follows one woman's quest to overcome anxiety, depression, and opioid addiction through the use of psychedelic medicines.
Operation Teak (NaN)
On the 10th anniversary of his band Rall Tide’s debut album, artist Peter Kotas takes you on a flowering multimedia tour of Detroit musicians trying to survive in a world where you can’t even enjoy a baseball game without supporting The Bay of Pigs. Along the way he shows you how the band’s abrupt break-up led to his career as a political journalist peeking behind the curtains of Kansas to find diplomatic wizard Mike Pompeo, Trump’s CIA Director and Secretary of State, wears no clothes. Iowa Writer’s Workshop hero Kurt Vonnegut (or some entity that knows all about his life) hosts this documentary as the ideal human from his 1985 novel Galapagos: a penguin with flippers unable to pull triggers or press buttons to bomb and kill people.
Turn On, Tune In, Drop Out (2007)
5 psychedelic short films, broadcast on the French/German tv channel "arte" on 2007-07-16 "Be-In" USA 1967, 7 min "Beatles Electronique" USA 1966-69, 3 min "San Francisco" Great Britain 1967/68, 15 min. "Andy Warhol's Exploding Plastic Inevitable" USA/Great Britain 1967, 12 min. "Eyetoon" USA 1967/68, 8 min.
Be-In (1967)
Captures the spirit and essence of the great San Francisco Human Be-In of January 14, 1967. Ten thousand people imbued with peace, love and euphoria. Set to hard rock such as only San Francisco blues can produce. BE-IN contains Allen Ginsberg, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Timothy Leary, Michael McClure, Lenore Kandel and Buddha. Music by Blue Cheer.
Todos tienen algo Desierto (2011)
Documentary-essay short film about a inner/outter trip to the flowery desert in the north of Chile.
Reconnect: The Movie (2019)
Back in 2012 I had my very first Ayahuasca ceremony and, needless to say, I was terrified. But it ended up entirely changing my life and that of my future family. Which is why I decided to revisit the medicine in 2018, participating in three Ayahuasca ceremonies over the course of one week in Costa Rica, and document the process. In the film, we tackle my personal story of trying to build London Real into a global media and transformation company while also struggling with my own disconnection from friends, family and my own species. We also dive deep into the division and tribalism currently facing all of us around the world.
Psychedelic Glue Sniffin' Hillbillies (1993)
A documentary by Craig Smith shot in West Virginia, USA; on the drug taking and sexual promiscuity within the USA.
Daedalus (2024)
"Fly too high and you will burn, go too low and you won't breathe." Daedalus weaves a tale of ambition and caution through an ancient myth, set in a nation below sea level. Shot in just seven consecutive days during the summer of 2023, it concludes the first volume of Bliss, a playlist of sounds and shapes. As the master craftsman gifts his son wings and wisdom, the film delves into the perilous dance between striving for greatness and the suffocating pull of stagnancy. This chaotic exploration bridges the warnings and epiphanic thoughts of 20th-century thinkers with the responses of today's dreamers.
Journeys to the Edge of Consciousness (2019)
Take an animated journey into the depths of the human mind, exploring three psychedelic trips that changed Western culture forever. Sixty years later we sit down with twelve leading current thinkers to ask: "What can expanded states of mind teach us about ourselves, the world and our place in it?"
Acid Delirium of the Senses (1968)
The film, set almost entirely in New York, tells of the life of some young people of the late Sixties: of the use they make of various drugs, including the terrible LSD, of their sex life and their freedom of costume and thought.
Kusama's Self-Obliteration (1967)
A film exploration of the work and aesthetic concepts of Yayoi Kusama, painter, sculptor, and environmentalist, conceived in terms of an intense emotional experience with metaphysical overtones, an extension of my ultimate interest in a total fusion of the arts in a spirit of mutual collaboration. —Jud Yalkut
Sleeping Monster (2022)
Filmed in Melbourne during the first several months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Sleeping Monster explores the prosaic beauty of King Gizzard & the Lizard Wizard’s studio routine. Featuring demos from the album "Changes", plus the track "Change" recorded live in the studio on film.