This award-winning documentary about poet, artist, calligrapher and mystic Brion Gysin, portrays the life and legacy of an artist who believed art could revolutionize human consciousness. FLicKeR chronicles Gison’s complex ideas, friendships and influence with some of the 20th century’s key counterculture figures, such as William Burroughs, Kurt Corbain and Marianne Faithful.
Gysin was fascinated by identity. He saw himself as incarnating the 10th-century King of Assassins, trained in counter-espionage during WWII, and wrote and rewrote his name in countless permutations, as if to make it disappear - in the process, inventing the cut-up technique that his lifelong friend, Beat novelist Burroughs, would make famous. Featuring greats like Burroughs (in archival footage), singer Marianne Faithfull, singer/artist Genesis P-Orridge of Psychic TV, poet John Giorno, punk rocker Iggy Pop, filmmaker Kenneth Anger and artist/turntablist DJ Spooky, FLicKeR is a hypnotic documentary.
Taking the dream machine as the basis of its explorations, FLicKeR asks crucial questions about the nature of art and consciousness, and imagines humanity liberated to explore its creativity in complete freedom.
Featuring:
Marianne Faithfull - Iggy Pop - Kenneth Anger - Genesis P-Orridge - John Giorno - DJ Spooky
And many more…
Special Jury Prize for Best Canadian Feature Documentary
The rare documentary that jumps beyond informative and entertaining into the realm of mind-expanding, FLicKeR blends revelatory biography, energizing philosophy, and seductive trances.
– Michael Fox in the San Francisco Weekly
FlicKeR is steadfast in its belief that Gysin is influential… a variety of academics use Gysin as a gateway to discussions of everything from the changing nature of terrorism to iPods… [FLicKeR] energizes his enigma.
– Johnny Ray Huston, San Francisco Bay Guardian
The impressive parade of counter cultural talking heads put forth a cumulative defense of Gysin as a creative force in his own right, whose talents and insights extend far beyond Burroughs’ long shadow.
– Matt Sussman, SF360
For Screenings, public Performance or Educational Orders please visit the FLicKeR Educational Page
In the 1960s and 1970s thousands of hippies journeyed east to India in search of enlightenment. Indian peasants assumed that a severe drought in the West was the reason for their migration. India’s holy men saw it as a search for spirituality. Most moved back to their home countries after a few months or years while others stayed for good. Hippie Masala is a portrait of Western ex-patriates: Robert from Holland, a gifted painter, lives with jos wife and young children. Meera, a hermit, seeks enlightenment on her own, while Cesare, an Italian expatriate, strives for spiritual liberation through back-breaking yoga. Hanspeter, a man originally from Switzerland, runs a small farm in the Himalayas. Erica and Gillian, South African twins, sew hippie handicrafts by day and party tirelessly at night.
All, in the end, embraced this land of ancient traditions and transcendent pleasures as their own. Hippie Masala is a fascinating chronicle about aging flower children who, after fleeing Western civilization, found a new way of life in India.
Long before Timothy Leary urged a generation to “tune in, turn on and drop out,” lysergic acid diethylamide (or LSD) was being used by researchers committed to understanding the workings of the human mind. Discovered in 1943 by Swiss chemist Albert Hofmann, LSD was hailed as a powerful tool for the treatment of alcoholism and drug addiction and to provide a window into schizophrenia and other mental illnesses. Much of that pioneering research was done by the team of Humphry Osmond, Abram Hoffer and Duncan Blewett, all working in Saskatchewan.
While researchers were establishing the medical benefits of LSD, others—like the friend of Humphry Osmond, author Aldous Huxley—promoted the drug as a powerful tool for mental exploration and self-understanding. At Harvard, Timothy Leary, Ralph Metzner and Ram Dass became popular heroes after the university cancelled their research into psychedelics.
With thoughtful interviews, beautiful music and stunning cinematography, Hofmann’s Potion is an invitation to look at LSD with a more open, compassionate mind.
Featuring the Pioneers of LSD:
Albert Hofmann - Timothy Leary - Aldous & Laura Huxley - Ram Dass - Humphry Osmond
Ralph Metzner - Duncan Blewett - Myron Stolaroff - Abram Hoffer - Stanislav Grof
“To fathom hell or soar angelic, try a pinch of psychedelic.” -Humphry Osmond
This award-winning documentary about poet, artist, calligrapher and mystic Brion Gysin, portrays the life and legacy of an artist who believed art could revolutionize human consciousness. FLicKeR chronicles Gison’s complex ideas, friendships and influence with some of the 20th century’s key counterculture figures, such as William Burroughs, Kurt Corbain and Marianne Faithful.
