Psychedelic documentaries

A loving mother is granted the legal right for medical use of magic mushrooms. She then embarks on a courageous journey of personal transformation and healing, exploring possible cures for cancer, like cannabis oil.

From Shock to Awe, an intimate and raw look at the transformational journey of two combat veterans suffering from severe trauma as they abandon pharmaceuticals to seek relief through the mind-expanding world of psychedelics.

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. The recent resurgence of psychedelic research is once again revealing the power of compounds like psilocybin to profoundly alter our understanding of both life and death. Through the eyes of patients, their loved ones, therapists, and researchers, A New Understanding examines the use of psilocybin in a controlled setting to reduce psychospiritual anxiety, depression, and physical pain. The treatment aims to help the patient understand that a 'good' death is possible, and to help the patient's family deal well with the dying process. A New Understanding shows patients and their families coming to terms with dying through the skillful treatment of the whole human being. If we can learn to work more skillfully with dying, we will also learn to take better care of life.

"Ayahuasca and the Path of the Shaman" is a 96 minute documentary that investigates the healing properties of the Peruvian Plant Medicine, Ayahuasca. Driven by a need to heal from his own depression, Dave, travels from his home outside Vancouver, Canada, to Peru in search of this spiritual plant, where he eventually is taught by a Shipibo Master how to work with it. The film's narrative unfolds through a series of storylines: We follow Shannan, as she begins her journey with Dave and this strange medicine, uncovering child-hood trauma buried deep inside her sub-conscious. We hear from Lisa, who has recovered from a heroin and crack addiction that she suffered while working as a prostitute in the streets of Toronto. We also hear from her doctor, Gabor Mate, whom through talk therapy, helps participants uncover how their experiences with Ayahuasca relate to their daily lives. And we also hear from Libby. Who starts her journey with this plant by leaving a suicide message on her phone that thankfully never gets delivered. Thanks to the help of Gabor, Dave, and this incredible Plant.

"Maria Sabina, woman spirit", is the cinematic portrait of one of the most famous healers-shamans of Mexico.

Ibogaine: Rite of Passage follows an American heroin addict through an ibogaine session at a clinic in Tijuana, Mexico. Through a series of critical interviews with former addicts, ibogaine facilitators, and other experts, the documentary asks if the controversial status of ibogaine is due to economics or to its hallucinogenic effects? [maps.org]

A documentary which invites the viewer to rediscover an enchanted cosmos in the modern world by awakening to the divine within.

A stylish, in depth look at the renaissance in psychedelic drug research in light of current scientific, medical and cultural knowledge.

The secrets about unlocking the mysteries of consciousness by plant-drugs. The related chances and risks involved in this shamanism.

A weekly series of short documentary segments funded by the National Geographic Society and done in the style of the National Geographic Specials. In 2003, the show was re-branded National Geographic Ultimate Explorer. A news-style journal format is now used instead of the more traditional format of the specials.

Director's interviews, accompanied by archival footage and original music, Ram Dass explores our universal human condition and behaviors in connection to the journey of the soul and the shared unity of all of our lives.

An informative and compelling exploration of Shamanic use of Ayahuasca, the extraordinary visionary brew.

Esplora in un viaggio descrittivo sul mondo magico, misterioso e medicinale dei funghi e sul loro potere di guarire, sostenere e contribuire alla rigenerazione della vita sulla Terra iniziata 3,5 miliardi di anni fa.

What is consciousness? Is it in all living beings? What happens when we die? Why do we seem to be hardwired for mystical experience? In these times of existential crisis, there has been an explosion of research into consciousness. After four centuries of silence, scientists are confronting the "Big Questions", cutting a window into a realm previously held tight by philosophy and religion: AWARE follows six brilliant researchers, approaching the greatest of all mysteries from radically different perspectives, from within and without: through high-tech brain research and Eastern meditation, by scientifically exploring inner space through psychedelic substances and by investigating the consciousness of plants. Scientists are arriving at new insights - some have been integral to Indigenous knowledge for millenia. AWARE opens as a science film but emerges well beyond the explicable, ultimately leading one on a voyage upon the ocean of consciousness, a contemplative, sensual, cinematographic meditation. The networks of consciousness are reflected in 'grand' imagery revealing the vast interconnectedness of Nature - from the smallest organisms, to the world of plants and animals and on to the cosmos. It invites one to experience the awe and mystery of life as the researchers do, to dive in with them, returning to see the world anew, to review long-held beliefs and assumptions and initiate one's own oceanic journey. Ultimately, to be aware one is aware. With Richard Boothby, Monica Gagliano, Roland Griffiths, Josefa Kirvin Kulix, Christof Koch, Matthieu Ricard and Mingyur Rinpoche.

Explore three psychedelic trips by three world-famous authors that together changed them, and Western culture, forever. Let go and be taken on an animated journey into the depths of the human mind with three brave pioneers of the 1950's/60's - Aldous Huxley, Timothy Leary and Alan Watts. Combining stylish, minimalist animation with a rich, immersive soundscape, Journeys creates a unique cinematic spectacle, inviting you to relive the highs - and the lows - of the psychedelic experience from the edge of your seat. Sixty years later we put these historic trips into a modern context, framing them via an ongoing conversation with twelve major current thinkers, including Graham Hancock, Gabor Maté, Amanda Feilding and Dennis McKenna. Together we explore the question: "What can expanded states of mind teach us about ourselves, the world and our place in it?"

This introduces the viewer to the world of mysticism and its relationship with psychedelic drugs and their place in modern world, with emphasis on the developments in the 20th century.

Documentary about a journey to the heart of the Peruvian Amazon in search of a healer who works with jungle plants. Recounts the experience of the preparation of an Ayahuasca's ceremony.

Plant Explorer Richard Evans Schultes was a real life Indiana Jones whose discoveries of hallucinogenic plants laid the foundation for the psychedelic sixties. Now in this two hour History Channel TV Special, his former student Wade Davis, follows in his footsteps to experience the discoveries that Schultes brought to the western world. Shot around the planet, from Canada to the Amazon, we experience rarely seen native hallucinogenic ceremonies and find out the true events leading up to the Psychedelic Sixties. Featuring author/adventurer Wade Davis ("Serpent and the Rainbow"), Dr. Andrew Weil, the Grateful Dead's Bob Weir and many others, this program tells the story of the discovery of peyote, magic mushrooms and beyond: one man's little known quest to classify the Plants of the Gods. Richard Evans Schultes revolutionized science and spawned another revolution he never imagined.

In 2012 a team of medical researchers asked themselves, "what would happen if we gave psilocybin (magic mushrooms) to people suffering from severe depression"? It took them three years to get the necessary permissions to find out.

Orange Sunshine is the never-before-told story of the Brotherhood of Eternal Love - a spiritual group of surfers and hippies in California, which became the largest suppliers of LSD during the 60's and 70's. This feature-length doc follows their rise to star-status in Psychedelic movement and the "bad trip" that followed.

Stan was a pioneer in human consciousness research and one of the primary psychiatrists who developed psychedelic psychotherapy. Follows the full scope of the insights Stan Grof developed during his 60 year career.

A radical testimony of the strongest known natural psychedelic, tryptamine 5-MeO-DMT produced by Bufo Alvarius, a toad of the Sonoran desert.

An investigation into the long-obscured mystery of dimethyltryptamine (DMT), a molecule found in nearly every living organism and considered the most potent psychedelic on Earth.

In 1943, Albert Hofmann discovered LSD. Fractions of a milligram are enough to turn our framework of time and space upside down. The story of a drug - its discovery in the Basel chemistry lab, the first experiments by Albert Hofmann on himself, the 1950s experiments of the psychiatrists, the consciousness researchers, the artists. Could it actually be possible to find a path to the core of our human existence by means of a chemical? Spirituality at the flick of a switch? Do the enigmatic effects of this drug really help us to better understand the human soul? Could LSD be an instrument of contemporary psychiatry? Of modern brain research?