Psychedelic Cinema | "2001: A Space Odyssey"
Date and Time
Location
PSYCHEDELICS IN SOCIETY & CULTURE
PSYCHEDELIC CINEMA AT THE HARVARD FILM ARCHIVE
About the Film
Stanley Kubrick’s science fiction epic remains a defining film of the Sixties and one of the purest expressions of his vision of Man controlled by fateful patterns that he cannot perceive but the viewer is allowed to fathom. The equal power of 2001: A Space Odyssey to awe and to confuse its audience frightened MGM executives, who worried that the film would not recoup its tremendous costs. Realizing its psychedelic potential as a trance-inducing head film, the studio boldly rereleased 2001 two years after its first tepid reception, now with the savvy tagline, “The Ultimate Trip.” Youth audiences flocked to the cinema to “drop into” Kubrick’s film and travel together through the Stargate. – Haden Guest
Directed by Clyde Geronimi, Stanley Kubrick | UK/US, 1968, 35mm, color, 149 min.
Preceded By
Allures (1961, Directed by Jordan Belson)
Visit the screening page on the HFA Website to learn more and buy tickets
About Psychedelic Cinema
Psychedelic Cinema is cosponsored and hosted by the Harvard Film Archive. Rather than solely focusing on LSD films that more directly depict or allude to drug use and psychedelic culture, this series aims to expand the notion of psychedelic cinema through the hallucinogenic lens. Through sounds and visuals, the films seek to bring viewers to an altered state of mind in which the impossible becomes possible and the unexpected becomes reality.
The series runs from September 6 through November 7. For the full screening schedule and to buy tickets, visit the series page HFA website:
About the Study of Psychedelics in Society & Culture
The Study of Psychedelics in Society and Culture, an interdisciplinary effort across the Faculty of Arts and Sciences, Harvard Law School, and Harvard Divinity School, seeks to transform the psychedelics research landscape by producing cutting-edge scholarship and convening faculty, students, and experts to engage in discussion around their far-reaching implications.