Independent film pioneer Roger Corman’s The Trip marks one of the earlier forays into psychedelic narrative filmmaking of the 1960s. Written by Jack Nicholson and featuring the likes of Peter Fonda, Bruce Dern, Susan Strasberg and Dennis Hopper, The Trip carries audiences through the psychedelic journey of finding oneself through chemically aided introspection. Corman reportedly took LSD himself to prepare for the making of this film, and he used his experiences to cinematically simulate the moods, sounds and visions felt on the drug. With artful shots, trippy visual sequences, groovy settings and innovative camera movements, Corman was widely known for making shoestring-budget cult films that leave lasting impressions on viewers and the box office. As one of American International Pictures’ most successful releases, The Trip cost around $100,000 to make and grossed a whopping $6 million during its initial run. Released during the “Summer of Love,” The Trip was not only inspired by psychedelia, but made its own cultural reverberations and generated a new wave of drug-induced Hollywood films to follow. – Alexandra Vasile
Directed by Roger Corman | US, 1967, 35mm, color, 85 min.
The Mind-Benders: LSD and the Hallucinogens (1967, Directed by Lee R. Bobker)
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, visit the series page HFA website:
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.
LOCATION:Harvard Film Archive (Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts, 24 Quincy Street) STATUS:CONFIRMED DTSTART:20240906T230000Z DTEND:20240906T230000Z END:VEVENT END:VCALENDAR