Dennis J. McKenna

Gabor Maté

Richard Meech

Rick Strassman

Graham Hancock

A documentary about psychedelics and psychedelic experiences

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.

Filmed in the jungles of Peru, shaman Don Jose Campos introduces the practices and benefits of Ayahuasca, the psychoactive plant brew that has been used for healing and visionary journeys by Amazonian shamans for at least a thousand years.

We present this world from a close, non-sensational perspective. We show what we already know, what we still don't, and how to discuss the topic maturely. In recent years, there has been increasing talk of a resurgence in research on psychedelics and their potential use in treating depression, anxiety, PTSD, and addiction. At the same time, this topic continues to raise many questions, emotions, and controversies. We examine therapeutic paths, work standards, limits of responsibility, and the current state of research. Physicians, psychiatrists, therapists, scientists, and those co-creating the system speak, alongside personal patient stories.

The daring experimenter Dr. John C. Lilly dedicated his life to radical self-investigation and unlocking the mysteries of consciousness and communication. “My body is my laboratory” was the motto, and his research on the language of dolphins and whales – as well as psychedelics and sensory deprivation – assured his own cult status in 20th-century pop culture as the basis for Ken Russel’s Altered States and Mike Nichols’s The Day of the Dolphin.  Directors Michael Almareyda and Courtney Stephens, along with narrator Chloë Sevigny, explore the life of a determined scientist and his experiments into the psychonautical unknown.

Celebrities recall their most mind-bending trips via animations, reenactments and more in this comedic documentary exploring the story of psychedelics.

Experimental movie, where a man comes home and experiences LSD. His kaleidoscopic visions follow, with readings inspired by the Tibethan Book of the Dead.

In the 1970s, Dr. Alexander “Sasha” Shulgin significantly contributed to the development and psychopharmaceutical use of MDMA: a catalyst to personal doors entombed or unknown. His widow, co-author, and research partner, Ann—alongside friends, family, and colleagues—gives a guided tour of their life and laboratory, reflecting on how risks and revelations opened a world of compound enlightenment. Stippled with spirituality, sadness, and skepticism, the Shulgins’ chemical love story examines the power of psychedelic psychotherapy, sacred alchemy, and challenging the path of misunderstood resistance.

THE SPIRIT MOLECULE weaves an account of Dr. Rick Strassman's groundbreaking DMT research through a multifaceted approach to this intriguing hallucinogen found in the human brain and hundreds of plants, including the sacred Amazonian brew, ayahuasca. Utilizing interviews with a variety of experts to explain their thoughts and experiences with DMT, and ayahuasca, within their respective fields, and discussions with Strassman’s research volunteers, brings to life the awesome effects of this compound, and introduces us to far-reaching theories regarding its role in human consciousness.