10 Mind-Blowing Documentaries About Psychedelics
Explore the fascinating world of psychedelics through the lens of captivating documentaries. From the latest scientific research to ancient wisdom traditions, these films delve into the powerful and transformative nature of psychedelics. With stunning visuals, rare interviews, and expert journalism, these documentaries offer a glimpse into the potential of psychedelics for self-discovery, healing, and personal growth. As the field of psychedelics continues to evolve and gain acceptance, these films serve as a valuable resource for understanding the history and potential of these powerful compounds. The Changa team has curated a list of twelve must-see documentaries that will open your mind and inspire new perspectives on the world of psychedelics. So, sit back, relax, and prepare for a journey of the mind and soul.
1. The Last Shaman
The Last Shaman James is an all American boy whose promising life is brought to a halt by acute depression. Turning his back on the most progressive western treatments and medicines, James discovers ayahuasca in search of healing in the Peruvian jungle. Over the course of 10 months venturing from Shaman to Shaman, James finds friendship, answers and a kind of redemption hidden deep in the Peruvian amazon.
→ Watch The Mind Explained, Psychedelics if you’re looking to learn about ayahuasca.
2. The Way Of The Psychonaut: Stanislav Grof’s Journey Of Consciousness
The Way of the Psychonaut explores the life and work of Stanislav Grof, Czech-born psychiatrist and psychedelic psychotherapy pioneer. Stan’s quest for knowledge and insights into the healing power of non-ordinary states of consciousness, influenced the discipline of psychology and profoundly changed many individual lives. One of those transformed by Stan is filmmaker Susan Hess Logeais. The documentary utilizes Susan’s personal existential crisis as a gateway to Grof’s impact, from the micro to the macro.
→ Watch The Way of the Psychonaut if you’re interested in transpersonal psychology.
3. Magic Medicine
Can magic mushrooms cure depression?
Over 4 years, filmmaker Monty Wates was given exclusive access to the first ever medical trial to give psilocybin (the psychoactive ingredient in magic mushrooms) to a group of volunteers suffering from clinical depression.
His remarkable film follows three of the volunteers and their families, and the ambitious staff running the trial, who are hoping this controversial treatment will have the power to transform millions of lives.
With deeply moving footage of the “trips” the patients go on, this intimate film is an absorbing portrait of the human cost of depression, and the inspirational people contributing to groundbreaking psychedelic research.
→ Watch Magic Medicine if you’re researching how psychedelics can help with depression.
4. Sychedelia
PSYCHEDELIA is an hour-long documentary film about psychedelic drugs and their ability to induce mystical and religious experiences. The film chronicles their use in controlled research studies prior to the cultural upheaval of the 1960s, when LSD was regarded as a promising medical breakthrough, as well as their recent re-emergence in psychiatry.
Featuring leading experts in the field of psychedelic research, the film tells the story of medical professionals who have re-introduced these compounds into a legal and growing field of study. First-person accounts from a study on end-of-life anxiety explore the profound, life-altering insights psychedelics induce in participants and what these insights might mean for society at large.
5. HAMILTON’S PHARMACOPEIA
If there is one documentary that hits all the marks when it comes to information about psychedelics, as well as other psychoactive drugs, while simultaneously delivering a high entertainment value, it is – without a doubt – Hamilton’s Pharmacopeia, of which there are now three seasons.
→ Watch The Mind Explained, Psychedelics if you’re looking for an easy introduction.
6. DESCENDING THE MOUNTAIN
Filled with aesthetically pleasing images, jaw dropping cinematography, a great psychedelic soundtrack, and a pinch of neuroscience, Descending the Mountain excels at every front. The documentary includes renowned psychedelic researcher Prof. Dr. Franz Vollenweider and Zen master Vanja Palmers. Their mission? To set out to a monastery on top of mountain Rigi in Switzerland to conduct a novel experiment in which experienced meditators received psilocybin-containing mushrooms in a group setting for the first time in their life. This experiment was double-blind, where neither the researchers or the participants knew what dose they received. Some of the meditators received an active dose of psilocybin, whereas others were ‘unfortunate’ (in their words) and received a placebo. It is amazing, to say the least, how these experienced meditators were able to deepen their meditation due to psilocybin, even after thousands of hours of meditation practice. One individual was completely ecstatic from the beginning till the end and amazed by what he was experiencing. Others felt it to be a collective experience, rather than an individual one, as they were able to feel the energy in the room. Ultimately, placebo or no placebo, the group setting was conducive to the experience at the mountain.
→ Watch Descending The Mountain if you’re looking to learn about psilocybin.
7. JOURNEYS TO THE EDGE OF CONSCIOUSNESS
Journeys to the Edge of Consciousness is a part-animated feature length documentary film by producer / director Rob Harper. Take an animated trip into the depths of the human mind with three brave pioneers of the 1950’s/60’s Aldous Huxley, Timothy Leary and Alan Watts. The film presents three psychedelic trips by these three world-famous authors that together changed them, and Western culture, forever. 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, sitting down with twelve leading current thinkers to ask: "What can expanded states of mind teach us about ourselves, the world and our place in it?"
→ Watch Journeys to the Edge of Consciousness if you’re looking to learn about psychedelic experiences.
8. Neurons To Nirvana: The Great Medicines
Neurons to Nirvana is filled with numerous psychedelic researchers who will be attending ICPR, including Rick Doblin, William Richards, David Nutt, Roland Griffiths, and Amanda Feilding. The film gives a brief overview of classic psychedelics, including psilocybin, ayahuasca, and LSD. In addition, the entactogen MDMA is briefly discussed plus the medicinal benefits of other (non-)psychoactive substances as marijuana and cannabidiol
→ Watch Neurons to Nirvana if you’re interested in an introduction to different psychedelics.
9. Ram Dass, Going Home
“Death does not have to be treated as an enemy for you to delight in life.” - Ram Dass
Ram Dass, Going Home is a short documentary that follows the American spiritual teacher, psychologist and author Baba Ram Dass in his later years as he shares his insights around life, death, suffering and spiritual awakening. While not specifically about psychedelics, Ram Dass was a well-loved psychedelic pioneer known for bringing Eastern philosophy to the West.
→ Watch Ram Dass, Going Home for a gentle insight into the mindset of a wise leader at the end of his life.
10. From Shock To Awe
From Shock to Awe by Luc Côté and Janine Sagart is a documentary that tells the personal stories of two combat veterans suffering from severe trauma. Following their transformational journeys, they seek relief through psychedelics and abandon pharmaceuticals, revealing how these substances can be used to heal PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder) for individuals and their families. Beyond the personal stories, this film also raises fundamental questions about the pharmaceutical industry, the US legal system and war.
→ Watch From Shock to Awe if you’re researching how psychedelics can help with PTSD.