The Psychedelic Film and Music Festival has announced the award winners for its sixth annual event, which featured a lineup of science fiction, horror, and fantasy films, music videos, and panels with filmmakers. Screenings were from October 20-22 at the Producers Club Theaters in Midtown Manhattan. 

The event recognized 10 official selections for outstanding filmmaking, storytelling, and music. 

BEST PSYCHEDELIC FEATURE

• The Child of Plomo (2021)
• Director: Daniel Dávila, Chile, 67 min

Waking from a mysterious dream, Mateo drags Scarlett, his babysitter, away from the Andean ski resort where he’s spending the holidays with his parents in search of an unknown place. His quest becomes Scarlett’s as the call of the mountains intensifies. Pristinely poetic, the film illustrates a major Inca ritual, bridging past and present.

BEST TRANSPERSONAL DOCUMENTARY

• Biognosis (2022)
• Director: Greg Hemmings, Canada, 32 min

The McKenna Academy’s BioGnosis project aims to renovate and digitize an immensely important collection of 150,000 biological specimens currently housed at the Herbarium of the Amazon in Iquitos, Peru. The herbarium includes vital knowledge on how the indigenous people use the plants for healing.

BEST PSYCHEDELIC DOCUMENTARY

• Onanya (2022)
• Director: Paris Tume, UK, 63 minutes

In the verdant, lush jungles of the Amazon, a tribe of indigenous people has lived in harmony with their surroundings for millennia. The Shipibo tribe has learned the secrets of the earth, honing their knowledge to transform the native flora into powerful medicines that can cure any sickness.  But their peaceful existence is threatened.

BEST PSYCHEDELIC HORROR

• Alone Together (2023)
• Director: William Kresch, USA, 94 min

After fleeing their pandemic-ravaged city for the safety of a remote family cabin, a physically and emotionally abused woman and her volatile boyfriend are forced to face the vengeful spirit that haunts it — and each other.

BEST PSYCHEDELIC/TRANSPERSONAL SHORT

• I Am What You Imagine (2023)
• Director: Matthew Modine, United States, 7 min

This short film is a sensual exploration of the unexplainable. Featuring the voice talents of Ruby Modine and long-time Kubrick collaborator Leon Vitali in his final performance, the short uses sound, music, and expressionistic imagery to take viewers on a journey of the heart and mind.

BEST PSYCHEDELIC SCI-FI/SUPERNATURAL SHORT

• Lux Chroma (2022)
• Director: Kwokyong Ng, Malaysia, 11 min

Zac is not just an ordinary digital colorist who color grades videos, he is able to see human’s aura and “color grade” their aura to heal them.

BEST ANIMATION

• Dying on Amanitas (2023)
• Director: Charlie Goulet, USA, 15 min

Experiencing death by a gunshot, while on the Amanita Muscaria mushroom.

BEST FOLK/TRANCE SONG

• Polychron Plus feat. Anna Domino’a Pocketknife (2022)
• Director: Domenico Morreale, Italy, 4 min 

“Pocketknife” is the music video for Polychron Plus’ song featuring Anna Domino, taken from the album Polychron+ “She’s always been there.”

BEST PSYCHEDELIC BAND/SONG

• Acid King – Beyond Vision (2023)
• Director: Dalan McNabola, United States, 8 min

Inspired by “2001: A Space Odyssey,” Carl Sagan, and LSD, the video asks what would happen if instead of the Voyager Golden Record, the new Acid King record was sent off into space?

BEST PSYCHEDELIC TRANSPERSONAL SCREENPLAY

• The Messiah Machine
• Writer: Thomas Mercer, United States 

Two former lovers, Thea Marias (an accomplished neuroscientist) and Juan Baptista (an anthropologist and shaman’s apprentice) navigate a world of political and religious intrigue, where the fate of an A.I. super-computer holds the promise of unlocking extraordinary powers and profound spiritual enlightenment.

The Psychedelic Film and Music Festival has announced the award winners for its fifth annual event, which featured a lineup of science fiction, horror, and fantasy films, music videos, and panels with filmmakers. The festival took place in person at the Producers Club Theaters in Midtown Manhattan on November 19, and virtually on November 20. 

The event recognized 11 official selections for outstanding filmmaking and storytelling that explore the influence and breakthroughs of the psychedelic community. 

BEST PSYCHEDELIC FEATURE

Trap (2021)

• Director: Anthony Edward Curry
• Run Time/Country: 96 min, USA
• Synopsis: Facing life in prison, a hood dreams of the violent streets that forged his identity, but cursed his soul.

BEST PSYCHEDELIC SCI-FI FEATURE

Enter Mycel (2022)

• Director: Daniel Christian Limmer
• Run Time/Country: 74 min, Austria
• Synopsis: After the death of her mother, thirteen-year-old Lena struggles to keep the family life together, between her newborn baby sister and her depressed father, who seeks relief from his loss through the manic belief of a timeless and worldwide emotion-based communication system enabled by a natural fungal parasite called the Mycel.

BEST PSYCHEDELIC DOCUMENTARY

Woodstock: A Snapshot in Time (2022)

• Director: Nancy Cohen Koan
• Run Time/Country: 79 min, USA
• Synopsis: Two filmmakers, one an alumni of the original Woodstock Festival, the other, a younger Brit who only read about the sixties, plan a return to the original site in hopes of re- kindling the spirit of the time. They meet up with the philosophic and political icons of the era who encourage them to believe in a more just world. In the meantime, they fall into their own kooky relationship, perhaps an accident of working closely together or a necessity born out of a need for spiritual growth for the changing times.

BEST PSYCHEDELIC/TRANSPERSONAL DOCUMENTARY 

Hearts Road (2021)

• Director: Colin Finlay
• Run Time/Country: 35 min, USA
• Synopsis: Hearts Road was photographed in 95 countries and produced over a period of 30 years. It represents one man’s journey of evolution, his deep spiritual growth and ultimately his return to the seat of his soul. Transformative and prodigal, it also becomes a journey for every one of us. Take your innermost mind and, through his eyes, and his lens, discover a world that few have ever seen.

BEST PSYCHEDELIC HORROR/MAGICAL REALISM SHORT

Out There (2021)

• Director: Luka Mikkas
• Run Time/Country: 30 min, Denmark
• Synopsis: A young man finds himself in his own primitive self-created world, consisting of a tent, a well, a small garden and a scrap yard. He performs some rituals over the book Karma Sutra and cuts important notes, images out of the book as a form of worship and sacrifice to make a new life grow, all the while his subconscious takes more and more control and brings him beyond nature and far out in the universe.

BEST AUDIENCE IN THE PSYCH AND SCI-FI

227 (2022)

• Director: Matthis Dor
• Run Time/Country: 22 min, France
• Synopsis: A young man wanders between the walls of his house, sinking into the darkest depths of his psychology. As memories of his past life wander around him, his thoughts escape into the void that surrounds him.

BEST ANIMATION

The Interrogation (2022)

• Director: Marisa Cohen, Peter Issac Alexander
• Run Time/Country: 6 min, USA
• Synopsis: Set several decades in the future, The Interrogation is a cat and mouse game between a corporate media executive performing a “loyalty test,” and a savvy news director harboring a potentially game-changing secret.The Interrogation explores a mind-bending and often-psychedelic world where an all-powerful media company sets all the rules and demands religious like devotion from his employee

BEST PSYCHEDELIC SONG

Melody (2021)

• Director: Eric Harrison
• Run Time/Country: 4 min, USA
• Synopsis: An homage to “Spill the Wine” by Eric Burdon and War, “Open My Eyes” by Nazz, “I Heard Her Call My Name” by the Velvets and a few dozen other great psychedelic nuggets.

BEST MUSIC VIDEO

I Gets No Sleep (2021)

• Director: NAJD FerencME
• Run Time/Country: 14 min, USA
• Synopsis: A music video director moonlights as talent during the pandemic. A 14 minute film told through song.

BEST EDM SONG

Fight For What Is Right (2020)

• Artist: Carlos KRL Mera
• Run Time/Country: 4 min, USA
• Synopsis: Hello I am KRL and I am giving you for consideration one of my songs that I am most proud about, the process of making Fight For What Is Right is a whole story that I am willing to tell you about.

BEST SCREENPLAY

Sugar Water

• Writer: Noelani Mei Lee

[Based on a press release.]

The Psychedelic Film and Music Festival has announced the award winners for its fourth annual event, which featured a lineup of science fiction, horror, and fantasy films, music videos, and panels with filmmakers. The festival took place December 9-12, with virtual screenings as well as in-person events at the Producers Club Theaters in Midtown Manhattan. 

The event recognized ten official selections for outstanding filmmaking and storytelling that explore the influence and breakthroughs of the psychedelic community. 

BEST PSYCHEDELIC FEATURE

Wonderland Recoil (2021)

• Director: Shaun Rana
• Run Time/Country: 93 min, Denmark
• Synopsis: In the future it’s possible to print custom made drugs & psychedelics in your home. Alice is stuck in her life, and is desperately looking for an escape. She finds a brand new psychedelic drug called Nirvana – designed to warp your reality. Alice takes it, arrives in Wonderland as her alter ego Ecila and gets lost in Wonderland, where she has to face her demons and nightmares.

BEST PSYCHEDELIC DOCUMENTARY

The Song That Calls You Home (2020)

• Director: Luis Robledo, Vanni Mangoni
• Run Time/Country: 73 min, USA/Canada/Costa Rica/Italy/Peru
• Synopsis: This is a personal, scientific and mystical exploration of Amazonian curanderismo with focus on Ayahuasca and Master Plants, their healing and visionary properties and risks, along with the wondrous world of the Shipibo people and song.

BEST TRANSPERSONAL DOCUMENTARY

Three Films (2020)

• Director: Ivan Weiss
• Run Time/Country: 16 min, USA/UK/Japan/Portugal/Poland
• Synopsis: Framed around three performances – two live shows and one studio cut – “Three Films” is a patchwork video sculpture, a meditation on the creative process.

BEST PSYCHEDELIC HORROR FEATURE

Corpse (2018)

• Director: Christopher Ernst
• Run Time/Country: 83 min, USA
• Synopsis: A forbidden book which induces madness in those who read it. An experimental film based on the classic weird fiction anthology, “The King in Yellow” by Robert W. Chambers.

BEST PSYCHEDELIC SCI-FI SHORT

Codex Entropia (2021)

• Director: Richard Pell
• Run Time/Country: 9 min, USA
• Synopsis: An ancient civilization develops complex computing technologies using only well-trained animals. Told through a psychedelic found-footage slideshow sourced entirely from 100+ year old stereoscopic photographs. Seen here in its intended anaglyph format.

BEST SHORT FORM DOCUMENTARY

Psychedelic Pandemic (2021)

• Director: Luis Solarat
• Run Time/Country: 30 min, USA/Peru
• Synopsis: A filmmaker from London leaves his career behind and travels to the Amazon to fulfill a life-long dream and experience Ayahuasca but on his way to Peru, COVID-19 changes everything, leaving him trapped in the jungle while the world as he knew it disappears.

BEST PSYCHEDELIC/TRANSPERSONAL SHORT

Dazzle Ships (2021)

• Director: Solomon Burbridge
• Executive Producer: Todd Haynes 
• Run Time/Country: 19 min, USA
• Synopsis: In Dazzle Ships, the performers and their desire to feel loved are set in an internal feedback loop where the weapon of psychic disturbance becomes a tool of self awakening. The result is a genuine reflection of the fewest who are exposed. The magic of the obscure and ephemeral.

BEST ANIMATION SHORT

Paint on Paint #1 (2021)

• Director: Vasco Diogo
• Run Time/Country: 4 min, Portugal
• Synopsis: This film used dripping techniques that emulate abstract expressionist painting and the work of Stan Brakhage, in order to produce insights about ourselves and the world we live in.

BEST EDM PSY-TRANCE SONG

Dustria (2020)

• Director: Alison Tanenhaus
• Run Time/Country: 5 min, USA
• Synopsis: A candy-colored, slightly sinister, otherworldly meditation on industrial waste and atmospheric decay. Presented in the form of a hypnotic music video for Boston electronic synth duo The Square Root of Negative Two.

BEST PSYCHEDELIC SONG

Copper Lines (2021)

• Director/Artists: Banjii & Mayuri
• Run Time/Country: 6 min, USA
• Synopsis: Banjii & Mayuri is a band that released their debut single “Copper Lines” from their upcoming album “Uncommon Love Story” on August 14th, 2020 on all streaming platforms.

The Psychedelic Film and Music Festival has announced the award winners for its third annual event which featured a lineup of science fiction, horror, and fantasy films, music videos, and panel discussions. The virtual festival, held from January 14-17, 2021, explored the influence and breakthroughs of the psychedelic community and recognized nine official selections for their outstanding filmmaking and storytelling. 

BEST PSYCHEDELIC FEATURE

Magnetic Pathways (2018)

• Director: Edgar Pera
• Run Time/Country: 97 min, Portugal
• Synopsis: Portugal is ruled by an authoritarian plutocracy and one man descends into a night of drunken soul searching and humiliation after his beloved daughter is wedded to one of the power elite.

BEST PSYCHEDELIC DOCUMENTARY

Veterans Journey Home (2020)

• Director: Frederick Marx
• Run Time/Country: 100 min, USA
• Synopsis: A cohort of 12 military veterans do an ancient, 12-day, wilderness Vision Fast ceremony in the desert in Washington that includes four days of solo fasting on the land using only water and minimal shelter. Directed by the producer and co-writer of the 1994 documentary Hoop Dreams.

BEST TRANSPERSONAL DOCUMENTARY

The People Who Suspend (2019)

• Director: Lukas Larson
• Run Time/Country: 97 min, USA
• Synopsis: Director Lukas Larson set out to understand the people who practice body suspension, but what began as a study of other people, ended with the camera pointed at himself as he faced the end of life as he knew it. The People Who Suspend covers everything from the ancient history of this strange ritual to the diverse ways it is practiced in the modern era. This is the first feature documentary specifically focused on the practice of suspension and the people who suspend. 

BEST VISIONARY SHORT

Embers of the Sun (2019)

• Director: Zareh Tjeknavorian
• Run Time/Country: 12 min, Armenia
• Synopsis: This impressionistic short film evokes the otherworldly beauty of Armenia’s prehistoric monuments and their sacred landscapes. The monoliths and rock art of the highlands are vestiges of the mysterious Bronze Age peoples that hunted and worshipped in this remote volcanic realm some 4 thousand years ago.

BEST PSYCHEDELIC/TRANSPERSONAL SHORT

Loss of Reality (2019)

• Director: Martin Holper
• Run Time/Country: 27 min, Germany
• Synopsis: Momo is a young man who would rather take drugs and fool around with his girlfriend than work at his parent’s shop. His irresponsible behavior towards himself starts soon to affect his family and friends.

BEST HORROR SHORT

Stuk (2019)

• Director: Nadira Murray
• Run Time/Country: 8 min, UK
• Synopsis: Troubled teen Angela enters the toilet to refresh herself. She feels odd. She hears a sudden gunshot and screams – “the night club is under attack.” Angela fears for her life; or is her mind playing tricks?

BEST PSYCHEDELIC ANIMATION

La Vuelta de la Polilla (2019)

• Director: Brian C. O’Malley and Daniel A. Peneng
• Run Time/Country: 6 min, USA
• Synopsis: A young shaman in search of the eternal light discovers a moth who holds the secret of transcendence. The shaman goes on a quest to join the moth and its flock, discovering ultimate reality.

BEST PSY-TRANCE INSTRUMENTAL

Awakening (2020)

• Composer: Ava Lynch
• Run Time/Country: 4 min, USA
• Synopsis: An instrumental voyage of Transcendence.

BEST PSY-ROCK SONG

End of Confusion (2020)

• Composer: Second Coming
• Run Time/Country: 4 min, USA
• Synopsis: From the album “Fall of Babylon,” this music video is about coming to grips with the Earth’s crisis and finding hope.

The Psychedelic Film and Music Festival explores the altered states of consciousness and psychedelia created by film, music, art and other forms of media. Showcasing independent feature films, shorts, music videos and documentaries, and panels with distinguished guests, the festival pushes the boundaries of psychedelic and noetic realities to give audiences a unique and visceral experience.

[Based on a press release.]