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Esej razotkriva heterogenu globalnu situaciju kasnih 1960-ih i ranih 1970-ih, periodu globalnih društvenih nemira i promena, u kojemu su se stvarnost i film češće nego što je to obično slučaj prelivali jedno u drugo. Godina 1968. predstavljala je preokret. Tet ofanziva u Vijetnamu; praško proleće; Demokratska konvencija u Chicagu, suzavac i pendreci; Mexico City, masakr preko stotinu demonstranata pred Olimpijske igre; vrhunac angažmana SAD-a u Vijetnamu... Sami filmovi s naglaskom na dokumentarne predstavljali su deo mnogo većeg projekta. Oni su bili oruđe, korišćeno u sveobuhvatnom kontekstu. Bili su “sredstva, centralna tačka oko koje se razvijao javni diskurs i mobilizovanje ljudi na akciju.” Kao što je to filmski kolektiv Newsreel New York poručio u svom prvom javnom saopštenju, decembra 1967: “Za većinu nas filmsko stvaralaštvo je nerazdvojno od društvene aktivnosti u ovom ili onom obliku.” Radilo se zapravo o kreativnom sjedinjavanju kulturne i političke aktivnosti. Kao i o tome “kako upotrebiti takve filmove za uvećavanje i aktiviranje društvene i političke svesti.” Istina o sada već davnim istorijskim događajima koju su autori ovih filmova herojski i posvećeno snimali, dijametralno se razlikovala od onoga što su ljudi širom sveta mogli da vide na večernjim TV vestima ili da saznaju čitajući izveštaje iz štampe. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper centres on the most successful of the numerous attempts to register/recreate the psychedelic experience in film. One of the key assumptions is the fact that there is a strong conceptual link between the cinematic and psychedelic experience and some claim that film is by its nature the most psychedelic of all mediums. The paper also discusses cultural/artistic productions that explored this link. The starting point is also the fact that LSD attracted filmmakers as much as film attracted the psychedelic movement so the cultural fusion between the film and the psychedelia in the 1960s did not happen by chance. The emergence of the New Hollywood, the introduction of new countercultural lifestyles and the use of drugs became an inseparable part of the scene. There is also a parallel story about experimental/avant-garde filmmakers who developed their own aesthetics in line with new acid sensibilities, becoming an inseparable part of the emerging scene of psychedelic mix-media events, where film got to play the central role. The text then takes us to the second part of the 1960s, when psychedelia already imbued the whole spectrum of film productions and when LSD found its place in the background texture of films that otherwise did not centre on the psychedelic movement and up until the moment when LSD in film became a number 1 controversy. This is followed by a discussion about a new generation of experimental/avant-garde filmmakers in the U.S. (New American film), out of which many were involved in the psychedelic movement. Psychedelic feature films focused on simulating the psychedelic experience using film techniques for the purpose of recreating feelings during an acid trip. However, such films aimed at stimulating the sensations of a psychedelic experience further, or rather making psychedelic conditions more intense. This simulation/stimulation was at the core of the attempt of the psychedelic feature film to “extend” the film, extending consciousness at the same time. Of course, this also meant creating an audience that would supplement the new manners of understanding the film through active viewing. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]