[THS] Peyote to LSD: A Psychedelic Odyssey

[Peter Webster]

Peyote to LSD: A Psychedelic Odyssey

http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117936834.html?categoryid=32&cs=1

(Docu; History Channel, Sat. April 19, 10 p.m.)

Apr. 18, 2008
By BRIAN LOWRY

Produced by Gryphon Prods. Producers, Sheera von Puttkamer, Peter von
Puttkamer; co-producer, Wade Davis; director, Peter von Puttkamer;
writers, Peter von Puttkamer, Davis;

Hey, something actually snuck onto the History Channel that's actually
interesting and about history -- a connection the channel often struggles to
achieve. In this case, it's an intriguing look at scientist Richard Evan
Schultes -- who roamed the Amazon investigating the plants and "magic
mushrooms" used by local populations that became the hallucinogenic base
for the 1960s. Explorer Wade Davis characterizes Schultes as a kind of
mind-expanding Indiana Jones, but the spec's most salient point is a
broader view of drugs that provides welcome context in contemplating the
U.S.' "Just Say No" policies.

Davis introduces the term "ethno-botanist" into my vocabulary, citing how
Schultes and others explored the Amazon, where peyote and other
hallucinogens had been used in rituals dating back to early man. He also
notes how the psychedelic era that eventually followed -- as these drugs
found their way into the counterculture movement -- were in Schultes' eyes
"the unwanted child" of his discoveries.

Shot in various locations, including the Amazon, Davis and filmmaker Peter
von Puttkamer provide a refreshingly nonjudgmental approach to drug use,
while revealing plenty of interesting tidbits -- such as the CIA's role in
popularizing LSD as a recreational drug by studying its potential cloak-and-
dagger applications.

Because of the emphasis on recreating Schultes' exploits, the doc gives
relatively short shrift to the juiciest parts of the story -- how artists, from the
Grateful Dead to John Lennon to Aldous Huxley (author of "The Doors of
Perception"), wove the consciousness-raising aspects of hallucinogens into
their craft.

That said, the Dead's Bob Weir is among those interviewed in a project that
also incorporates clips of psychedelic pioneers Timothy Leary and Ken Kesey
as well as Davis witnessing modern ceremonies involving various kinds of
exotic flora. The net effect reinforces man's enduring quest to get high
despite persistent attempts to stigmatize those efforts.

"Peyote to LSD" isn't perfect, but it does weave obscure history into a timely
theme, as opposed to the bastardized concepts ("Ice Road Trucker" comes
to mind) that History has programmed in its flailings to reach younger
demographics. A bigger mystery is why the project is being buried at 10
p.m. on a Saturday night -- unless the subject matter made someone a
trifle uneasy.

If nothing else, it's a good question. Remind me to ask it again when the
room stops spinning.
--

camera, Bill Mills, Randall Peck, Peter von Puttkamer; editors, Peter von
Puttkamer, Donald J. Paonessa; music, Michael Richard Plowman. 120 MIN.
Narrator: Wade Davis.

--------

Peter von Puttkamer's Psychedelic Odyssey

http://www.moviemaker.com/directing/article/peter_von_puttkamer_peyote
_to_lsd_20080407/

Moviemaker goes from "Peyote to LSD" in new documentary

by Andrew Gnerre
Published April 18, 2008

With High Definition becoming the norm in living rooms around the world,
the television documentary business is becoming more relevant than ever.
Now that televised images look better than real life, documentarians like
Peter von Puttkamer are the tour guides of the 21st century. In his latest
effort, "Peyote to LSD: A Psychedelic Odyssey", set to air April 19 on The
History Channel, von Puttkamer takes viewers on a long, strange trip
chronicling the history of hallucinogens. Prior to airing, von Puttkamer
answered some of MM's questions, giving us his take on the HD revolution,
Final Cut Pro and the ethics of hallucinogens.

Andrew Gnerre (MM): How did the idea for this project come about?

Peter von Puttkamer (PVP): I've been making documentaries for over 25
years. One of my early award-winning docs was "The Spirit of the Mask" in
1990. It was about masks and spirituality, the first nations and the Native
American people of the Pacific Northwest and what we could all learn from
their concept of nature and the universe. I asked famed author and ethno-
botanist Wade Davis to come on board as a host and we would collaborate
on the writing.

Wade and I became friends and would go on to collaborate on other
projects. Now a National Geographic Explorer-in-Residence, Wade had
written a book called One River about the amazing life of his mentor and
Harvard professor Richard Evans Schultes, the greatest botanist explorer of
the 20th century. Among the 2,000 new plants, medicines and poisons he
would discover in a lifetime traveling the Americas and living with native
peoples were hallucinogens. A serious academic, Schultes would unwittingly
become one of the fathers of the psychedelic era. So this story of
hallucinogens from jungle shamans to the hippie generation was one that
appealed to me.

I pitched it to The History Channel and they liked it and we developed it
with them. Shooting began in January of 2006.

I loved working on this show, which looks at the whole subject of
hallucinogens in a very alternative way: Through travel, adventure and the
lives of Native peoples. It reveals the untold story of the psychedelic era.

MM: In the film, you document some native hallucinogenic rituals taking
place today. What was it like filming these otherworldly ceremonies? Were
you invited to partake?

PVP: Fortunately, I came to this project after many years of producing films
for and about Native Indian communities in North America and around the
world. One is not invited lightly to film or reveal any aspects of the real
ceremonies­the ones not put on for tourists. So using my contacts here and
in Mexico and Wade's­particularly in South America­we were able to gain
access to ceremonies rarely, if ever, seen on film before.

In working with indigenous peoples my purpose has always been to help,
work collaboratively and get a good message out. In this case
hallucinogens, as used by native peoples for centuries, are not recreational
drugs but tools for Shamans to access disease in the human body, whether
spiritually, mentally or physically. Native American communities where
peyote is used have much lower rates of alcoholism and drug issues. Peyote
is referred to as medicine; young children are invited to take part. It is not
harmful, but the opposite; it helps prepare young people for a spiritual life
and an understanding of their culture and their universe.

As a Harvard-trained ethno-botanist, Wade always takes part in
hallucinogenic ceremonies as a regular part of his work. As a director and
second cameraman, I decided it was best not to partake in this as I had a
show to produce, direct and shoot!

MM: From my understanding, you used Final Cut Pro to edit the project. Do
you normally use that program? What kind of benefits do you feel it has for
the kind of documentaries that you usually make, or for any project in
general?

PVP: "Peyote to LSD: A Psychedelic Odyssey" was my first Final Cut project.
I was raised on film editing, then 3/4" video, 1/2" video, D-Vision, Discreet
Logic Edit, some Avid (which my editor used, but I never took too) and
finally, in 2006, Final Cut. I like its ease of use, inbox FX, third-party add-
ons (like Magic Bullet) and just generally the open architecture. Price is a
factor too; there isn't a better bang for the professional editing buck then
Final Cut.

I was traveling a lot between Los Angeles and Vancouver and I needed a
system I could use "offline" on a laptop so, along with two terabyte FireWire
drives, I did it. Plus I had another drive to shuttle files back and forth to my
editor in Los Angeles, Donald J. Paonessa.

The time-consuming part was adding special visual effects through Magic
Bullet Editor software, so mainly "aging" our VariCam HD footage to look
more like old film (scratches, dust, flicker, gate-wave, etc.) then green-
screening HDCAM interviews and adapting 16mm hand-wound Bolex
footage, some HDV and a bunch of archival/news-reel stock footage on 4:3
Betacam.

Final Cut is a great tool for the documentary producer on the go. Now I
have a new Final Cut Pro 6.0 HD Kona card online system and I intend to
assemble all my future docs with this system. I work with Panasonic
HDX-900 cameras and the interface between Panasonic and Final Cut Pro is
the best; it's definitely the wave of the present and future. Final Cut Pro is
keeping up with the technology at a much faster rate than Avid. Maybe it's
the open architecture of the system, but it's keeping pace with HD and new
tapeless media.

MM: As a documentary moviemaker who travels to many wondrous, vibrant
locales, I would imagine that you are very pleased with the HD revolution as
it allows your depiction of these places to look that much better. How has
the new technology affected your craft?

PVP: I love HD and, as a proud owner of that awesome HDX-900 camera, I
only shoot HD projects now; even for SD you can down-convert and images
look better than, say, if you had shot them with a Digital Betacam at 16x9.
We have a choice of 11 HD formats now plus different frame rates, and the
720/60p creates awesome slow motion. No need to spring for a VariCam
now; the HDX-900 meets or exceeds it and still allows you to do things like
true slo-mo in post. It has a film-like quality that the Sony cameras don't,
even though they claim higher resolution and processing rates.

HD has allowed me to think bigger in pitching shows to broadcasters. They
know they're going to get a viewer-grabbing piece that brings people in
through strong visuals and 3D-like clarity in these locations.

It's really made watching TV fun again, and what I'm finding is that people
who would never have watched Discovery Channel or History HD­guys in
sports bars­are tuning to shows like ours, because it comes in on their cable
HD package along with the sports channels! HD is amazing and could help
balance low-end reality shows by giving broadcasters a reason to fund
quality documentary production and keep these shows with high production
value and story telling on the air.

MM: After some of your past projects have had you searching for Bigfoot
and the Lost City, traipsing through haunted houses, joining Joe Cocker in
the studio and traveling the world to film people hallucinating, what could
possibly be next for you?

PVP: Well some are top-secret of course, until they're fully-funded, but we
do have fascinating shows in development with Animal Planet International,
as well as Discovery Science Channel. Let's just say they're wildlife- and
adventure-inspired, as well as shows with strong environmental themes that
will excite and make you just a little nervous about the future of our planet.

Currently, we're producing a documentary filmed in the Peruvian Amazon
about the wildlife conservation area called Lago Preto; we follow a young
wildlife biologist and his work with red uakari monkeys. This will air on
Animal Planet in the Fall 2008.