The OPEN foundation is proud to present: ‘Mind Altering Science – An OPEN Conference on Psychedelic Research‘, at the University of Amsterdam, on the 23th and the 24th of October 2010. From the treatment of Post Traumatic Stress Disorder with MDMA, and the use of ibogaine as a tool to combat addiction, to the globalization of ayahuasca religions; ‘Mind Altering Science’ will be the first conference on Dutch soil that offers a multidisciplinary perspective on recent developments in the exciting field of psychedelic research.

The two-day conference will include a variety of lectures, interactive dialogues and presentations of recent research data. Academics, therapists and medical professionals from various countries will discuss the use of psychedelics from their own disciplinary perspective. Everyone with an eagerness to lean more about psychedelic research is invited to attend this unique event, whether they are researchers, medical professionals or students.

Confirmed Speakers;

Torsten Passie MD (DE)
R. Andrew Sewell MD (US)
Peter Oehen MD (CH)
Amanda Feilding (UK)
Bia Labate PhD (BR)
Jordi Riba MD (ES)
Jose Carlos Bouso MD (ES)
Adele van der Plas (NL)
Katharina Kirchner MSc (CH)
Stephen Snelders PhD (NL)
David Luke PhD (UK)
Dr. Anwar Jeewa (SA)

Website and bookings: http://www.mindalteringscience.com/

Christian Ratsch is an author, an anthropologist and Germany’s leading expert on ethnopharmacology. He lived for three years with the Lacandon Indians in Chiapas, Mexico and did his doctoral thesis on their spells and incantations. Ratsch works in Hamburg, Germany, as a freelance author and lecturer and conducts research into the ethnopharmacology of psychoactive plants and animals. He has published a number of books on these topics, both in German and in English, and is the founder and co-editor of The Yearbook of Ethnomedicine and the Study of Consciousness.

The film examines the re-emergence of archaic techniques of ecstacy in the modern world by weaving a synthesis of ecological and evolutionary awareness,electronic dance culture, and the current pharmacological re-evaluation of entheogenic compounds. Within a narrative framework that imagines consciousness itself to be evolving, Entheogen documents the emergence of techno-shamanism in the post-modern world that frames the following questions: How can a renewal of ancient initiatory rites of passage alleviate our ecological crisis? What do trance dancing and festivals celebrating unbridled artistic expression speak to in our collective psyche? How do we re-invent ourselves in a disenchanted world from which God has long ago withdrawn? Entheogen invites the viewer to consider that the answers to these questions lie within the consciousness of each and every human being, and are accessible if only we give ourselves permission to awaken to the divine within.

This is an absolutely classic cult feature film shot in Southern India at the end of the 20th century.

Tagline: A boy, looking for his … all » missing father in Southern India finds himself in a surreal and comic psychedelic world

Synopsis: During a trip to India to visit his father, a young man wakes up on a sun-drenched beach, unsure of where he is or how he got there. Before long he finds himself on an extraordinary journey meeting a series of ever more peculiar characters, in the search for his Dad. Eventually, riddled with confusion and haunted by recurring flashbacks of a party he can’t remember, he heads into the jungle, where he’s been told his father is waiting for him. Only one thing is certain: all is not what it seems.

The story is a gently surreal and comedic tale based loosely on Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass by Lewis Carroll. The film was shot entirely in Goa, India, which with it’s fantastic range of natural locations, provides a varied and continuously beautiful backdrop to the action.

The Wonderland Experience is an upbeat celebration of life, travelling and parties.

Written and produced by Andrew brown and directed by Ben Hardyment.