Psychedelic film series at BAMPFA opens doors to other worlds

BAMPFA’s Kate MacKay explains Psychedelia & Cinema, a mind-bending film series that redefines the cinematic trip as a powerful tool for liberation and self-discovery.  

By Charlotte Khadra, Anne Brice

March 17, 2026

In a world of constant distraction, the cinema offers a rare, meditative doorway into other universes. That’s according to Kate MacKay, a film curator at the Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive (BAMPFA) who has spent over a decade championing the power of experimental cinema to challenge our perception of reality.

In this 101 in 101 video, which challenges UC Berkeley experts to explain the basics of their field in only 101 seconds, MacKay explains Psychedelia & Cinema, a new film series organized with the UC Berkeley Center for the Science of Psychedelics that investigates how the physical properties of film — the flicker of a rhythmic montage or the raw grain of a 16mm emulsion — can actually shift a viewer’s state of mind. From the counterculture grit of Roger Corman’s The Trip to the transcendent Afrofuturist visions of Sun Ra’s Space Is the Place, the series spans decades and continents to redefine the cinematic trip as a powerful tool for liberation and self-discovery.  

Psychedelia & Cinema runs through May 10. Learn more about the series and get tickets on BAMPFA’s website.