Ben Van Meter

Known for DirectingBorn 1941-02-09Died 2019-08-08Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA

Ben Van Meter began making films and light shows in the mid-1960s in San Francisco and soon became a leading figure in Bay Area-underground filmmaking. His films, especially S.F. Trips Festival, An Opening (1966) and the epic Acid Mantra or Rebirth of a Nation (1968), are compelling attempts to visually and sonically inscribe psychedelia, as experience and philosophy, in the medium of film. Van Meter’s films were unavailable for many years, but their ongoing restoration by the Academy Film Archive and their inclusion in the de Young Museum’s 2017 exhibition, The Summer of Love Experience: Art, Fashion, and Rock ‘n’ Roll, has gained them a new audience.Read more

Movies & web series

Apropos of San Francisco

Magick Lantern Cycle

For Life, Against the War

Invocation of My Demon Brother

Army of Lovers or Revolt of the Perverts

Naked Zodiac

Set Your Chickens Free!

The Saga of Macrame Park

Homegrown

Krishna's March to the Sea

Interrogation

Boc Ging

Vivid Color 3D Nude Models

Acid Mantra

Garden of Proserpine

Steve Miller Blues Band

He's Here Now

Me & Bruce & Art

Make Love Not War

BE

Nico

S.F. Trips Festival: An Opening

Acid Camp

Bolex Peyote Bardo

Colorfilm

Up Tight, L.A. Is Burning... Shit!

Some Don't

The Poon-Tang Trilogy