FEAR AND LOATHING IN LAS VEGAS: The Fan Carpet’s Jayne Thorpe Discovers a New Way to Discuss Film with Funzing’s Cinetalks
If you're the type of person who likes to chat about films you'll love Funzing's Cinetalks. They are part cinema and part TED-style talk and endeavour to answer the questions that are either too hard to ask or too hard to find answers for. Friends maybe great for your post-cinema post-mortem, but they are unlikely to hold a doctorate in the film's subject matter nor have had direct experience in its issues. Cinetalks speakers do however.
BAFTA -nominated journalist, Sean Langan for example wasn't just kidnapped by the Taliban, he is actually featured in the film Whiskey, Tango, Foxtrot and has Martin Freeman playing him. He recently informed a Cinetalk audience on how to become a foreign correspondent and what it's like to live in a war zone.
In another recent Cinetalk parapsychologist Dr David Luke helped demystify the controversial subject of psychedelics after a screening of Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Dr Luke is a director of Breaking Convention, the largest biennial, interdisciplinary conference on psychedelic research in Europe. Considering that the mere word 'psychedelic' is enough to have some coffee shops internet service block Breaking Conference's website, having an expert on hand can prove rather useful.
More people than ever seem interested in psychedelics and unlike some legal drugs Dr Luke explained that psychedelics aren't typically addictive. He pointed to the mystical experiences they can create and how when taken in controlled circumstances under professional guidance, they can have healing effects. He highlighted a current study that is exploring whether psychedelics can help dementia and said that one day medicinal psychedelics may well be available in blister packs.
All of this is certainly a long way from the debauched drug-fuelled trips of Fear and Loathing!
Dr Luke is offering a similar talk for Funzing on 8th May 7-9pm entitled The Science of Psychedelics.
Other Funzing talks can be found here.
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