Ben Van Meter (b. 1941) 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 (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 & Roll, has gained them a new audience. This interview with Ben Van Meter was conducted in January 2017 by Andy Ditzler and Gregory Zinman, with email follow-ups and has been edited for length.

http://brooklynrail.org/2017/10/film/BEN-VAN-METER-with-Andy-Ditzier-Gregory-Zinman