Filmmaker Connie Littlefield’s feature documentary on psychedelic pioneers Ann and Sasha Shulgin has been 20 years in the making. Sasha Shulgin (1925 – 2014) was a chemist who discovered nearly 200 psychedelic substances, including MDMA. His wife and co-author, Ann Shulgin (b. 1931), is a lay therapist and a pioneer in the field of psychedelic psychotherapy. They live(d) in Lafayette, California, near Berkeley. Their house and Sasha’s lab are on a few acres known as “The Shulgin Farm.”

This film is an intimate portrait of a couple’s love and the parallel world of their psychedelic experiments over the years. I was tasked with creating visual treatments for the vast trove of lab notes and family photographs, the poster design and branding, as well as visual effects for some key moments of magic realism in the film. This film was an exercise in restraint, from my point of view. It is a reflection on a lifetime of experiences and my goal was always to serve those themes of nostalgia and intimacy. I recall a couple of early screenings where some people were expecting wild psychedelics from the graphics. But this is film about people. And hey — MDMA isn’t exactly a wildly visual drug!

Better Living Through Chemistry had its festival premiere last fall and opens to wider theatrical release this year.

“Stippled with spirituality, sadness, and skepticism, the Shulgins’ chemical love story examines the power of psychedelic psychotherapy, sacred alchemy, and challenging the path of misunderstood resistance.” – Calgary Underground Film Festival

Official Film Trailer:

Graphics Montage: