Short Summary
Andrija Puharich PhD was a medical doctor, researcher, inventor, and visionary scientist. Starting in the 1940s, he was obsessed with the reaches of the human mind: he believed that our minds are capable of more than we could ever imagine. His work touched on everything from medical arts, physics, biology, psychedelic drug research, electro-chemistry, astrophysical sciences, engineering and quantum mechanics.
Considered too far out or too ahead of his time, Puharich delved into researching extrasensory perception (telepathy, psychokinesis). Even though his work produced groundbreaking results, he was never taken seriously and he was scorned by his academic colleagues. Why then, did some of the wealthiest families in the world privately fund Puharich's research? Why were government agencies like the CIA and NASA secretly hiring Puharich to conduct confidential research? How did he end up inspiring the likes of Gene Roddenberry's Star Trek: Deep Space Nine and Steven Spielberg's Close Encounters of the Third Kind? And why is his research still being discussed today by Nobel Prize winning academics and Pulitzer Prize nominated authors? Did Puharich know something that we don't?
Mind Over Matter: The Mysteries of Andrija Puharich is a feature documentary that will unravel Puharich's enigmatic life - with exclusive access to hundreds of never before seen documents, personal journals, lab papers, unreleased manuscripts, private footage and archived material from one of the most brilliant and misunderstood minds of the 20th Century. The film will also explore the complex, mysterious relationship Puharich had with his own children, all of whom have a different opinion on their father.
To many, the word 'paranormal' immediately conjures up images of haunted houses and ghosts. However, paranormal is defined as " events or phenomena (such as telepathy or clairvoyance) that are beyond the scope of normal scientific understanding." Believe it or not, since the 1940s, intelligence agencies all over the world have spent millions of dollars researching the paranormal. In their search for answers, they initally went to one man: Dr. Andrija Puharich.
Just imagine, an esteemed medical doctor out of Northwestern University, who’s hired by top intelligence agencies, funded by some of the wealthiest families in the world, researches psychedelics before anyone else, publishes 6 books and is credited with over 50 patents, yet no one knows his real story...
For over 4 decades much of his work and material has been hidden from the public, until now. Through an important bonding relationship with Dr. Puharich’s son and a community of individuals desperate for his story and work to be shared, this film is ready to be completed - with
your help.
Some people considered Puharich a genius, others thought he was crazy... but if spirituality, consciousness, psychedelic drug research, and the meaning of the universe sparks your interest: than you better keep reading!
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(Andrija searching for answers in the 1950s/Newspaper Article from the 1960s)
How This All Started
My name is Greg Mallozzi, a filmmaker from Providence, Rhode Island. I have been infatuated with Andrija Puharich's life since I was a teenager, and was always puzzled how no one had ever made a film about him. In the Fall of 2015, I set out on a mission to change that. I reached out to Puharich’s son Andy who lives in The Netherlands. We began to communicate through email and Skype. I explained to Andy my fascination with his father and my aspirations on making this documentary. Andy was hesitant at first, explaining how dozens of people over the past 2 decades have reached out to him about making a film about his dad. He never trusted these people with the story, however, all that changed after Andy and I finally met in person almost a year later.
It quickly became apparent to Andy that I was the one to make this film, once and for all. He agreed to hand over his father’s archives to me which he has held onto since his death in 1995. No one has ever seen this material before. I knew that getting Andy’s blessing, as well as receiving this highly-personal material was my calling to commit 100% to this documentary. I was the only person who could make this film a reality.
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(Andy and his father in the 1990s)
What We Need
We have already shot a large portion of the interviews for this film over the past 2 years, including Andrija's close friends, family and colleagues. We have also been researching, collecting materials, and have begun editing a rough-cut of the film.
Right now, we are looking to raise $30,000. This money will go directly to the post-production of the film, which includes professionally digitizing and scanning archival material, licensing footage, editing, color correcting, sound design, film-festival submissions, and marketing. A good portion of the funds will go towards digitizing, processing and restoring Andrija's personal materials, including:
- Several hundred photographs: taken all around the globe dating back to the 1940s
- Hundreds of various audio tapes: personal recordings, lectures, radio appearances, presentations, etc
- Dozens of films: home movies, travel films, filmed experiments, television appearances, etc
- Hundreds of documents: unpublished manuscripts, academic papers, personal notebooks & journals, correspondence, newspaper and magazine articles and various other personal documents.
- And more...
Keep in mind, none of this material has ever seen the light of day! The funds from this campaign are the only thing that makes this material available to the world, which is a huge deal!
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(Andrija on the cover of Psychic Magazine, 1973)
The Impact
Your contribution to this film will make a huge impact. As stated above, the massive amount of Puharich’s archival material has never seen the light of day, until now! This project is the one and only thing that will preserve this material and the life of one of our most under-acknowledged, forward thinkers.
Puharich's life and this film project has gathered much attention recently as well, including:
Northwestern University in Chicago, where Puharich took his medical degree, is fascinated in his work and wants to house his archive material in the 'special collections' section of their library once the film is completed, which is a huge deal!
Pulitzer Prize Finalist and NY Times Best Selling Author Annie Jacobsen's new book Phenomena, about the U.S. Government's history of investigating extrasensory perception, has an entire chapter dedicated to Puharich, and he is one of the main characters of the book. This book is now being turned into a major television show by Steven Spielberg's company, Amblin Entertainment!
The Sacred Plants in the America's Congress in Jalisco, Mexico this February has asked the Director to present a paper on Puharich's book The Sacred Mushroom: realizing Puharich's theories on the mushrooms effects on the mind back in the 1950s could have profound, overlooked implications on psilocybin mushroom research today.
(http://plantas-sagradas-americas.net/)
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(The Sacred Mushroom in The Philosophical Research Society's library in Los Angeles)
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(Excerpt from one of Andrija's papers on mushrooms from the 1950s)
