Ben Van Meter

Biography

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.

Directed

1. Naked Zodiac (1969) — Director
2. For Life, Against the War (1967) — Director
3. Acid Mantra or Rebirth of a Nation (1968) — Director
4. Set Your Chickens Free! (1974) — Director
5. Vivid Color 3D Nude Models (1969) — Director
6. Homegrown (1971) — Director
7. Krishna's March to the Sea (1971) — Director
8. Interrogation (1970) — Director
9. The Poon-Tang Trilogy (1964) — Director
10. Colorfilm (1965) — Director
11. Bolex Peyote Bardo (1965) — Director
12. S.F. Trips Festival: An Opening (1966) — Director
13. Make Love Not War (1967) — Director
14. Up Tight, L.A. Is Burning... Shit! (1965) — Director
15. Some Don't (1965) — Director
16. Nico (1967) — Director
17. Me & Bruce & Art (1967) — Director
18. BE (1967) — Director
19. Garden of Proserpine (1968) — Director
20. Boc Ging (1970) — Director
21. Steve Miller Blues Band (1968) — Director
22. The Saga of Macrame Park (1974) — Director
23. Acid Camp (1966) — Director

Also appeared in

1. Apropos of San Francisco (1968)
2. He's Here Now (1967)
3. Me & Bruce & Art (1967) — Himself (voice)