William Kirkley’s new film, Orange Sunshine, tells the amazing story of the Brotherhood of Eternal Love—a group of kindred spirits whose quest was to spread peace, love and LSD to the world.
To that end, this small group became the largest suppliers of psychedelic drugs in the world during the 1960s and early 1970s. They became known as the Brotherhood of Eternal Love, and Orange Sunshine tells their story like its never been told before.
The group was so discreet in their operations that many assumed they were mythological. But in fact, the Brotherhood was comprised of a handful of West Coast surfers and early flower children who made the explicit decision to produce and provide massive amounts of psychedelics to the largest number of people possible.
LSD was still legal in the United States until 1967, but it was very difficult to find, so they decided to live communally and make their own.
Their goal was not to get rich but rather start a revolution through lysergic enlightenment.
They set up their operation in the canyons of southern California and manufactured pure LSD, specifically Orange Sunshine, to turn on the world and start a social revolution. Naturally the Brotherhood was intimately connected to acid guru Timothy Leary.
Soon the Brotherhood and their brilliant chemists were producing millions of doses of clean LSD. At one point, one of the labs produced 100 million hits of acid!
Determined to expand their spiritual enlightenment into a “spiritual revolution,” the Brotherhood created a successful hash-smuggling operation from Afghanistan into the United States to support their LSD production.
This is where the movie becomes an adventure story and a “sunny retro thriller,” as one critic called it, with re-enactments of the smuggling operations that took them around the world. They stashed blocks of hash in hollowed-out surfboards, musical instruments, suitcases, even their own bodies. This was back in the day when airport security devices were not capable is seeing through to one’s soul.
Kirkley’s documentary features interviews with founding members and leaders of the group, Michael Randall and Carol Griggs, who have never shared their story before. They offer a “rare insider look into the provocative group, following them through their radicalization from idealist students to outlaws.”
Using archival photos and Super-8 recreations, Orange Sunshine takes viewers on a trip like none other.
This award-winning film documentary is now available on iTunes and digital platforms. Please check out their webpage orangesunshinemovie.com to see when it is opening in a theater near you.
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