Jules Guérin's psychedelic short film explores ayahuasca effects

French filmmaker and animator Jules Guérin has released a short experimental film titled "A Shaman's Tale," which visually interprets the effects of ayahuasca, a psychoactive brew declared a cultural heritage in Peru. The film uses collage animation and a cumbia soundtrack composed by Guérin himself, drawing on an ancient Peruvian legend about a healer seeking to cure souls. Ayahuasca, made from Banisteriopsis caapi vine and DMT-containing leaves, has been used for centuries in sacred ceremonies by Latin American populations, but since the 1990s its popularity has spread globally, attracting Western youth primarily for its psychedelic effects. The World Ayahuasca Conference has called for legal regulation to responsibly manage its use.