“This is independent filmmaking at it's most creative”

- Paul Gratton, Whistler Film Festival

“LISSA'S TRIP is a fun and enriching film experience ~ all at once, whimsical, provocative, imaginative, and uplifting."

— Herbert Paine, Broadway World

"filled with incredible images"

— Rick Mellerup, The Sandpaper

“Apologies to Homer”

— Jeffery Lando, Lissa’s Trip Filmmaker

From filmmaker Jeffery Lando, and inspired by Homer’s Odyssey, Lissa’s Trip is a wild ride through the streets of Los Angeles with talented Sofia Vassiliev, playing LA actress ’Lissa Lliad’

who accidentally drops a lot of acid before a crucial audition.

The film follows Lissa as she encounters bizarre characters and situations that challenge her sense of reality and identity.

Along the way, she discovers her true self and her creative potential. Lissa’s Trip is a modern-day fairytale that blends humor, adventure, and emotion in a dazzling cinematic journey.

The film celebrated a World Premiere at Whistler Film Festival, and has gone on to excite festival audiences from East to West in the USA, and internationally from Poland and Italy to Mexico!

Now streaming Free on TUBI, the film is also reaching organic virality (aka gone viral) among TikTok users in relevant communities which is what filmmakers hoped to see, as the film is neither mainstream nor traditional and seeks to align with folks who recognize creative kinship.

On the freedom of truly ‘independent filmmaking’, director Jeffery Lando notes -

“New Wave? How about a New Tsunami?…

Without the need to coordinate an army of people and equipment, real flexibility and responsiveness are easy. Letting go the constrictions of production, letting go of a plan, listening and being responsive isn’t just possible, it is required.”

Filmmaker Jefferey Lando, coming from decades+ in the film industry with a successful and ‘traditional’ movie-making background for cinema and television, also graduated in the 80s from prestigious Carnegie Mellon University, with a specialized interested in computation and logic - i.e, the early inklings of AI. Through his naturally-inspired inclinations of learning, using and studying the acceleration of radical new technologies to explore new creative possibilities rapidly opening up, Jeffery unlocked personal liberations in his creative-potentials.

After filming Lissa’s Trip in Los Angeles in 2019, completely indie, and alongside a heavy-hitting team 100% “real” and authentic, indie-filmmaking cast, crew, composers, performers, creatives, gear and technical expertise, he was inspired to have made the type of film and story he wanted to tell, but knew he would not be able to actualize it within the hierarchal / mainstream studio system of bringing it fully from script-to-screen. He entered into post-production of the film, and then something happened…

In 2020 during the height of the pandemic, and from his studio in Vancouver, Jeffery strived to find ways to create the visual and emotive ecosystem of the film he had envisioned. Because he was working outside of a hierarchal filmmaking system -and on his own time, terms and budget towards the editing and post-production visual FX - Jeffery began to push filmmaking frontiers into the AI realm, incorporating new tools into his post-production repertoire, ultimately giving rise to the phenomenal and otherworldly ‘hallucinatory’ landscapes of Lissa’s Trip, and and allowing for what is among the very first of its kind in full-length feature filmmaking to have a ‘break on through to the other side’ feeling which reaches back into the audience experience.

*See directors technical statement via the ethos page for more.

To this end, audiences of counterculture, consciousness and psychedelic-friendly folks have been thoroughly surprised, entertained and inspired by the film visually, as well as with the film’s core themes, and have expressed enthusisam, intrigue and expansive conversations arising from artists, independent filmmakers, and students, experimental film-lovers and curious free-thinkers.

2024:

With an aim to be able to reach as many interested humans as possible, Lissa’s Trip launched for FREE on Tubi streaming platform June 20th, in alignment with World Psychedelics Day.

The film, inspired by Homer’s Odyssey, uses the narrative of being accidentally ‘dosed’ as a means of entry in to realms of implications of expanded outlook and consciousness, with Lissa serving as the heroic (Ulysses ;) on her ‘Trip’.

The film is available to watch from home in Canada, USA, Australia and with a recent expansion into the UK, with a filmmaker’s focus being on expanding the conversations around the convergence of consciousness, independence, interdependence, collaborative arts, and explorations of AI as tools for heightening vs hindering the creative and human experience.

On the horizon are live in-person special screening events, in various cities, with a focus on community, collaboration and conversation. To book or collaborate on a special screening event,

Send an email to Alexandra via filmmakers@lissastrip.com

On the use of AI:

“The use of AI-generated psychedelic visuals work perfectly in the film, Lissa’s Trip. From the moment she steps out of the ride-share car and artful waves brush up against the sides of the car and wash through the cityscape, she knows she’s in for it! As she tries to make her way across LA, the effects morph and flow, expressing her emotional state, beautifully giving visual reference for alienation, connection, wonder, and anxiety. Despite not choosing to trip intentionally, our hero still finds resolution and personal clarity through her adventure as her “trip” to Burbank reveals her authentic need to individuate from her mother, her career persona, and find freedom. This delightful indie film brings comedy, heart, and depth together with AI magic that will immediately feel familiar and authentic to those with experience, and relatively realistically depicts the visual and emotional nature of the psychedelic experience for those whose experience is limited to cinematic depictions. Many TV and film attempts to represent “tripping” aren’t even remotely realistic, but here, “Lissa’s Trip” succeeds with the artful use of AI. “

~Martin Ball, Author, and Host of The Entheogenic Podcast

(Check out his interview with director Jeffery Lando here!)

Director Jeffery Lando’s Technical Statement for Lissa’s Trip

“Embracing AI and Technological Evolution: As someone who has been fascinated by AI for decades, I’ve closely watched the evolution of technologies throughout my thirty-year career in filmmaking. Having witnessed numerous technological revolutions, I was particularly intrigued by the potential of AI and its cumulative impacts on the industry. The advancements in autofocus cameras, lightweight mirrorless and DSLR cameras, gimbals, noise reduction, and sophisticated tracking and relighting capabilities in software like DaVinci Resolve not to mention the capabilities of software like blender suggested that the time had come for a significant shift. These tools collectively hinted at a filmmaking singularity—a fundamental shift where one could make a movie without the extensive human labor traditionally required.

Reimagining Filmmaking: The idea was to see if freeing myself from the heavy load of equipment and the need to coordinate a large crew could lead to a new kind of filmmaking. This experiment aimed to explore what a post-singularity filmmaking process might look like, leveraging AI and modern technology to allow for greater creative freedom and innovation.

Harnessing Open-Source Generosity: The open-source community played a crucial role in this journey. Platforms like GitHub provided access to groundbreaking AI post-processing techniques, such as Deep Dreaming and Disco Diffusion, which evolved into the stable diffusion methods we use today. This spirit of generosity enabled us to experiment with these innovations, significantly enhancing our visual effects.

Accessible Computational Power: Platforms like Google Colab offered powerful computational resources, essentially supercomputers, at little to no cost. This access allowed us to perform advanced computations on large portions of the film without tying up our own machines, keeping them free for editing and other essential tasks. Such resources were invaluable in pushing the creative boundaries of "Lissa’s Trip."

A New Possibility in Filmmaking: The advancements in technology aren’t just about reducing costs; they liberate filmmakers from financial constraints, enabling more creative freedom. However, the true essence of this approach stems from a deeper philosophy. My experiences working on "Indian Road Trip" and "Portraits from a Fire" with Indigenous filmmakers revealed how Western-centric and hierarchical traditional filmmaking practices are. These interactions inspired me to adopt a more collaborative and non-hierarchical approach.

Collaborative Creativity: Instead of a top-down model, I aimed to create a filmmaking process akin to a big band jazz ensemble, where every member contributes creatively. This approach fostered a more dynamic and inclusive environment, allowing for improvisation and the emergence of exciting, unexpected results. In "Lissa's Trip," this collaborative spirit was central. Working with talented actors in an improvisational style unlocked a level of creativity and authenticity often constrained by rigid hierarchies.

Empowering Storytelling: By embracing this collaborative approach, I believe we were able to tap into a broader range of perspectives and ideas, creating richer and more authentic storytelling. "Lissa's Trip" embodies this philosophy, making it a special film that represents an exciting possibility in filmmaking in my view —one that is inclusive, collaborative, authentic, and innovative.

And so, so much fun.”

Meet the Team of Cast, Crew and Creatives from Lissa’s Trip and watch the trailer here:

https://www.lissastrip.com/team

Visit Us on Social Media

https://www.instagram.com/lissas_trip/