Dirty Pictures is a documentary about Dr. Alexander Sasha Shulgin, the rogue chemist who discovered the effects of MDMA (aka Ecstasy) and over 200 other mind-altering drugs. Shulgins alchemy has earned him the title The Godfather of Psychedelics, and a reputation as one of the great chemists of the 20th century. Working from a lab in his home, and using himself and his wife Ann as test subjects, Shulgin's discoveries have brought him into conflict with the law but made him a worldwide underground hero. The two books Sasha and Ann co-authored, Pihkal and Tihkal, have built a foundation for cutting-edge neuroscience and medical research. Dirty Pictures examines the impact of Dr. Shulgin's lifelong quest to unlock the complexities of the human mind.
Dirty Pictures gets its title from Shulgins molecular drawings, which he wryly calls his Dirty Pictures. It is Directed and Produced by ETIENNE SAURET, the documentarian who made WTC: The First 24 Hours and most recently worked on Eugene Jarekis Why we Fight.