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Mere seconds before the Earth is to be demolished by an alien construction crew, journeyman Arthur Dent is swept off the planet by his friend Ford Prefect, a researcher penning a new edition of "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy."

From 1960 to 1964, I lived in Venice Beach, California, then known as Venice, Slum by the Sea. It was also the heart of the mushrooming beat and hippie cultures. Its free-spirited, flamboyant inhabitants fascinated me, and I filmed all who attracted my lens. Today, 43 years later, I have edited this footage into a 15-minute documentary titled Venice Beach in the Sixties-A Celebration of Creativity. It includes a hippie Halloween costume party; a hip non-costume party, with erotic dancers dressed only in body-paint; and an encounter with LSD, a life-enhancing experience that influenced my films by unveiling to me the mystical universe in its eternal aspect.