“In the late sixties and early seventies all these young people in their twenties decided that they had to go to India. It was so magical, it was so mystical, it was so spiritual. So people from all over the world, from Europe, from South America, the United States and Japan all of a sudden decided that this was the place we had to be. And so we all just went.”
Swami William
“Last Hippie Standing“ is a video clip style ortrait about the hippie generation. Thirty years ago, this was a movement which came to Goa to find something they couldn’t find at home. Many returned, a few stayed. Goa, the hippie paradise of the 60’s is our point where we start to search for “the last hippies”. This former Portuguese colony in the south of India was for many the final destination after adventurous travels through Greece, Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Dreamlike untouched beaches promised to be a new holy land, which was also the spritual basis for Alex Garland’s novel ”The Beach“.
After viewing historical Super8 material we started searching for the famous beaches and found a new youth culture which seemed to be similar to the old hippie culture.
Raver, Part-Time-Hippies, Backpacker und “normal“ people enjoyed the beaches. We met people from Japan, Israel, Australia and the UK. Anjuna Beach is the center of the infamous Goa parties. Here, the millenium celebrations promised the best of all Goa parties. This is where the youth of the world demonstrated their understanding of fun. We spoke with locals about their understanding of the hippie movement and rave culture. DJ Whosane, Bombay’s most famous DJ, speaks about Goa trance and its relation to Hinduism. His views contradict those of the Chief Minister of Goa who emphasizes tourism and drug problems.
At a flea market, founded by the hippies in the 1970’s, we met three of those “drop outs” who still live in Goa. They told us their stories. These are three different view points, three different lives, which have met in Goa.
The Characters:
Cleo Odzer is a New Yorker who came as a hippie in the 1970’s to Goa. She left in the early 80’s because of massive drug problems. Cleo has a Ph.D. in Anthropology and has written the only book about Goa during the hippie era. For the millenium celebration she returned to Goa, the place she had missed for almost 20 years. She speaks openly about the problems at that time and how her longing has remained the same over the years.
Swami William, originally from San Francisco, has lived for years in a Himalayan mountain village. He spends the winter months in Goa. Among other subjects he has studied German and Philosophy in Heidelberg. In 1975 he came to India to make a film about Sadhus and in 1997 was himself initiated to be a Sadhu. He speaks about the influence of Hinduism on hippie culture at that time.
Goa Gil is Goa’s top DJ. Formerly a hippie from the famous Haight-Ashbury in San Francisco, he came in the 70’s to Goa. Fascinated by its living culture he stayed. Already then his guitar sound was heard on the beaches, now he is a famous DJ all over the world. Goa Gil knows how to excite the masses with his psychedelic trance. At sunrise he talks about the spirit of his music and his evolution to a cyber-sadhu.
Finally, we followed Goa Gil and Swami William to Berlin, where they “taught” peace, love
and harmony at the Love Parade.
© 1999-2003 Tangiji Film, Berlin, ww.tangiji.com
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