What if there was an easy treatment for drug addiction, PTSD, and more “untreatable” afflictions? For many people, this is simply a pipe dream that probably wouldn’t be scientifically feasible. To some, however, there is already an effective treatment for the disease that afflicts over 20 million Americans: a psychedelic medicine known as ibogaine. It’s found in the iboga plant that grows across Gabon and has been credited with helping former addicts heal from their withdrawals. However, for as many benefits as it could bring, ibogaine is far from a perfect solution.

Of Night and Light: The Story of Iboga and Ibogaine from documentarian Lucy Walker, is a film that carefully walks the line between objectively informative and personally affecting. Spanning continents and decades, the story of ibogaine and its unlikely discovery by a pair of 60's dreamers are explored in great detail. Interviewing subjects from all sides of the psychedelic debate, the film confronts the current landscape of treatment for some of the most difficult ailments and how these conditions lead patients to seek the ultimate treatment.--Cara Cusumano

Lucy Walker