Born in 1944 in Chelsea, Massachusetts, David Brooks entered Columbia University in the early 1960s, where he immersed himself in the study of philosophy and psychology, with a particular interest in psychoanalysis and the work of Freud. During this time Brooks met critic and filmmaker Jonas Mekas and immediately got involved in New York’s burgeoning independent and experimental film scene. By 1962 Mekas had personally enlisted Brooks, then only 18 years old, to be the first Executive Director of the newly established Film-Makers’ Cooperative.

The Summer of Love. Los Angeles Filmforum commemorates the 50th anniversary of the radical cultural upheaval with an assortment of mind-blowing (as intended) short underground films. These films used a variety of tactics to manifest or assist with perceptual expansion and experience found in sex, drugs, music, and art.  Some pursue idea of psychedelia (Third Eye Butterfly; Doppler Effect: Version II) others express openness in sexuality (Fuses); and others try to capture some of the spirit of group revelry, drug-taking and celebration (Letter to D.H.