He has also written books and regularly lectures on his own spiritual system, which he calls 'psychomagic' and 'psychoshamanism' and which borrows from his interests in alchemy, the tarot, Zen Buddhism and shamanism. During the same period, he wrote a series of science fiction comic books, most notably The Incal (1980–1989), which has been described as having a claim to be 'the best comic book' ever written, and also The Technopriests and Metabarons. Īfter a cancelled attempt at filming Frank Herbert's 1965 science fiction novel Dune, Jodorowsky produced five more films: the family film Tusk (1980) the surrealist horror Santa Sangre (1989) the failed blockbuster The Rainbow Thief (1990) and the first two films in a planned five-film autobiographical series The Dance of Reality (2013) and Endless Poetry (2016). Disagreements with Klein, however, led to both The Holy Mountain and El Topo failing to gain widespread distribution, although both became classics on the underground film circuit.

The result was The Holy Mountain (1973), a surrealist exploration of western esotericism. His next film, the acid western El Topo (1970), became a hit on the midnight movie circuit in the United States, considered as the first-ever midnight cult film, and garnered high praise from John Lennon, who convinced former Beatles manager Allen Klein to provide Jodorowsky with $1 million to finance his next film. In 1966 he created his first comic strip, Anibal 5, while in 1967 he directed his first feature film, the surrealist Fando y Lis, which caused a huge scandal in Mexico, eventually being banned. From 1960 he divided his time between Paris and Mexico City, in the former becoming a founding member of the anarchistic avant-garde Panic Movement of performance artists. Moving to Paris in the early 1950s, Jodorowsky studied traditional mime under Étienne Decroux, and put his miming skills to use in the silent film Les têtes interverties (1957), directed with Saul Gilbert and Ruth Michelly. Dropping out of college, he became involved in theater and in particular mime, working as a clown before founding his own theater troupe, the Teatro Mimico, in 1947.

3.5 The Dance of Reality and Endless Poetry (2011–present)īorn to Jewish-Galician parents (Chodorowski) in Chile, Jodorowsky experienced an unhappy and alienated childhood, and so immersed himself in reading and writing poetry.

3.4 Attempts to return to filmmaking (1990–2011).

3.3 Santa Sangre and The Rainbow Thief (1981–1990).

3.1 El Topo and The Holy Mountain (1970–1974).

Stalker of the endless dunes