Harry Potter and The Philosophers Stone

Harry Potter has lived under the stairs at his aunt and uncle's house his whole life. But on his 11th birthday, he learns he's a powerful wizard—with a place waiting for him at the Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. As he learns to harness his newfound powers with the help of the school's kindly headmaster, Harry uncovers the truth about his parents' deaths—and about the villain who's to blame.

An underpaid middle-aged clerk finds a stone that changes iron to gold on touch. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in partnership with The Film Foundation in 2007.

The Philosopher's Stone tells the story of Jacob Fausstman, a scientist and early alchemist who searches for the key to curing man of the disease of death. In his frustration Jacob stumbles onto another path to achieve his goals. Turning to the dark arts Jacob conjures the demon Mephistopheles and is given the key to eternal life. But his perceptions of 'life eternal' and the nature of his existence comes into question once he has obtained his desire for true knowledge. Base in equal parts on the Faustian archetype and the biographical story of Dr. Albert Hoffmann's accidental discovery of LSD, The Philosopher's Stone is an homage to early German Expressionist cinema and the psychedelic visualizations of drug culture.

Directed by Raymond Salvatore Harmon

Documentary examining the medieval myth of the Philosopher's Stone, a Holy Grail-type relic which supposedly held the key to alchemy and immortality. Many noted alchemists and adventurers searched obsessively for the artifact hoping to learn its powerful secrets, a quest which allegedly drove some to madness and others to celestial encounters.