Heartbeat in the Brain (partially found Amanda Fielding trepanation documentary; 1970)

cenes from the film, as seen in 1998 documentary A Hole in the Head.

Amanda Feilding is a British scientist best known for her work in the practice of trepanation, an ancient medical procedure in which a small hole is cut out of the skull to alleviate a variety of ailments, or even to achieve a higher state of consciousness (as Feilding would later try to prove herself).

In 1970, with the intent of testing the hypothesis that trepanation would increase cerebral circulation, by allowing the heartbeat to fully express itself through the brain (leading to a higher state of consciousness), Feidling, (then 27), performed the procedure on herself, recording the entire event. The film, which she titled Heartbeat in the Brain (which consisted of alternating scenes of the operation, and motion studies of Feilding's pet pidgeon, Birdie, respectively), had its first known public screening in 1978, at the Suydam Gallery in New York. During the climax of the film, in which Feilding successfully removes a section of her own skull, many audience members were said to have fainted.

The film was long thought by many to be completely lost, due to it's incredibly limited amount of screenings, until it was once again publicly shown in April 2011 at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London. The entire film has never surfaced online, although several snippets can be seen in Eli Kabillio's 1998 documentary A Hole in the Head. Feilding would later go on to found the Beckley Foundation, and is still alive and well today.