Don Shanahan
Beginning this week on the 11th and running until April 20, the famed Music Box Theatre in Chicago is hosting a special program dedicated to the late David Lynch. For the last eight years, the historic location has run an annual week-long tribute to the filmmaking titan we lost this past January. This year, with the great David Lynch no longer with us, the Music Box expanded beyond a complete career retrospective. Curated by Daniel Knox and sponsored by MUBI, “David Lynch: Moving Through Time” celebrates the man’s entire filmography in addition to some extra titles counting as some of his favorite influences.
With finely tuned programming by Daniel Knox, the Music Box will become an immersive movie-going experience of Lynch’s expanded world. Each film will be preceded by a 20-minute pre-show of clips, interviews, and David Lynch shorts cut together and selected by programmer Daniel Knox except where noted. Individual tickets are still available at the price of $12 for members and $14 for general admission. Series passes are sold out!
Special guests include:
- Blue Velvet editor Duwayne Dunham
- Eraserhead star Charlotte Stewart
- Mulholland Drive editor and producer Mary Sweeney
- I Know Catherine, The Log Lady cinematographer Frederick Elmes and director Richard Green
- John Thorne, Publisher of Wrapped In Plastic
- From the Head Director and Star George Griffith
- My Last Martini star Wendy Robie and director Rob Christopher
- Mark Spreyer of the Stillman Nature Center with a real live Great Horned Owl
- Blue Rose Magazine’s Scott Ryan
For the complete “David Lynch Moving Through Time” schedule, go to the series page of the Music Box Theatre website. To become a member of Music Box Theatre, check out their membership page.
FULL SLATE
As with their Lynch retrospectives of 2017 and 2022, Music Box Theatre will be showing many of Lynch’s features on 35mm, with additional shorts programs, documentaries, music videos, and other important works in the same orbit, including rarely screened prints of Lynch-adjacent works. This year, for “David Lynch: Moving Through Time,” Knox will host and briefly introduce all screenings himself, with Scott Ryan of The Blue Rose Magazine conducting interviews with each of the guests. Select shows will be followed by secret screenings, with some lasting late into the night. What follows is the complete alphabetical list of “David Lynch: Moving Through Time” offerings.
- BLUE VELVET (1986)
- Editor Duwayne Dunham and cinematographer Frederick Elmes will be present for the 4/13 screening for a Q&A.
- Stick around after the 4/18 showing for BLUE VELVET deleted scenes.
- BLUE VELVET REVISITED (2016)
- THE COMMERCIAL WORKS OF DAVID LYNCH
- In this free screening, David Lynch: Moving Through Time curator Daniel Knox presents a comprehensive journey through David Lynch’s work in advertising followed by a series of shorts that will not play in any other part of the retrospective. This program runs exactly two hours.
- DAVID LYNCH: THE ART LIFE (2016)
- DUNE (1984)
- THE ELEPHANT MAN (1980)
- ERASERHEAD (1977)
- The Friday 4/11 screening is our opening night ceremony, with a special 30-min pre-show and introduction to the retrospective by Daniel Knox. The screening will also feature cinematographer Frederick Elmes for a Q&A.
- The Tuesday 4/15 screening will have Charlotte Stewart (Mary X in ERASERHEAD and Betty Briggs in Twin Peaks) in attendance for a Q&A.
- FROM THE HEAD (2011)
- Director and star George Griffith (Twin Peaks: The Return) will be in attendance for a Q&A.
- Stay after for an infamous Lynch rarity that also takes place in one location.
- I DON’T KNOW JACK (2002)
- Director Richard Green in attendance for a post-film Q&A.
- I KNOW CATHERINE, THE LOG LADY
- Director Richard Green in attendance for a post-film Q&A.
- INLAND EMPIRE (2006)
- LOST HIGHWAY (1997)
- The Friday 4/11 screening will be followed by over an hour of surprises.
- LYNCH/OZ (2022)
- MEDITATION, CREATIVITY, PEACE (2012)
- This is a free screening!
- Director David Lynch embarks on a tour of 16 countries to speak to college students and members of the public about meditation, films and his charitable foundation.
- MULHOLLAND DRIVE (2001)
- The 4:00pm screening on 4/14 will feature a special presentation from John Thorne (publisher of Wrapped In Plastic).
- Editor and producer Mary Sweeney will be in attendance for a post-film Q&A following the 4/18 screening.
- MUSIC IN THE AIR: EXPLORING THE MUSICAL WORLDS OF DAVID LYNCH
- A unique presentation of David Lynch’s work in music featuring a performance by Daniel Knox with Scott Ryan reading from his new book Always Music In The Air: The Sound Of Twin Peaks, plus more musical Lynch rarities.
- ON THE AIR: Episodes 1 & 7 (1992)
- The first and last episodes of David Lynch and Mark Frost’s On The Air. Episode 1 “The Lester Guy Show” was written by David Lynch & Mark Frost. Episode 7 (the finale) was written by David Lynch with Fire Walk With Me screenwriter Robert Engels and directed by Jack Fisk.
- RABBITS, LYNCH (ONE) & MORE THINGS THAT HAPPENED (2007)
- This is a free screening!
- A special Easter Sunday presentation of RABBITS, LYNCH (ONE) & MORE THINGS THAT HAPPENED
- RED ROCK WEST (1993)
- THE RIVER’S EDGE (1986)
- THE SHORT FILMS OF DAVID LYNCH
- This program is a series of David Lynch’s early short films, followed by the comic and absurd series DUMBLAND.
- STORYVILLE
- THE STRAIGHT STORY (1999)
- SUNSET BOULEVARD (1950)
- TWIN PEAKS: FIRE WALK WITH ME (1992)
- WILD AT HEART (1990)
- The 4/17 screening will be preceded by the short film MY LAST MARTINI based on the story by Barry Gifford. Star Wendy Robie and director Rob Christopher in attendance for a short Q&A.
- THE WIZARD OF OZ (1939)
