A dream of dark and troubling things . . .

Tonight we honor the late, great David Lynch (on what would have been the director’s 80th birthday) by screening his first feature Eraserhead on 35mm, alongside Suzan Pitt’s experimental animated short film Asparagus.

Originally programmed together by film producer and distributor Ben Barenholtz (considered the father of the midnight movie), the two films played together for nearly two years at the Waverly Theater in New York City and the Nuart Theatre in Los Angeles.

Both films, unique in their visionary artistry, vividly bring to life rich and twisted psycho-sexual interior worlds. The enduring midnight screenings of Eraserhead from the late ’70s through early ’80s quickly cemented David Lynch as a cult icon, eventually launching his film career by bringing his vision into the mainstream.

About the films:

ERASERHEAD

Director: David Lynch
Runtime: 89 mins
Format: 35mm
Release Year: 1977

David Lynch’s 1977 debut feature, Eraserhead, is both a lasting cult sensation and a work of extraordinary craft and beauty. With its mesmerizing black-and-white photography by Frederick Elmes and Herbert Cardwell, evocative sound design, and unforgettably enigmatic performance by Jack Nance, this visionary nocturnal odyssey continues to haunt American cinema like no other film.

ASPARAGUS

Director: Suzan Pitt
Runtime: 18 mins
Format: DCP
Release Year: 1979

Suzan Pitt’s animated short throws open the doors of perception onto a shape-shifting vision of polymorphous sexuality. A landmark in the history of independent animation, Asparagus is a mesmerizing exploration of the artist’s inner world, and a viewing experience like no other.

Trailer