Inland Empire

opening remarks in Czech: David Havas and Alan Sýs

During the preparations for On High in Blue Tomorrows, the actress Nikki (played by Laura Dern) gradually loses the ability to distinguish between herself and the character she represents. In addition, a series of unfortunate events and unexplained deaths haunt the project of a renowned director (Jeremy Irons).

David Lynch takes up the digital camera for the first time (in person) in his career, and over the space of three hours, he and a crew of loyal collaborators create an impenetrable web of interlocking fictional worlds in the joyously independent spirit of a collaborative improvised film. In the wake of Mulholland Drive, he makes an even more elusive homage to the craft of filmmaking, the ambivalence of Hollywood escapism, and the fantastic underpinnings of the human psyche.

"Iʼll show you light now. It burns bright forever. No more blue tomorrows. You on high now, love."

He would later further develop a similar absolute freedom of auteurist self-expression (with key involvement in the musical score, cinematography, set design, production design and special effects) in the critically acclaimed Twin Peaks (2017).
 

Screening in association with the Litoměřice Film Festival (29/08-31/08 2025).

Film warm-up to the exhibition David Lynch: Up in Flames. DOX Center for Contemporary Art.