North Theatre getting Lynched

By Brenda Neugent

Published: May 1, 2008

The North Theatre will celebrate the art of filmmaker David Lynch with a three-day film festival featuring some of the “Twin Peaks” director’s finest work.
Of course, Lynch is not for everybody, said Jerry Meadors, director of the North.
“If peole are looking for a really strange psychological addventure on film, then Lynch is their cup of tea.”
The series, called “Get Lynched,” kicks off at 7:30 p.m. May 9 with a remastered, updated version of “Eraserhead,” Lynch’s first film.
The 1977 cult classic starring Jack Nance and Charlotte Stewart is a horror dreamscape as the main character, Henry, finds himself accepting responsibility for his girlfriend’s baby, a reptilian creature that is more special effect than baby. The movie then spins into a series of dream images, including one that gives the film its name.
The series continues at 7:30 p.m. May 10 with “Inland Empire,” Lynch’s rarely screened latest film, a 2006 film that Lynch described as being “about a woman in trouble, and it’s a mystery, and that’s all I want to say about it” in an interview with Variety magazine before the film’s release.
Shot without a screenplay, “Inland Empire” was the first project Lynch shot on digital video, and was praised by many critics, including Pete Travers of Rolling Stone, who said, “My advice, in the face of such hallucinatory brilliance, is that you hang on.”
Damon Wise of Empire Magazine gave it five stars, calling it “a dazzling and exquisitely original riddle as told by an enigma.”
The festival will conclude at 3:30 p.m. May 20 with “Lynch (one),” a documentary about the director and the making of “Inland
Empire.”
According to the film’s anonymous director (reportedly not Lynch himself), “My goal is to present to the world the unique experience of being with David Lynch for a prolonged period of time, watching him as he creates on a day-to-day basis.”
Tickets to the film festival are $7 for single tickets or $15 for the three-show
series, and are available by calling (434) 792-2700 or at the door.