Cinema Year Zero presents: Not By Lynch

The Lynchian before and after David Lynch

Presented by Arta Barzanji in association with Cinema Year Zero, Not By Lynch is a new screening series exploring the “Lynchian”: an often-used but rarely examined term whose lineage stretches before, around, and after David Lynch’s own cinema. While Lynch’s films offer the clearest expression of this sensibility, the roots and afterlives of what we call the “Lynchian” extend across film history.

From haunted noir and ghostly Americana to experimental digital worlds and paranoid Los Angeles labyrinths, nine films—spanning the nine decades of Lynch’s life—trace different facets of the Lynchian: dream-logic beneath everyday life, the uncanny invading domestic space, identities slipping or doubling, worlds that bend at the edges, and dread that mingles uneasily with play, humour, and desire.

Beginning 16 January 2026, the first anniversary of Lynch’s death, the season unfolds monthly at The Cinema Museum. Each screening features a new commissioned essay and introduction.

Programme and tickets:
16 Jan: Secret Beyond the Door (1947)
7 Feb: Kiss Me Deadly (1955)
20 Mar: Carnival of Souls (1962)
22 Apr: Céline and Julie Go Boating (1974)
8 May: The Hidden (1987)
12 Jun: Spontaneous Combustion (1990)
10 Jul: Corpus Callosum (2002) + Sshtoorrty (2005)
4 Sept: Under the Silver Lake (2018)
23 Oct: Coma (2022)

Thanks to Jeremy Arblaster for the incredible poster design. Check out more of his work.

If you are a paid subscriber to Cinema Year Zero and would like to attend any screenings, please get in touch and we will sort you out with comp tickets. See you there!