JOHN LILLY & THE EARTH COINCIDENCE CONTROL OFFICE (2025) Screening!

7th House, Bibliomancers, and Los Angeles Filmforum are proud to present JOHN LILLY AND THE EARTH COINCIDENCE CONTROL OFFICE (2025), Courtney Stephens and Michael Almereyda's fascinating documentary about the infamous psychonautic scientist whose experiments with LSD, sensory deprivation, and dolphin communication define an era of boundary pushing, experimental research of consciousness. In celebration of the curatorial small press Bibliomancers' newest book New Age Grave, we will welcome co-writer/director Courtney Stephens in person for a sure-to-be captivating Q&A, along with a performance by avant-electronic sound artist Twig Harper. Copies of Bibliomancers' New Age Grave and John Lilly t-shirts by Twig Harper will be available for sale, too!

From the deep end of the psychedelic age, replete with isolation tanks, LSD research, and interspecies communication — JOHN LILLY AND THE EARTH COINCIDENCE CONTROL OFFICE tells the mind-bending story of John C. Lilly, the man who tried to map consciousness itself.

John Cunningham Lilly, M.D. (1915–2001) forged a singular and often perilous career through some of the most adventurous scientific experiments of the 20th century. His work unfolded across the shifting landscapes of Cold War research, the LSD-charged counterculture, and the ecological awakenings of the 1970s. Lilly sought, as one historian put it, “to get his hands on the steering wheel of consciousness” — a pursuit that grew ever more entangled with psychedelics and mysticism, and which ultimately carried him beyond the bounds of conventional science. A neuroscientist turned cosmic explorer, Lilly invented the sensory deprivation tank (his boundary-pushing work with LSD and sensory isolation inspired Ken Russell’s Altered States) and became one of the first to seriously investigate communication with dolphins, establishing his own laboratories in Miami and on the island of St. Thomas. In one now-notorious experiment, he paired a young female researcher with a male dolphin in a partially flooded house — a study that would ripple through popular culture and inspire The Day of the Dolphin. Once hailed as a visionary, later dismissed as a heretic, Lilly became a cult figure whose theories of reality would echo through countercultural circles and beyond.

Narrated by Chloë Sevigny and featuring reflections from figures such as Alejandro Jodorowsky, John Lilly and the Earth Coincidence Control Office dives deep into the enigma of Lilly’s life and legacy. Directors Michael Almereyda (Nadja, William Eggleston in the Real World) and Courtney Stephens (Invention, The American Sector) weave together rare archival footage, recorded experiments, and fragments of cultural ephemera to illuminate a mind forever pushing at the edge between science and revelation.

Part portrait, part séance for a lost era, the film traces Lilly’s transformation from respected researcher to countercultural oracle to maligned “crackpot”, capturing the sweep of his ideas and the mythic arc of his public persona. Revisiting a time when the frontiers of consciousness, technology, and human potential still felt infinite, it poses the same question that haunted Lilly himself: how far can we go — and what might we find — when we peer beyond the boundaries of the mind?

Dirs. Michael Almereyda and Courtney Stephens, 2025, 89 mins, United States, English, Unrated, Digital.

Please email [email protected] or phone 323-663-2167 with any questions.

ABOUT BIBLIOMANCERS

Bibliomancers is a small press created and owned by the Los Angeles based occult collage artist Astraleyes. Working with his longtime friend & partner in crime, curator, designer & concept artist Eric Nordhauser they have created a series of esoteric themed books documenting their obsessions.

Bibliomancy is the practice of divination through books by allowing a seemingly randomly chosen passage the seeker can apply its wisdom or symbolic meaning to provide guidance. Astraleyes has been collecting books using bibliomancy for almost 30 years.

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ABOUT LOS ANGELES FILMFORUM

Los Angeles Filmforum is the city’s longest-running organization dedicated to weekly screenings of experimental film, documentaries, video art, and experimental animation. 2025 is our 50th year. www.lafilmforum.org

ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS

Michael Almereyda’s films range from narrative features and shorts to documentary portraits and diary films. Skinningrove (2013), centered on photographer Chris Killip, was awarded Best Non-Fiction Short Film at the Sundance Film Festival and Best Film at the Ann Arbor Film Festival. William Eggleston in the Real World (2005) and Paradise (2009) were nominated for Best Documentary Films at the IFP Gotham Awards. Almereyda’s work has premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, the Venice International Film Festival, NYFF, TIFF, Rotterdam, Berlin, Locarno, and Rome. He has received grants from the Guggenheim Foundation, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and Creative Capital, and his essays have appeared in The New York Times, Artforum, Bookforum, Film Comment, The Believer, and booklets for the Criterion Collection.

Courtney Stephens is a writer/director. Her non-fiction feature, Terra Femme, composed of amateur travel footage shot by women in the early 20th century, was a New York Times critic’s pick and has toured widely as a live performance. The American Sector (co-directed with Pacho Velez) explores the legacy of the Cold War on American self-understanding, following dozens of fragments of the Berlin Wall installed around the US. Invention, a hybrid fiction feature, premiered at Locarno in 2024, where it received a Pardo for Best Performance. Her films have been exhibited at MoMA, The National Gallery of Art, The Barbican, Istanbul Modern, Walker Art Center, Thailand Biennale, and film festivals including the Berlinale, Viennale, Thessaloniki, IDFA, SXSW, Hong Kong, and NYFF. She is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship, a Fulbright Scholarship, and grants from California Humanities, the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, and the Foundation for Contemporary Art.

In addition to co-curating the miniature cinema Veggie Cloud since 2014, she has organized film screenings for The Getty, Flaherty NYC, Human Resources, and Museum of the Moving Image. Her writing has appeared in BOMB, Film Comment, Cabinet, Filmmaker, and The New Inquiry.

ABOUT TWIG HARPER

Twig Harper is a sound artist and performer whose work emerged from the Midwest noise underground in the ’90s with projects like Nautical Almanac. Co-founder/operator of Baltimore’s legendary Tarantula Hill collective for 2 decades and currently lives in Los Angeles. Harper spends his time pushing the limits of analog electronics, broken circuits, tape manipulation, and psychoacoustic trickery.Twigharper.com

ADVISORY DISCLAIMER

With some exception, The Philosophical Research Society’s 7th House Screenings does not typically provide advisory warnings about potentially upsetting content or subject matter, as sensitivities are particular to each viewer. Please be sure to read event listings, research on the web, or visit Common Sense Media, IMDb, and DoesTheDogDie.com for thorough info on content and age-appropriateness. If you have any specific content advisory questions, please email [email protected].

CONTENT DISCLAIMER

The views, opinions, and thoughts expressed within exhibited works are solely those of their creators and may not represent those of the Philosophical Research Society (PRS), its affiliates, or any individuals associated with PRS. Screenings are intended for educational and entertainment purposes.

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