Emulsion Ep. 22 - Michael Almereyda and Courtney Stephens on John Lilly

How often do you think about dolphins? That’s a serious question. Because it’s a topic worth turning over, which makes especially valuable… deep breath as I say the title… John Lilly and the Earth Coincidence Control Office, a documentary about the man whose work with dolphins blurred boundaries between science and counterculture. The filmmakers are Michael Almereyda and Courtney Stephens. While the former is better-known for his fiction features, including the recently restored Nadja, his portraits of artists—such as Sam Shepherd, William Eggleston, and Hampton Fancher—make him well-suited to the project. The latter, meantime, is shortly off Invention, which concerns sui generis experiments and the conspiracies they may or may not have engendered. With voiceover from Chloe Sevigny and a hypnotic soundtrack, John Lilly is a suitably dense exploration of a complicated mind. I spoke to Almereyda and Stephens as the film begins its theatrical run from Oscilloscope.