CWC Classics: Mulholland Drive (in 35mm)

The Carsey-Wolf Center is proud to present a special 35mm film screening of David Lynch’s 2001 masterpiece Mulholland Drive, a dreamlike vision of Los Angeles and the seedy underbelly of the film industry. Newly arrived in Hollywood with hopes of becoming a movie star, plucky young ingénue Betty Elms (Naomi Watts) encounters an enigmatic woman (Laura Harring) suffering from amnesia. As the two attempt to uncover the woman’s identity, their investigation leads them into a nightmarish conspiracy that plunges them deeper into the city. Meanwhile, filmmaker Adam Kesher (Justin Theroux) finds himself caught in a series of increasingly ominous circumstances while casting his latest film. Originally conceived as a television pilot for ABC, Mulholland Drive transformed into a feature after the project failed to move forward. Its episodic structure remains visible in its fragmented, surreal narrative. The film garnered numerous accolades, including a win for Best Director at the 2001 Cannes Film Festival. Named after the titular road that stretches from the Hollywood Hills to the Santa Monica Mountains, the film carries the weight of the city’s cinematic mythology. As Lynch observed, “You feel the history of Hollywood in that road.”

John Trafton (author of Los Angeles and Film: A Cultural History of 20th-Century Hollywood) will join moderator Miguel Penabella (Carsey-Wolf Center, UCSB) for a post-screening discussion of Mulholland Drive.