Film Conference
The Darkness of Future Past
David Lynch’s Cinema in Retrospect and Afterlife
June 6 & 7, 2026 • Online
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Diane, it’s 8:30 a.m. I’ve logged into the World Wide Web to meet with an international assembly of laser-sharp minds who take movies very seriously. A matter of great import is at hand….
Take notes and jump into the conversation for a strange and wonderful weekend.
David Lynch’s sudden passing last year left behind an extraordinary body of work, and, one year on, we can look back on it as a now-completed whole, while also considering how it might continue to speak to us in the future. Our first annual event will gather scholars, philosophers and artists to explore Lynch’s work through presentations, panels and Q&As. You’re warmly invited to participate in our open group discussions that will go late into the evening. Costumes (and damn good coffee) encouraged.
Meet your speakers
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![Eric Wargo]()
Eric Wargo
Author of the acclaimed Time Loops: Precognition, Retrocausation, and the Unconscious and From Nowhere: Artists, Writers, and the Precognitive Imagination.
Synopsis & Bio
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![Phil Ford]()
Phil Ford
Co-host of the influential Weird Studies podcast, professor of musicology at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music and affiliate faculty in IU’s Cognitive Science Program.
Synopsis & Bio
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![J. F. Martel]()
J. F. Martel
Prolific writer on art, culture, religion, and philosophy, co-host of the Weird Studies podcast and author of Reclaiming Art in the Age of Artifice with an introduction by novelist Donna Tartt.
Synopsis & Bio
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![Kelly Bulkeley]()
Kelly Bulkeley
Author of several books on Dreaming, most recently, Lucrecia the Dreamer: Prophecy, Cognitive Science, and the Spanish Inquisition; senior editor of the APA journal Dreaming.
Synopsis & Bio
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![Andreas Halskov]()
Andreas Halskov
Author of numerous essays on David Lynch and of the book TV Peaks: Twin Peaks and Modern Television Drama; adjunct professor at the MIU David Lynch Graduate School of Cinematic Arts.
Synopsis & Bio
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![Erin Bradfield]()
Erin Bradfield
Teaching Professor in Philosophy at Santa Clara University and author of an upcoming monograph on David Lynch’s Twin Peaks.
Synopsis & Bio
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![David Titterington]()
David Titterington
A writer for the 25 Years Later online journal since 2019, David’s work was featured in the book David Lynch and the American West.
Synopsis & Bio
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![Nathan Seckinger]()
Nathan Seckinger
Theorist of magical and animist philosophies with an educational background in ancient philosophy and comparative world religions.
Synopsis & Bio
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![Joel Gunz - Host]()
Joel Gunz - Host
Your host for the weekend. Also a busy writer and filmmaker, host of the Alfred Hitchcock conference HitchCon and of the weekly MacGuffin Film Club.
Special Session
But who is the Dreamer?
An exploration of Lynch’s cinematic dreams and those times when the dream leaps from the screen into the material world.
Special session
Landing the Big Fish
Faculty from the MIU David Lynch Graduate School of Screenwriting share insights into the technique of tapping into the power of consciousness to improve creativity.
The Darkness of Future Past is an independent scholarly event and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or sponsored by David Lynch or his estate.