'Wonderful and strange': A festival celebrating David Lynch is coming to London

David Lynch fans, we’ve sewage bully news for you - and it’s not conscionable astir that gum you like. A two-day show celebrating nan life and profession of nan beloved American filmmaker is coming to London this month. 

Hosted astatine nan Genesis Cinema successful Whitechapel, ‘A Gathering of nan Angels’ will characteristic immersive performances, typical screenings, cosplay, and in-person talks pinch immoderate of Lynch's longterm collaborators, including shaper Sabrina Sutherland, Twin Peaks character Michael Horse, and musician Chrystabell. 

This year’s arena marks nan first dedicated to Lynch’s wider career, having antecedently tally from 2010-2019 arsenic nan Twin Peaks UK Festival, a celebrated get-together for devotees of nan seminal, surrealist TV bid and movie. 

After uncovering occurrence pinch his experimental cult classical Eraserhead successful 1977, David Lynch forged a visionary profession that captured nan thinly cloaked nightmares festering beneath suburban Americana. FromThe Elephant Man to Wild astatine Heart to Mulholland Drive, fewer filmmakers person managed to horrify and fascinate, confound and power pinch specified singular imagination.

Since his death successful January, a plethora of tributary exhibitions and retrospective screenings person been organised crossed nan globe - immoderate of which moreover included free cigarettes (a motion to Lynch’s notorious emotion of smoking). These, on pinch ‘A Gathering of nan Angels’, not only item nan taste effect of his works, but nan profoundly individual ways successful which audiences person connected to them. 

For Sabrina S. Sutherland, who produced Twin Peaks: The Return and Inland Empire, this relationship is sparked by nan enigma that’s halfway to Lynch’s creations, leaving their meaning unfastened for endless mentation and discussion. 

“It's an acquisition to spot his films. Not conscionable nan communicative of them, but nan ocular and auditory impressions that you get are truthful very deep,” she told Euronews Culture. “It's sometimes seemingly dark, but I ever spot a metallic lining and immoderate benignant of humanity successful his work.” 

At a clip erstwhile streaming and societal media predominate viewing habits, Twin Peaks successful peculiar has grown successful fame among younger audiences looking to beryllium challenged - and forcibly disconnected. 

“You can't multitask and watch Twin Peaks,” said Michael Horse, who played Deputy Hawk passim nan series. “You person to put your telephone down and you person to get into David's world. And that's benignant of a caller process for a batch of younger people.”

When nan show first aired successful 1990, it marked a turning constituent for TV that near an imprint connected astir each awesome show to come. Centred astir nan execution of a teenage woman named Laura Palmer, it merged enigma and melodramatics pinch cinematic avant-garde, proving nan possibilities for exploring unconventional storytelling connected nan mini screen. 

“We changed nan measurement that group process TV,” said Horse, who reprised his domiciled successful 2017 for The Return. “We knew we were doing thing typical nan first time, but [now] everything's sewage Twin Peaks's DNA each complete it.”

Among nan highlights astatine 'A Gathering of nan Angels' is nan first UK screening of I Know Catherine, nan Log Lady, a documentary astir nan life of Twin Peaks character Catherine Coulson. There's besides an ambient Mulholland Drive Dreamscape installation, a Lynchian cabaret, and - presumably - plentifulness of cherry pastry and “damn fine” coffee. 

Sutherland, however, is astir looking guardant to chatting pinch nan attendees.

“I emotion proceeding nan different theories that group person and nan experiences they've had, and really things person changed their lives,” she said. “David conscionable meant truthful overmuch to me, he still intends truthful overmuch to me. It's truthful awesome to perceive really he has besides been a alteration for different group and has made them alert of different things”. 

Horse feels likewise affectionate towards Lynch’s fans, noting their passion for nan creation supra thing else. "They're wholly progressive successful it, and it really opens up a batch of different thought processes to america astir what we did," he shared pinch Euronews Culture. "And Twin Peaks still grows. Even though it's not made anymore, it still grows procreation aft generation, and there's ever personification that sees thing that personification other didn't see".

In a parting exchange, Horse recounts a communicative from erstwhile he was successful London successful nan '70s and bonded pinch a stray fox. “He slept successful my edifice rooms and rode connected my motorcycle, and he was nan sweetest small creature,” he explained. “He conscionable loved to spell for rides, that small fox.”

Such swift shifts betwixt funny insights and endearing absurdity are possibly nan top pleasance of being astir David Lynch fans and collaborators. Theirs is simply a beingness successful which nan lines betwixt reality and dreamworlds blur; wherever characters move into drawer knobs, rabbits go anthropomorphic - and actors thrust connected motorcycles pinch foxes.

And so, immoderate experiences 'A Gathering of nan Angels' holds successful store, we person a definite emotion it will beryllium "both awesome and strange.”

'A Gathering of nan Angels' takes spot astatine nan Genesis Cinema successful London, UK connected 27-28 September 2025.