John Lilly and the Earth Coincidence Control Office

Michael Almereyda & Courtney Stephens
United States | 2025 | 89 min
Swiss Premiere
Language : English
Subtitles : French

What do dolphins and LSD have in common? Evidently, the answer is neurophysiologist and self-proclaimed "psychonaut" John C. Lilly. Back in the 1950s, this pioneering scientist began working with dolphins to explore the mysteries of human consciousness — a journey that eventually led him into the depths of psychedelic experimentation. A dive with dolphins that’s as fascinating as it is mind-bending.

If you think the empathy we feel for dolphins is the spontaneous effect of their character or appearance, you have once again confused culture and nature. The main culprit for this misunderstanding and its vast impact is John C. Lilly: a neuroscientist and self-proclaimed ‘psychonaut’. Lilly began studying dolphins as part of his research into the brain and language, but soon the explosive mix of ambition, success and psychedelia led him to recklessly cross the line between science and fiction, and his attempt to communicate with cetaceans was only the beginning of a drift that took him from apprentice scientist to media personality and countercultural guru. Digging up and brilliantly assembling a generous and eclectic repertoire, ranging from scientific and nature films, Hollywood movies, TV shows, early computer graphics and amateur films, accompanied by Chloë Sevigny's narration, Almereyda and Stephens weave an astonishing web of inferences and references ranging from literature to politics, ethnography to pop culture, to create the film that only Lily's altered mind could have imagined.

Sergio Fant

Courtney Stephens
John Lilly and the Earth Coincidence Control Office, 2025
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Michael Almereyda
John Lilly and the Earth Coincidence Control Office, 2025
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