Zelly & Me

(Tina Rathborne, 1988, USA, 87 minutes)

Screening from laserdisc!

Legendary director David Lynch was romantically involved with his Blue Velvet star Isabella Rossellini in the late 80s and early 90s, and right in the middle of that, two years after Blue Velvet and two before Twin Peaks, he was goaded into his first performance as an actor in Tina Rathborne’s semi-autobiographical Zelly & Me, in which Rossellini stars. This PG-rated film has newly-orphaned Phoebe (Alexandra Johnes, later an executive producer on Robert Eggers’ The Witch) living with her grandmother (Glynis Johns, Mary Poppins) and nanny Zelly (Rossellini). Lynch plays neighbor Willie, with whom Zelly begins a relationship. Rathborne went on to direct a couple of episodes of Twin Peaks, notably season one, episode four (“Rest in Pain”), in which Maddy Ferguson makes her first appearance. Zelly & Me has not been issued on any physical media format since the laserdisc we’re screening it from and is currently unavailable to stream legally from any source. We’re pleased to give St. Louis’s many Lynch fans and mourners a rare opportunity to catch up with this rarity.

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• This Thursday, 10th July, 02:00 pm, 70th Flaherty Seminar Gathering: Onward! (Day 1) in Webster Groves
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