John Lilly and the Earth Coincidence Control Office – movie screening and discussion in Turku, Tampere and Helsinki

Tampere: MON MAY 18th, 2026
Turku: FRI May 29th, 2026
Helsinki: MON June 1st, 2026

Tiedot suomeksi täältä.

Probing the mysteries of the universe from many angles, and using his body as a central research laboratory, John C. Lilly was a man of contradictions. This physician, neuroscientist, psychoanalyst, mystic and author is known as the inventor of the floatation tank, a pioneer of human–dolphin communication and a psychonaut who approached the worlds opened up by LSD and ketamine with a passion that occasionally verged on self-destruction. 

During his daring expeditions to the frontiers of consciousness, Lilly reported having charted entirely novel dimensions, including descriptions of encounters with what he called ECCO – cosmic entities that govern meaningful coincidences. Inspired by psychedelics and other methods of mind-alteration, he wrote about “metaprogramming the human biocomputer”, which can at least partly be understood as foreshadowing current understanding of the potential that increased neuroplasticity may hold for changing harmful (and, occasionally, useful) patterns of thought and behavior. 

The word “unconventional” probably doesn’t do justice to Lilly’s character. His legacy is multidimensional: His work has played a major role in how dolphins and whales came to be seen as intelligent, conscious beings worthy of our respect and protection. But in his research, he also occasionally treated them brutally, and from the perspective of scientific integrity and ethics, his projects had many questionable elements. Lilly’s work was funded by the CIA’s infamous MK-ULTRA project, and in addition to dosing himself with LSD, subjects he dosed included the dolphins he was studying. Later in his career, he emerged as a new age cult figure comparable to Timothy Leary.

In May and June, the Association for Finnish Psychedelic Education & Culture will screen the documentary John Lilly and the Earth Coincidence Control Office (2025). Tracing Lilly’s life and impact, the documentary proceeds in a matter-of-fact manner, drawing a multifaceted portrait of its protagonist, and leaving the viewer free to form their own opinions. 

The documentary is screened in Tampere, Turku and Helsinki. The language is English, with Finnish subtitles. 

After the screening, we’ll have an audience discussion about the themes of the documentary.

Times, tickets and further details:

Turku, Friday May 29th

Schedule:
4:30 Doors open
5:00 Opening words and movie (88min)
6:30 Break
6:40 Audience discussion
7:20 End

The event takes place in Circus Lounge, Markulantie 1. The venue is wheelchair accessible. Toilet is wheelchair accessible but doesn't include rails.

Presale ticket prices (payment methods MobilePay / card):

Regular price €10
Support price €15
Support price €20

Reserve your tickets here – you’ll get payment links after filling up this form.

Members of Psykedeelisen sivistyksen liitto who’ve paid their membership fee for 2026 will get a discount link that enables a €3 discount for the presale ticket. You can pay our membership fee in our web store.

By buying a support ticket you can help us cover our expenses and support our future activities.

From the door, ticket prices start from €12. Payment methods there are MobilePay, payment card or exact sum in cash.