Industrial context. Mulholland drive was originally meant to be a series but was shut down with in weeks of filming. Lynch took the scenes that had been recorded and ended up producing a feature film. When lynch proposed the idea to Hollywood they ended up giving him a budget of 15 million which is fairly low for Hollywood’s standards. After the plot for the seires was rejected Lynch ended up getting his funding by studio canal which is a european film making company. This enabled him to have more creativity in his ideas. Mulholland Drive premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2001, where Lynch won the Best Director award.

socio-political and cultural contexts:

Mulholland drive is a surrealist film and is inspired by the surrealist movement in 1920s to unite the conscious and unconscious mind. The film is very critical of Hollywood and how it can destroy so many young actors dreams. we see this through betty who arrives in Hollywood with the hope of becoming an actress but instead gets quite the opposite. even though this film was released just after 9/11 there is still the sense of fearing the unknown and mystery that surrounds the film