NOVA ’78. A countercultural time capsule

In the late 1970s, New York was the scene of an extraordinary countercultural ferment, both artistic and social. This is the time and place that Aaron Brookner and Rodrigo Areias take viewers back to in their film NOVA ’78. Its starting point is the Nova Convention, a three-day conference held in 1978. Bringing together a remarkable group of truly iconic figures, the event was also an opportunity to celebrate William S. Burroughs’ return to the United States after more than two decades spent in places including Latin America, North Africa, Paris and London.

44 lost rolls of film

The list of artists appearing in the documentary is enough to make your head spin. Alongside Burroughs himself, the film features Patti Smith, Allen Ginsberg, Laurie Anderson, Philip Glass and Frank Zappa, to name just a few. Yet the extraordinary cast is not the only thing that makes NOVA ’78 so remarkable. The story of how the film came into being is equally fascinating.

In 2011, Aaron Brookner began organising the archive of his uncle, Howard Brookner, director of the documentary Burroughs: The Movie. He discovered 183 film negatives shot by Howard between 1978 and 1982, while 44 rolls were believed to have been lost forever. That was until an archivist from the John Giorno Foundation called to say that additional boxes containing his uncle’s films had been found. Inside were the missing 44 rolls, capturing previously unseen performances, conversations and audience reactions from the Nova Convention.

A faithful record of an extraordinary moment

NOVA ’78 presents this rediscovered footage without contemporary commentary, preserving all the rough imperfections of the original analogue material. Some of the era’s most remarkable artists appear exactly as they were.

Brookner and Areias deliberately resist polishing the imperfections. They leave in imprecise framing, out-of-focus shots, zooms and clapperboards, allowing the images to speak in their own language. Areias describes the film as a portrait of a lost New York and a creative utopia.

NOVA ’78 – The filmmakers

Aaron Brookner is an American-British director, producer, screenwriter and visual artist. He studied film at Vassar College and began his career working, among other roles, as an assistant to Jim Jarmusch on Coffee and Cigarettes.

Rodrigo Areias began his career as a musician and music producer and is now one of Portugal’s most active independent filmmakers. He directs and produces films, creates video art and music videos, and his productions have been presented at festivals including Cannes, Berlin, Venice and Locarno.

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Tickets for individual screenings are available at the box office of the Municipal Cultural Centre (Miejskie Centrum Kultury),
12 Marcinkowskiego St., Bydgoszcz

Festival pass for the entire FONOMO festival