A Film a Week - Nova '78

 previously published on Cineuropa

The Nova Convention was a three-day event that took place from 30 November-2 December 1978 in New York. It was produced by writer and book editor James Grauerholz, poet and performer John Giorno, and literary critic and cultural theorist Sylvère Lotringer in order to celebrate writer William S Burroughs, and his ideas, influence and legacy. Late filmmaker Howard Brookner (1954-1989) and his core crew documented the whole event, but the material was considered lost until it was unearthed in 2012. The largely previously unseen material was progressively restored up until 2024, and Howard’s nephew Aaron Brookner and his Portuguese colleague Rodrigo Areias composed a documentary called Nova ’78 out of it, which has now premiered at the 2025 edition of Locarno, out of competition.

While most of the previous paragraph could be read in the opening title cards of Nova ’78, there is more of a backstory here that did not end up in Brookner and Areias’ documentary. Maybe the reason for this is the fact that some of the material was also used for the 2014 updated version of Howard Brookner’s Borroughs (1983), and that Aaron Brookner explained the life and the work of his uncle, and his ties to him, in his 2016 documentary Uncle Howard. For those acquainted with those two docs, it should not come as a surprise that Tom DiCillo and Jim Jarmusch were signed up as the cinematographer and the sound recordist, respectively, on Nova ’78, as they were part of the original Burroughs crew.

Nova ‘78 is pretty much focused on the very event, from the last backstage arrangements the day before the convention to numerous panel discussions, dance, theatrical and musical performances, readings, and expressions of gratitude for the inspiration that Burroughs provided to all of them. Regarding the speakers and performers, the list is long and varied: Philip Glass, John Cage, Laurie Anderson, Patti Smith, Timothy Leary, Allen Ginsberg, Brion Gysin and many more. Some of the initially announced guests did not appear, like Susan Sontag and Keith Richards, but those who did surprised many with their openhearted confessions. For instance, Frank Zappa, who was never much of a reader, deeply admired Burroughs for writing and publishing Naked Lunch. The rest of the conversations revolved around the future and the fear of it for reasons that still stand today, like wars, the environment and the persecution of minorities, while one conversation between Burroughs and Ginsberg on the topic of the turmoil in Iran just before the revolution sounds prophetic from such a distance.

Howard Brookner set the style somewhere between a fly-on-the-wall kind of observation and a reportage that aims to be as factual as possible, and Aaron Brookner and Rodrigo Areias maintain it for the better part of the film, as they stay at the convention and in its immediate surroundings. However, they both know that they have to relax the atmosphere a little and also show the hero of the story, Burroughs, in some other settings, so they take us away from the convention and into his world of long walks and road trips where every source of inspiration can be turned into a work of art through a process of mental training. The almost abstract imagery is accompanied perfectly by a psychedelic guitar- and synth-heavy soundtrack by Paulo Furtado (aka The Legendary Tigerman), while the precise editing by Aaron Bruckner and Tomás Baltazar keeps the running time of this dense documentary at a pleasant 80 minutes.

The convention it portrays proved to be a uniquely influential event. As a documentary, Nova ‘78 deserves the same outcome.

A Film a Week - Bright Future / Viitor luminos

 previously published on Cineuropa

The abrupt fall of the long-lasting dictatorship of Nicolae Ceauşescu in Romania seems to be a trendy topic in the realm of national cinema lately. Tudor Giurgiu dealt with it in his docudrama Freedom (2023) and Bogdan Mureşanu did so in his hyperlinked mosaic The New Year That Never Came (2024), while Vlad Petri also touched upon it in his documentary Between Revolutions (2023).

Producer-turned-filmmaker Andra MacMasters chose a different angle for her documentary and directorial debut, Bright Future, which could, for the most part, serve as a “prequel” of sorts to the aforementioned events. After its premiere at last year’s IDFA and a screening at this year’s edition of CPH:DOX, it is now playing in Beldocs’ The Battle for Reality section.

MacMasters opens the film with archival footage of Lenin’s monument being transported and placed on its pedestal in Bucharest, showcasing the conviction of Romanian communists and their dedication to the cause. She will come back home for the poignant ending, but in the meantime, the filmmaker takes us on a trip to Pyongyang, where the 13th edition of the World Youth and Student Festival took place. The large Romanian delegation had an especially honourable status there, owing to the “extraordinary friendship” between Ceauşescu and North Korean leader Kim Il Sung. It was the summer of 1989, and the collapse of the regime was just six months away.

The festival itself was organised by the World Federation of Democratic Youth and the International Union of Students. For the latter, it was the last edition of the gathering: it would also be declared illegal later that year owing to its ties with communist regimes. The festival itself was not ideologically strict, as it brought together 20,000 people from left-leaning youth and student organisations from 177 countries, but the fact that it took place in the immediate aftermath of Tiananmen Square exposed the divisions between the delegations from the West and those from the communist countries. However, some topics they did have in common, and those topics are still present in the global left-wing discourse: the colonial past and neo-colonial present; the fight for human, women’s and gay rights; the fight against capitalism, imperialism and climate change; the Israeli-Palestinian conflict; and support for the oppressed.

The footage filmed by amateur filmmaker and educator Emilian Urse shows us the atmosphere of the festival: the theatrical ceremonies, the heated debates and the parties where we can witness oddities such as the whole hall singing and dancing to the Korean-language cover of the Modern Talking song “Brother Louie”. Through it, we can see the youthful, idealistic zeal and the high hopes for a “bright future”, as well as the political games that were being played on that level as well. Although we know that the end of the Cold War was near, the subjects remain completely unaware of it, despite some warning signs.

But in spite of the film containing some clandestinely obtained footage (the abundant use of fish-eye lenses is a dead giveaway), it is quite “creative” as a documentary. Most of its narrative material comes from printed sources, which vary from communist countries’ official press publications to Western press and archives, and it is read out by voice actors in a variety of languages off screen. It is deftly welded together by editor Andrei Gorgan, but it still remains very much Andra MacMasters’ work both in terms of the research and the overall finished product. On the surface, Bright Future might be about the past, but it challenges its viewers to reflect on their present and future.