NOVA ’78
Friday,
February 27, 2026
6:30pm
Doors
7pm
Event begins
with:
Aaron Brookner
Brad Gooch
Limited capacity
February 27, 2026
6:30pm
Doors
7pm
Event begins
with:
Aaron Brookner
Brad Gooch
Limited capacity
Held in New York on November 30, December 1 and December 2, 1978, The Nova Convention was a three-day event honoring the cultural impact of the work of William S. Burroughs, imagined by James Grauerholz and co-produced by GPS and semiotext(e). The gathering included discussions, performances, and readings by Burroughs, Patti Smith, Allen Ginsberg, Philip Glass, Peter Orlovsky, Laurie Anderson, Julia Heyward, Anne Waldman, and others. The artist Les Levine moderated a particularly poignant conversation about science fiction and the not-yet-here future between Burroughs, Robert Anton Wilson, Timothy Leary and Brion Gysin. Keith Richards had to cancel last-minute, but Frank Zappa read extracts from Burroughs’ Naked Lunch instead.
Howard Brookner had brought multiple camera crews to film the event, but most of the footage had been lost, only to have recently resurfaced and made into the film Nova ’78 (2025) written and directed by Howard’s nephew Aaron Brookner and co-directed by Rodrigo Areias.
The film had its US premiere at MoMA a day prior this event.
This event features a screening of the film followed by a conversation between Aaron Brookner and the best-selling poet, novelist, and biographer Brad Gooch.
Howard Brookner had brought multiple camera crews to film the event, but most of the footage had been lost, only to have recently resurfaced and made into the film Nova ’78 (2025) written and directed by Howard’s nephew Aaron Brookner and co-directed by Rodrigo Areias.
The film had its US premiere at MoMA a day prior this event.
This event features a screening of the film followed by a conversation between Aaron Brookner and the best-selling poet, novelist, and biographer Brad Gooch.
My uncle Howard’s archive had been locked away for three decades in Burroughs’ former New York City home, “The Bunker.” When I finally succeeded to recover it in 2013, I uncovered a massive cache of material, including 183 original camera negatives that Howard shot between 1978 and 1982 while creating his feature documentary, Burroughs: The Movie (1983), and other items of his work.
After working on the remastering and restoration of the archive for already a decade, I realized dozens of cans were missing, but I thought they were lost.
On Valentine’s Day, 2022, I received a message from an archivist at Giorno Poetry Systems: more boxes of my uncle Howard Brookner’s films had been discovered. The missing 44 rolls were there. The newly recovered film rolls contained unseen performances, intimate conversations, and precious audience interactions, capturing the profound cultural moment The Nova Convention represented.
The intention of this new film, Nova ‘78, is to immerse viewers in the event, creating a time-capsule with the energy and transformative ideas of 1978. The Nova Convention offered a cultural high-water mark for artistic expression, gender equality, gay rights, human rights, and environmental awareness.
—Aaron Brookner
After working on the remastering and restoration of the archive for already a decade, I realized dozens of cans were missing, but I thought they were lost.
On Valentine’s Day, 2022, I received a message from an archivist at Giorno Poetry Systems: more boxes of my uncle Howard Brookner’s films had been discovered. The missing 44 rolls were there. The newly recovered film rolls contained unseen performances, intimate conversations, and precious audience interactions, capturing the profound cultural moment The Nova Convention represented.
The intention of this new film, Nova ‘78, is to immerse viewers in the event, creating a time-capsule with the energy and transformative ideas of 1978. The Nova Convention offered a cultural high-water mark for artistic expression, gender equality, gay rights, human rights, and environmental awareness.
—Aaron Brookner
Aaron Brookner (b. 1981, USA) is a director, writer, and producer working across narrative and documentary films. He graduated from Vassar College and began his career assisting on Jim Jarmusch’s Coffee and Cigarettes and Rebecca Miller’s Personal Velocity. Selected works include directing UNCLE HOWARD (Sundance/Berlinale 2016) and NOVA '78 (Locarno/MoMA Opening Night Doc Fortnight/CPH: DOX, 2026), co-writing and producing LISTEN (Venice double Lion winner, 2020), and co-producing DICIANNOVE (Venice, TIFF, BFI, 2024). He leads the Howard Brookner Legacy Project and has produced the restorations of BURROUGHS: THE MOVIE (NYFF, 2014) and ROBERT WILSON & THE CIVIL WARS (Il Cinema Ritrovato, NYFF, 2025). He is based in London.
Brad Gooch (b. 1952, USA) is a poet, novelist, and biographer. His latest book Radiant: The Life and Line of Keith Haring (Harper, 2024) was awarded the 2025 Lambda Literary Award in Biography and is being developed as a TV series written and directed by Andrew Haigh. Forthcoming in June is his new memoir, Good Morning Moon: A Snapshot of an American Family. His previous books include Flannery: A Life of Flannery O'Connor, City Poet: The Life and Times of Frank O'Hara; as well as the memoir Smash Cut. He is the recipient of National Endowment for the Humanities and Guggenheim fellowships. He lives in New York.
