Mark Pellington Unearths Lost MTV Episodes for Multi-Screen Documentary Experience

Mark Pellington is bringing back a piece of MTV history that hasn’t been seen in over three decades. The filmmaker behind The Mothman Prophecies and iconic music videos for Pearl Jam and Nine Inch Nails has turned BUZZ, his groundbreaking 1990 MTV current affairs show, into a documentary called This Is Buzz.

The film gets a special preview Saturday at Beyond the Streets Gallery in Los Angeles, presented as “Analog + Ecstasy,” a multi-screen immersive experience featuring lost episodes of the original series. IndieWire called it “one of the best documentaries of the year.”

BUZZ featured interviews with William S. Burroughs, Malcolm McLaren, Dennis Hopper, The Edge, Timothy Leary, William Gibson, and RuPaul. The show helped define MTV’s visual aesthetic in the early ’90s before disappearing from the airwaves.

The free event runs from noon to 10 p.m. and includes screenings of two original BUZZ episodes, a conversation between Pellington and Oscar-nominated editor Hank Corwin, and the multi-screen documentary premiere with Q&A.

Indie distributor Antenna Releasing will launch a nationwide roadshow this September, with Pellington appearing for Q&As at select cities. Digital release follows in the fall.

For filmmakers who grew up on MTV’s experimental era, this is a rare chance to see what shaped that generation’s visual language.

Share