A new documentary about Buzz, the short-lived 1990 MTV series that put avant-garde writers and artists on music television, will screen in Santa Monica on Sept. 5 ahead of its wider release, followed by a live panel.
The film, "This Is Buzz," was directed and written by Mark Pellington, whose work spans Pearl Jam's "Jeremy" video, "Arlington Road" and "The Mothman Prophecies." It chronicles the making of the 13-part experimental series Pellington created with producer/director Jon Klein, commissioned by MTV and Channel 4 in the U.K.
Buzz put William S. Burroughs, Jenny Holzer, William Gibson, Jaron Lanier, Timothy Leary and RuPaul on music television, cut together with a rapid, collaged visual logic. It aired once and was never rerun, and MTV canceled it after its first run.
The screening launches Moving Image Arts, a new Los Angeles nonprofit event series. The documentary premiered at the 2026 Slamdance Film Festival and will be released by Antenna Releasing.
"Buzz was a visceral proto-version of modern media language: pop culture, politics, art, philosophy, and the manic energy of youth, all colliding chaotically in one show," said Tony Romain, founder of Moving Image Arts. "It deserves to be remembered as a milestone in the development of our visual culture. That is the work of Moving Image Arts, connecting the craft and history of visual storytelling to the new tools and new forums of mass communication. September 5 opens our fall and winter calendar, and there is no better way to launch it."
The evening will open with excerpts from the original series, followed by the film and a panel on how Buzz's visual language of pastiche, irony and cut-up shaped how media is consumed today. Moderated by Joanne McNeil, author of "Lurking: How a Person Became a User," the panel features Pellington; Robert Tercek, former international creative director at MTV; Kate Parsons, associate professor of digital art at Pepperdine University; and Holly Willis, chair of Media Arts + Practice at USC's School of Cinematic Arts.
The event runs from 6 to 10 p.m. at Highways Performance Space + Gallery on the 18th Street Arts Center campus, 1651 18th Street. Free parking, food and drinks are available. Admission is free with RSVP, and seating is first come, first served: https://this-is-buzz-conversation.eventbrite.com
Edited by SMDP Staff