New Jersey Stage logo
New Jersey Stage Menu


?>

 

"World Premiere Video..." To Be Part Of United States Super 8 Film and Digital Video Festival On Saturday


By Gary Wien

originally published: 02/14/2021


(NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ) -- Like many budding young filmmakers, Mike J. Nichols grew up shooting Super-8 films with his friends.  One of his projects was a music video which forms the premise of World Premiere Video... - a short film that not only includes the music video, but the story behind how he got Dweezil Zappa to be make a cameo, how the film was lost in a fire, and how it somehow re-emerged thirty years later.  The film is part of three to be available for screening virtually during United States Super 8 Film and Digital Video Festival Day 1-Part 2 on Saturday, February 20th.  

"I think what brought this together is that I had written a letter to Dweezil Zappa when he was on MTV with some art work and some stories," recalled Nichols.  "About three days later, he called me and we sort of ended up being friends."

Nichols was inspired to learn how to play guitar and began writing songs each weekend.  The first song he ever wrote was called "I Want To Be On MTV" which was really just an excuse to make a music video.  Nichols asked if Dweezil would make a cameo in the video and he said yes. Amazingly, Nichols sent his camera to Dweezil with some storyboards about what to shoot.  The footage was created and sent back to Nichols.

Unfortunately the video was lost when a fire destroyed all of the footage.  But Nichols, who was an editor on last year's Zappa documentary, had some free time during COVID and found an old VHS tape of the Super-8 footage.  He turned the footage into a mini-documentary which tells his story of being interested in filmmaking and music, and attempted to make a music video spoofing MTV favorites like Bon Jovi, Van Halen, and even the New Kids On The Block.  Ultimately he carved out what things would have looked like if Martha Quinn had provided the video's World Premiere on MTV.

It's a very enjoyable short with a music video that will look familiar in design and sound to those who spent long nights watching MTV in the late 80s.  The video will be available on February 20th along with the full-length film, Goodbye Seventies and a very short film called "Can't Answer You Any More (On Faces)."  Click here to rent the films to watch from home.  The cost is $13.25.




Promote your shows at New Jersey Stage! Click here for info



Now in its 33rd year, the United States Super 8mm Film & Digital Video Festival is the largest and longest running juried festival of its kind in North America. The festival encourages any genre (including animation, documentary, personal, narrative, and experimental) made on Super 8mm/8mm film, Hi 8mm/8mm, or digital video. We invite you to discover cutting-edge works created by passionate filmmakers with these small-gauge media formats. The 33rd annual United States Super 8mm Film & Digital Video Festival will be held virtually February 20+21, 2021. The Festival will include a different program each evening.



Gary Wien has been covering the arts since 2001 and has had work published with Jersey Arts, Upstage Magazine, Elmore Magazine, Princeton Magazine, Backstreets and other publications. He is a three-time winner of the Asbury Music Award for Top Music Journalist and the author of Beyond the Palace (the first book on the history of rock and roll in Asbury Park) and Are You Listening? The Top 100 Albums of 2001-2010 by New Jersey Artists. In addition, he runs New Jersey Stage and the online radio station The Penguin Rocks. He can be contacted at gary@newjerseystage.com.

FEATURED EVENTS

ART | COMEDY | DANCE | FILM | MUSIC | THEATRE | COMMUNITY

To narrow results by date range, categories,
or region of New Jersey
click here for our advanced search.


FREE

FREE SUMMER MOVIE: Moana 2

Tuesday, July 15, 2025 @ 7:00pm
State Theatre New Jersey
15 Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ 08901
category: film


 

FREE

FREE SUMMER MOVIE: Moana 2

Tuesday, July 15, 2025 @ 10:30am
State Theatre New Jersey
15 Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ 08901
category: film


 

FREE

FREE SUMMER MOVIE: The Wild Robot

Tuesday, July 22, 2025 @ 7:00pm
State Theatre New Jersey
15 Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ 08901
category: film


 

FREE

FREE SUMMER MOVIE: The Wild Robot

Tuesday, July 22, 2025 @ 10:30am
State Theatre New Jersey
15 Livingston Avenue, New Brunswick, NJ 08901
category: film


 

Free

Free Movie Tuesdays: The Goonies (40th Anniversary)

Tuesday, July 29, 2025 @ 7:00pm
Mayo Performing Arts Center (MPAC)
100 South Street, Morristown, NJ 07960
category: film


 



Advertise with NJ Stage for $50-$100 per month, click here for info





 

EVENT PREVIEWS

The

The ShowRoom presents: UNSTREAMABLE CINEMA – Four Daring Films You Won't Find Online

(ASBURY PARK, NJ) -- This summer, The ShowRoom proudly launches UNSTREAMABLE CINEMA—a provocative new series showcasing four bold and controversial films that are currently unavailable on any streaming platform. These are rare, one-night-only opportunities to see these uncompromising works on the big screen, where they belong.



Fall

Fall 2025 New Jersey Film Festival Preview

(NEW BRUNSWICK, NJ) -- The New Jersey Film Festival returns to Rutgers University September 5 through October 10, 2025. As it has done the last few years, the festival will include select in-person screenings with all films available via video on-demand (VOD) as well. There are also a few screenings available only via VOD. Twenty films will have their New Jersey or Area Premiere (Middlesex County).



The

The Levoy Theatre hosts the CUT International Short Film Festival

(MILLVILLE, NJ) -- The Levoy Theatre hosts the CUT International Short Film Festival September 19-20, 2025. The festival's motto is 'Short Films for Quick Minds'. Its aim is to become the premier festival in New Jersey for short form films.



Count

Count Basie Center for the Arts presents An Evening With Francis Ford Coppola and screening of "Megalopolis"

(RED BANK, NJ) -- Legendary director, Francis Ford Coppola (The Godfather, Apocalypse Now, The Outsiders) is bringing his monumental 2024 film, Megalopolis, to select cities across the country. The tour kicks off at the Count Basie Center for the Arts on Sunday, July 20, 2025 at 7:00pm.



The

The Williams Center to Screen "Wayward Kin" by David Joseph Volino

(RUTHERFORD, NJ) -- After a four-year-long production process, filmmaker and New Jersey native, David Joseph Volino, is sharing the full-length feature, Wayward Kin, with local audiences. See the film for one night only at The Williams Center in Rutherford on Wednesday, July 23, 2025. The screening begins at 7:00pm with the cast and crew in attendance.