Plexifilm To Release Warhol Screen Tests, Dean and Britta Add Music
Published Oct 23, 2008
As our modern-day love affair with reissuing continues, you can find some pretty interesting little artifacts coming at you these days, such as 13 Most Beautiful... Songs for Andy Warhol's Screen Tests. Courtesy of the folks over at Plexifilm, this new DVD collection comes boasting 13 of Warhols classic silent film portraits, which include subjects such as Nico, Lou Reed, Edie Sedgwick, Dennis Hopper and a pile of others. All were shot between 1964 and 1966 at Warhol's legendary NYC-based Factory studio and, until now, were a rarely seen sight, only occasionally popping up at the odd art gallery or two.
On February 17, Screen Tests will hit shops for your home-viewing pleasure, and with newly commissioned music by Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips to boot.
To elaborate on these so-called Screen Tests, heres some help from the press release: "Subjects were captured in stark relief by a strong keylight, and filmed by Warhol with his stationary 16mm Bolex camera on silent, black and white, 100-foot rolls of film. The resulting two-and-a-half-minute film reels were then screened in slow motion, resulting in a fascinating collection of four-minute masterpieces that startle and entrance, mesmerizing in the purest sense of the word. Sounds cool, right?
The regular retail version comes in a slip-covered, hardcover book bound package and contains a chunk of extras, such as a behind-the-scenes documentary on the making of Screen Tests and a video interview with former Luna members Dean and Britta, who created new soundtracks both containing new original compositions and cover songs for the 13 Warhol films.
If youd like even more extras, theres also a limited edition version (1,300 copies) of the DVD, which comes out a month earlier on January 17 and can be pre-ordered now at Plexifilm. This version comes in a deluxe gatefold LP-style package with an exclusive poster and booklet. And check this: "one frame from each of the 13 Screen Tests will be hand-printed as an archival gelatin-silver photograph in an edition of 100. One of these individual prints is included in each package. Sounds even cooler, right?
Whats more, Screen Tests is also coming as a series of live mixed-media performances, one of which is in Vancouver on January 30 as part of the citys PuSH Festival.
Here are all the dates of the upcoming live screenings announced so far:
10/24 Pittsburgh, PA - The Byham Theater
11/20 Columbus, OH - Wexner Center for the Arts
1/17 New York, NY - Lincoln Center
1/30 Vancouver, BC - PuSH Festival
2/6 Seattle, WA - Seattle Art Museum
2/28 Minneapolis, MN - Walker Art Center
3/7 Chicago, IL - MCA Chicago
3/28 North Adams, MA - Mass MoCa
Dean & Britta "Nightnurse