13 Most Beautiful… Songs for Andy Warhol's Screen Tests (2009)

• 71%
• 2009
• Documentary
• Music
• Andy Warhol
• Paul America
• Ann Buchanan
• Fred Herko

Between 1964 and 1966, Andy Warhol shot nearly 500 Screen Tests, beautiful and revealing portraits of hundreds of different individuals, from the famous to the anonymous, all visitors to his studio, the Factory. 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. The 13 Screen Tests included are Paul America, Susan Bottomly, Ann Buchanan, Freddy Herko, Jane Holzer (Toothbrush), Dennis Hopper, Billy Name, Nico, Richard Rheem, Lou Reed (Coke), Edie Sedgwick, Ingrid Superstar and Mary Woronov. Songwriters Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips, formerly of the band Luna and currently recording as Dean and Britta, created new soundtracks for the 13 films, incorporating original compositions as well as cover songs. The musical sensibilities of Dean and Britta, as well as their keen interest in cinema and their experience with scoring films, including Noah Baumbach's acclaimed feature "The Squid and the Whale," make them a perfect match for this project.