PLEXIFILM RELEASES FIRST AUTHORIZED DVD OF ANDY WARHOL’S FILMS

In conjunction with The Andy Warhol Museum, Plexifilm announces the release of 13 Most Beautiful… Songs for Andy Warhol’s Screen Tests, featuring 13 of Warhol’s classic silent film portraits. Subjects include Nico, Lou Reed, Edie Sedgwick, Dennis Hopper, and more. Shot between 1964 and 1966 at Warhol’s Factory studio in New York City, the Screen Tests are presented with newly commissioned soundtracks performed by Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips.

Plexifilm is currently taking pre-orders for a limited edition of 1,300 which will be released on January 17, 2009. The retail edition of the DVD will be released February 17, 2009. http://www.plexifilm.com

About the DVD editions:

The limited edition DVD is presented in a deluxe gatefold LP-style package with an exclusive poster and booklet. In addition, 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. The retail DVD is presented in a slipcovered hardcover book bound package.

DVD extras on both editions include a behind-the-scenes documentary on the production of 13 Most Beautiful… Songs for Andy Warhol’s Screen Tests, and a video interview with Dean & Britta about Warhol, the music, and the project. The accompanying booklet includes brief biographies of the Screen Test subjects, liner notes from the Warhol Museum’s Thomas Sokolowski, Geralyn Huxley, and Ben Harrison, and notes on the music from Dean Wareham.

About 13 Most Beautiful…Songs for Andy Warhol’s Screen Tests:

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 & Britta, created new soundtracks for the 13 films, incorporating original compositions as well as cover songs. The musical sensibilities of Dean & Britta, as well as their keen interest in cinema and their experience with scoring films, including Noah Baumbach’s acclaimed feature The Squid & the Whale, make them a perfect match for this project.

13 Most Beautiful…Songs for Andy Warhol’s Screen Tests with Dean & Britta is also being presented by The Andy Warhol Museum as a series of live multi-media performances. The original project was jointly commissioned by The Andy Warhol Museum and the Pittsburgh Cultural Trust for the Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts 2008 and will have its world premiere at The Byham Theater in Pittsburgh on Friday, October 24th. It will travel to contemporary arts centers, museums and festivals throughout the U.S. including the Wexner Center for the Arts in Columbus, Ohio on November 20, 2008; Lincoln Center (American Song Book Series), New York, NY on January 17, 2009; Vancouver, PuSH Festival, January 30, 2009; Seattle Art Museum on February 6, 2009; Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, MN on February 28, 2009; MCA Chicago on March 7, 2009; and Mass MoCA, North Adams, MA on March 28, 2009. Additional US dates and European performances will be announced soon.

TECHNICAL SPECS:

USA, 2009, 52 minutes (+ 20 minutes of extras), B&W, 16mm, 1.33:1 (original ratio)
Dolby Digital, NR, NTSC
Retail Edition PLX-034, $34.99, UPC 082354004828
Limited Edition PLX-703, $250, No UPC