USA
1964 - 1966
97 min.
COMPOSED BY: Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips

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Between 1964 and 1966, Andy Warhol shot his “Screen Tests”-beautiful and revealing portraits of hundreds of different individuals, all visitors to his studio, The Factory. From the famous to the anonymous, most 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 result was a fascinating collection of 4-minute, slow-motion masterpieces that startle and entrancemesmerizing in the purest sense of the word.

Jointly commissioned by The Andy Warhol Museum and The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust for the 2008 Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts, the 13 Most Beautiful…Songs for Andy Warhol’s Screen Tests, is a new performance commission involving the Museum’s film collection. Dean Wareham & Britta Phillips are a uniquely appropriate match for this project on many levels, including the overall “dream pop” sensibility of their former indie-pop band, Luna, known for its combination of both churning and languid rhythms, entrancingly melodic guitar hooks, and clever and wistful lyrics, as well as the often referenced Velvet Underground influence in their music, and lastly Dean and Britta’s keen interest in 60’s Italian and French New Wave cinema and their recent forays into scoring films, such as Noah Baumbach’s acclaimed feature, The Squid & the Whale.

Step back-and forward-in time, and in art, and rediscover Warhol’s masterworks in this exclusive Festival of Firsts premiere, a multimedia performance featuring large scale video projection above the musicians performing on stage.

The 2008 Pittsburgh International Festival of Firsts is produced by The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust in association with The Andy Warhol Museum and supported by Anonymous donor, The Pittsburgh Cultural Trust’s Carol R. Brown Performance Fund, Claude Worthington Benedum Foundation, The Grable Foundation, The Heinz Endowments, Joan Humphrey, Richard King Mellon Foundation, The Pittsburgh Foundation, The Ellis School, The Rubinoff Company, Computer Enterprises, Inc., and iGATE Global Solutions Limited.