13 Most Beautiful… Songs for Andy Warhol’s Screen Tests Directed by Andy Warhol, 2009

Released in conjunction with The Andy Warhol Museum, 13 Most Beautiful…Songs for Andy Warhol’s Screen Tests features 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. This is the first ever authorized DVD release of films by Andy Warhol.

The DVD is presented in a slipcovered hardbound package. DVD extras include a behind-the-scenes documentary on the live production of the 13 Most Beautiful… Songs for Andy Warhol’s Screen Tests performances, and a video interview with Dean & Britta about Andy Warhol, the music and the project. The 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.

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.

Songwriters Dean Wareham and Britta Phillips, formerly of the band Luna and currently recording as Dean & Britta, incorporated original compositions as well as cover songs to create new soundtracks for the 13 films.

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.

Bonus Features

Behind-the-scenes documentary on the live production of the 13 Most Beautiful... Songs for Andy Warhol's Screen Tests performances, and a video interview with Dean & Britta about Andy Warhol, the music, and the project. The accompanying booklet includes 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.