Andy Warhol: Screen Tests

Thematic Hybrid: A New Film Form Curated by Mary Lea Bandy

Warhol’s filmmaking in the mid-60’s experimented with aspects of art that he applied in other mediums throughout his career, here the serial portrait. In 1964-1966 he filmed in his studio some 500 black-and-white silent three-minute films he titled Screen Tests. Models, artists, and celebrities posed before the camera, usually asked not to move. Deceptively simple yet sumptuous, the varied light and tension or suppressed laughter of the poseur helped illuminate character and personality. Most arrestingly, running the films at the slower speed of 16fps that Warhol specified for these works radically changed the “tests” into “portraits,” so still do they seem, resulting in a hybrid form that surprises viewers and critics to this day.

Director

Andy Warhol

Release Year

1964

Festival Year

2004

Country

United States

Run Time

14 minutes