Award Presentation to Andy Warhol

Writes Jonas Mekas: “In 1964 Film Culture magazine chose Andy Warhol for its annual Independent Film award. The plan was to show some of Andy’s films and have Andy come on stage and hand him the award. Andy said, no, he didn’t want a public presentation. So I decided to hand him the award at the Factory, film the occasion, and show the film at the Award Presentation show at the New Yorker Theater. Andy thought it was a good idea. He got some of the superstars together for the occasion. I was on my way to the Factory with three rolls of film when I remembered that I had nothing to present to Andy. So on the corner I bought a basket of mixed fruit. It was presented to Andy by Ivy Nicholson’s little son. Some of the others present: Baby Jane Holzer, Gerard Malanga, Ivy Nicholson, Naomi Levine, Gregory Battcock, Kenneth King. Gregory Markopoulos happened to be there, so he operated the Bolex when I wasn’t. Gregory is in the film, too, since the camera was motorized. I slowed down the film in the printing as a form of tribute to Andy: most of his films–actually all the films from that period–were projected at 16 frames per second, though they were shot at 24. I did the same thing, but I had to do it by means of optical reprinting because I wanted to add sound to the film: Supremes music which was the daily background at the Factory during those days.”With: Gregory Battcock, Baby Jane Holzer, Kenneth King, Gerard Malanga, Ivy Nicholson, Naomi Levine, Gregory Markopoulos, Jonas Mekas, Andy Warhol, et al. Music: The Supremes.