By Dana Keith, Miami Beach Cinematheque Andy Warhol, John Coplans catalogue, 1970, from the MBC Archive.

The early films of Andy Warhol are a mystery to most people, mainly because he is so well known as a graphic artist as opposed to a filmmaker, and also partly because the later more narrative features of his career (actually directed by Paul Morrissey, in most cases) were the only ones marketed for international audiences and released theatrically. The early Warhol pioneering experimental films were never meant to be shown to mainstream theatrical audiences, being mostly impromptu sessions of creativity captured on camera for as long as the reel allowed, and fifty years later they are fascinating documents of the Warhol legacy.

Four of them make up the “Warhol’s Silver Screen/Silver Factory” retrospective at Miami Beach Cinematheque this November and December, co-organized and curated by Senior Curatorial Assistant and project manager of the Andy Warhol Film Project, Whitney Museum of American Art, Claire K. Henry. Ms. Henry will be discussing the films at “Speaking In Cinema #4” on November 20, made possible by a generous grant from the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation with additional support from The Sagamore Hotel and Nespresso. She will be joined by I SHOT ANDY WARHOL Producer Tom Kalin and Miami Film Critic Alfred Soto to discuss the films which were inspired individually by the real lives of four Hollywood stars (Jean Harlow, Lupe Velez, Lana Turner, and Hedy Lamarr), as interpreted by Warhol Factory stars and starlets.

The retrospective is complemented by an exhibition of photography and rare ephemera from the MBC Archive, with items on loan from the Whitney Museum Archive. The exhibition is free and open to the public during MBC business hours (one half hour before, between and after screenings). It is also complemented by an installation at The Sagamore Hotel of video artworks curated by Lori Zippay, executive director of Electronic Arts Intermix, the world’s leading source of artist’s video. The audience at “Speaking In Cinema #4” will have a chance to view the Sagamore installation during the after party graciously hosted by the Sagamore on November 20.

The “Warhol’s Silver Screen/Silver Factory” schedule opened with HARLOT (1964) on Thursday, November 13. It continues Thursday, November 20 with “Speaking In Cinema #4”; Thursday, December 4 with LUPE (1965, screened in dual 16mm projection as originally intended); Thursday, December 11 with MORE MILK YVETTE (1965); and Thursday, December 18 with HEDY (1966). The films in the retrospective are from the Collection of The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh. Contribution The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc. ©2014 The Andy Warhol Museum, Pittsburgh, PA., a museum of Carnegie Institute. All rights reserved.

For full details and tickets, please visit www.MBCinema.com.

The Miami Beach Cinematheque is located at 1130 Washington Avenue on South Beach, with parking directly behind the building, entrance on 12^th Street and Drexel.