Chelsea Girls

Chelsea Girls is a 1966 experimental underground film directed by Andy Warhol and Paul Morrissey. The film was Warhols first major commercial success after a long line of avantgarde art films both feature length and short. It was shot at the Hotel Chelsea and other locations in New York City, and follows the lives of several of the young women who live there, and stars many of Warhols superstars. It is presented in a split screen, accompanied by alternating soundtracks attached to each scene and an alternation between blackandwhite and color photography. The original cut runs at just over three hours long.

According to scriptwriter Ronald Tavel, Warhol first brought up the idea for the film in the back room of Maxs Kansas City, Warhols favorite nightspot, during the summer of 1966. In Ric Burns documentary film Andy Warhol, Tavel recollected that Warhol took a napkin and drew a line down the middle and wrote B and W on opposite sides of the line he then showed it to Tavel, explaining, I want to make a movie that is a long movie, that is all black on one side and all white on the other. Warhol was referring to both the visual concept of the film, as well as the content of the scenes presented.The film was shot in the summer and early autumn of 1966 in various rooms and locations inside the Hotel Chelsea, though contrary to the films title, only poet Ren Ricard actually lived there at the time. Filming also took place at Warhols studio The Factory. Appearing in the film were many of Warhols regulars, including Nico, Brigid Berlin, Gerard Malanga, Mary Woronov as Hanoi Hannah, Ingrid Superstar, International Velvet and Eric Emerson. According to Burns documentary, Warhol and his companions completed an average of one 33minute segment per week. ........

Source: Wikipedia