Varsity Theatre to show rare Warhol films

With drag queens and graffiti artists on the silver screen, Andy Warhol’s mischievous legacy continues to work its way into Chapel Hill.

In a rare showing of Warhol’s “Chelsea Girls,” one of the 20th century’s most controversial art films, the Ackland Art Museum and the Varsity Theatre aim to promote the artist’s media legacy while launching an ambitious new film partnership.

“Warhol on Film: 4 Snapshots” will feature Warhol films that the Ackland borrowed from the Modern Museum of Art.

“These four films not only offer glimpses into Warhol’s own complicated and extensive project of a wholesale reinvention of American cinema, they also have more general connections between pop art and U.S. culture at various points in time,” said Richard Cante, director of the interdisciplinary program in cinema at UNC and curator for this event.

The Warhol series is the beginning of the Art Now/Cinema Now project, a collaborative initiative between the Ackland and the University’s interdisciplinary program in cinema and screen arts, Cante said.

The screening of “Chelsea Girls” — a lengthy exploration of New York City’s drag queens and artists in the 1970s — will be run through two simultaneous projectors.

This double-projection method of outdated 16-mm film guarantees that no single viewing of the film will ever be the same, Cante said — something Warhol intended.

“Chelsea Girls” is the first of the four films in the series, which will end with Warhol’s eight-hour silent film “Empire” on Dec. 4.

Because the film is so long, the Ackland is hiring musicians of many different genres to perform during the screening at the Varsity said Emily Bowles, director of communications at the Ackland.

“These works operate right at the juncture between the Ackland’s three current exhibits,” Cante said.

Those exhibits — “Snapshots,” “Enduring Likeness” and “Counterlives” — are centered around a traveling collection of original Warhol Polaroids.

The other two films in the series — “Midnight Cowboy” and “Basquiat” — were not made by Warhol, but are reminiscent of the cultural ideals that helped shape the artist.

“Basquiat” tells the story of graffiti artist-turned pop-art celebrity Jean-Michel Basquiat, who was championed by Warhol and his friends before he gained larger success in the art world.

“I’m excited because this is a way to connect to another downtown business and have the two intersect,” Bowles said.

Paul Shareshian, owner of the Varsity Theatre, said that while he has not collaborated with the Ackland in the past, he has worked with many other sectors at UNC.

“We just finished up the (Roman) Polanski series with the communications department,” Shareshian said. “The connection came there.”

Amanda Hughes, director of external affairs at the Ackland, helped to develop the Warhol series that is part of this larger ArtNow/Cinema Now Project with Cante.

“We are aiming to have a film series in the fall of every year,” Bowles said. “This is a pioneering series for us. Visual art is just one part of a culture, and through film, we can give people more.”

The theater for the screenings at the Varsity holds 230 people, and the tickets to the events are free.

“Many people are into Warhol, and this is a rare opportunity, so there should be a pretty good draw from all over the place,” Shareshian said. “I wouldn’t be surprised if it were a full house.”

Contact the Arts Editor at