Sleep (
1963) is a film by
Andy Warhol which consists of
long take footage of
John Giorno, his close friend at the time, sleeping for over five hours. The film was one of Warhol's first experiments with filmmaking, and was created as an "anti-film". Warhol would later extend this technique to his eight-hour-long film
Empire.
Sleep premiered on
17 January 1964, presented by
Jonas Mekas at
Film-makers' Cooperative. Of the nine people who attended the premiere, two left during the first hour.
The film is referenced in the episode "Monster" of
Daria, in which
Jane remarks "Andy Warhol filmed eight hours of a guy sleeping and people thought it was brilliant". To this
Daria responds "These people felt different after they got into
twelve-step programs."
See also
