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About

Empire II

Empire II is the continuation of Empire.  On Saturday 25 July 1964 (46 years ago) Andy Warhol and Jonas Mekas filmed the movie Empire.  Empire is a silent, black and white film that lacks a traditional narrative or characters. The passage from daylight to darkness becomes the film’s narrative, while the protagonist is the iconic building that was (and is again) the tallest in New York City. Non-events such as a blinking light at the top of a neighboring building mark the passage of time.  It was filmed from 8:06 p.m. to 2:42 a.m. from the 41st floor of the Time-Life Buildiing, from the offices of the Rockefeller Foundation. The film was shot at 24 frames per second but is projected at 16 fps, so that, even though only about 6 hours and 36 minutes of film was made, the film when screened is about 8 hours and 5 minutes long.

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