Riding and perhaps inspiring seminal pop artist Andy Warhol's 1960s redefinition of the concept of superstar, Brigid Berlin, the extravagant subject of the fascinating film PIE IN THE SKY: THE BRIGID BERLIN STORY, has persisted in presenting her personal struggles as the stuff of great art. The daughter of an extremely wealthy and prominent family with connections to the Nixons and the Hearst corporation, Berlin's dramatic rebellion landed her as far away as possible from the suburban safety of her aristocratic background and squarely in the seedy and ground breaking realm of Andy Warhol's factory. Infamous for her overweight exhibitionism, well-documented drug abuse, and loudmouthed bad behavior, Berlin is shown throughout PIE IN THE SKY as simultaneously tortured and inspired.

Filmmakers Fremont and Dunn follow Berlin's infamous use of taped conversations with her perpetually indignant parents as well as her role in the inspiration of Warhol's artistic techniques. The film has a shambling distanced aesthetic, and uses both video and Polaroid photography, mixing Berlin's personal revelations with archival footage of the heady Warhol days. Now past sixty, Berlin is portrayed as an emotionally unrestrained and pathologically tragic heroin of her own story, tracing an unlikely path to creative and personal freedom albeit dogged by unending eccentric obsession.

 

• Berlin International Film Festival 2001 (Berlin, Germany)
• Venice International Film Festival 2000 (Venice, Italy)