Maya Deren
Born in Kyiv, Maya Deren is one of the most important American experimental filmmakers of all time. She was also a choreographer, dancer, film theorist, poet, lecturer and photographer, bringing all of these disciplines together in her dreamlike and ecstatic films. This collection of Deren's seminal films includes Meshes of the Afternoon—perhaps her most famous—as well as Martina Kudlacek's 2001 documentary on her process.
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Meshes of the Afternoon
Maya Deren & Alexander Hammid • USA • 1943
A flower on a sunny sidewalk. A woman in black enters an empty house, the record-player spinning, the telephone off the hook. Out the window, a shrouded figure strides out of view as the woman chases after her. Witness to herself, the woman embarks on a...
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A Study in Choreography for Camera
Maya Deren • United States • 1945 • An early dance piece from Deren
Maya Deren is one of the most important American experimental filmmakers of all time, as well as a choreographer, dancer, film theorist, poet, lecturer and photographer, bringing all of these disciplines together in her dreamlik...
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Ritual in Transfigured Time
Maya Deren • United States • 1946 • A pure expression of dance
Maya Deren is one of the most important American experimental filmmakers of all time, as well as a choreographer, dancer, film theorist, poet, lecturer and photographer, bringing all of these disciplines together in her dreamlike and...
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The Private Life of a Cat
Maya Deren & Alexander Hammid • United States • 1946 • An intimate lens on feline life
Co-directed with frequent collaborator Alexander Hammid, The Private Life of a Cat casts an intimate lens on feline life, prefiguring the contemporary craze for cat videos.
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Meditation on Violence
Maya Deren • United States • 1949 • A dazzling vision of dance
Maya Deren is one of the most important American experimental filmmakers of all time, as well as a choreographer, dancer, film theorist, poet, lecturer and photographer, bringing all of these disciplines together in her dreamlike and...
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The Very Eye of Night
Maya Deren • United States • 1958 • A dazzling vision of dance
Maya Deren is one of the most important American experimental filmmakers of all time, as well as a choreographer, dancer, film theorist, poet, lecturer and photographer, bringing all of these disciplines together in her dreamlike and...
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Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti
Maya Deren • United States • 1985 • A remarkable hour-long montage of Haitian Voodoo ceremonies
Considered the mother of avant-garde filmmaking, Maya Deren’s Divine Horsemen is a remarkable hour-long montage of Haitian Voodoo ceremonies.
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In the Mirror of Maya Deren
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Martina Kudlácek • Austria, Switzerland, Germany • 2002 • A portrait of a groundbreaking artist.
Maya Deren is considered by many to be the most innovative avant-garde filmmaker in the history of American cinema. Born in Kyiv, Ukraine, Deren’s family fled the USSR in 1922 to escap...
