Maya deren and the american avantgarde by bill nichols. Regarded as one of the founders of the postwar american independent cinema, the legendary maya deren was a poet, photographer, ethnographer, filmmaker and impresario. The legend of maya deren project duke university press. Maya derens life is the subject of a multivolume biography in progress see. The legend, which presents derens collected works in the form of a documentary biography, is being published by film culture. Maya deren april 29, 1917 october, 1961, born eleonora derenkowska. Maya deren was an experimental filmmaker in the 40s who traveled to haiti in the hopes of making a film about haitian dance. Her films are not only poetic but instructive, offering insight into the human body and pysche and demonstrating the potential of film. The legend of maya deren, a threevolume documentary biography of the late filmmaker, writer and ethnologist, is being published as a special series of film. A documentary on her life and legacy, invocation maya deren was released in 1987.
Documentarian martina kudlacek examines the alltoobrief life of this aheadofhertime flower child whose film work is about the time quality of a woman in in the mirror of maya deren. Maya deren great director profile senses of cinema. The living gods of haiti a fascinating posthumous documentary completed in 1985 by derens third husband, teiji ito, and his thenwife, cherel winett ito. The rewards offered by in the mirror of maya deren will differ depending on the viewers familiarity with maya derens life and work. Occasionally i think about voodoo, and this is the best book about the real thing ive ever seen. Clark, millicent hodson, catrina neiman, the legend of maya deren. An insightful and articulate writer, she authored the divine horseman. She is currently working on a film about the american pioneer avantgarde filmmaker and. Together with her father solomon derenkowsky, a psychiatrist, and her mother maria fidler, an artist, she fled the pogroms organized by the bolsheviks against the jews. In the mirror of maya deren, her first international success, won the vienna film prize 2001 at the viennale in austria and dance screen award for best documentary 2002 in monaco. The legend of maya deren is a four volume project that reexamines the life of filmmaker and ethnographer maya deren. Volume 1, signatures concerns deren s early and university life, involvement in socialist youth groups and early poetry and fiction.
Included are film scripts, shooting diagrams from meshes of the afternoon, witchs cradle, at land, a study in choreography for camera, and ritual in transfigured time. The rest is fairly selfexplanatory, as the essay contains a lot of information on her life and background, and i have embedded the two short films at the end of the article for those who would. The film, which explores the tension between beauty and violence in the. Film institute established the maya deren award to honor the contribution and significance of independent film work. The terms of her legend and legacy maya deren herself, catherine m. Her films are not only poetic but instructive, offering insight into the human body and pysche and demonstrating the potential of film to explore these subjects. Essential for anyone interested in experimental film and women artists, the legend of maya deren is also a must for those concerned with other arts, letters, and social issues of our time. John david rhodes from the maya deren collection, howard gotlieb archival research center at boston university. Russianborn, daughter of a psychiatrist, maya deren.
Firmly grounded in film theory and an appreciation of derens work, this book takes a longoverdue academic approach to derens complex theories, and is essential for anyone studying maya deren as a film theorist. In this pamphlet maya derens approach to reflects not the limited scope of a professional craftsnan, but a broad cultural backgrounda profound interest not only in esthetics generally and in psychological insight, but in physics and the sciences as well. A documentary biography and collected works part 1. American cinema in the 1940s, berkley, university of california press, 1999, p. Chambers, part 2 ilustrates her development as a filmmaker through her first four films with documents on their production. Maya deren was a 60s avantgarde filmmaker who experimented in visions of form and movement on film except she explored these imaginations in the 40s. Together with her father solomon derenkowsky, a psychiatrist. The high priestess of experimental cinema maya deren is recognizable as the woman with the enigmatic expression at the window, silently. The makers of in the mirror of maya deren clearly profited from the extensive research that went into producing the legend of maya deren. The living god of haiti 1953, the result of a trip to haiti which was to be the basis of a film, and the seminal an anagram of ideas on art, form and film 1946. May 23, 2017 born april 29, 1917, this year would have been maya derens 100th birthday. October, 1961, new york, new york, usa filmography bibliography articles in senses web resources maya deren. This longawaited compilation of derens film writings is divided thematically into three parts.
See in the mirror of maya deren, and definitely see maya deren. Ukraine, 19171961 screenings new art 1948, the film as an art form 1954, 1955, legend of maya deren 1977, myth and ritual in the american avantgarde. Her efforts to promote an independent cinema have inspired filmmakers for over fifty years. The subject is maya deren, my favorite avantgarde filmmaker, and in particular, her two greatest masterpieces meshes in the afternoon and at land. Apr 25, 2020 maya deren, influential director and performer who is often called the mother of american avantgarde filmmaking. A film that initiates derens most substantive artistic interests translated into cinematic form, it was made in the first phase of derens excitement about the qualities particular to the medium of filmmaking. Maya deren came to the usa in 1922 as eleanora derenkowsky. That said, there is a wealth of information in these 2 books, and finding these in first edition hardcover, is almost impossible. The legend of maya deren, by veve clark, millicent hodson, and catrina neiman, published by anthology film archives, was conceived as a documentary biography, incorporating extensive selections from her journals and correspondence with many facsimiles of the original documents.
With miriam arsham, stan brakhage, chao li chi, rita christiani. She produced her first work, meshes of the afternoon in 1943 together with her husband alexander. Documentary about the life of avantgarde filmmaker maya deren, who led the independent film movement of the 1940s. Amazing work on maya deren, which was never completed beyond the first two parts. It is a film that deconstructs narrative conventions, experiments with filmic techniques, and externalizes subjective experience. Maya deren conceived, directed, and played the central role in meshes of the afternoon, her first film and a work that helped chart the course for american experimental cinema. Utne reader recently named deren one of 40 past masters who still matter in their 2003 arts extra edition. Excerpts from an interview with the legend of maya deren project. Maya deren maya deren 19171961 wore many hats in her brief lifetime. Though most famous for her seminal avantgarde film meshes of the afternoon, deren went on to produce a prolific and diverse body of work.
The major obstacle for amateur filmmakers is their own sense of inferiority visavis professional productions. Numerous and frequentlyupdated resource results are available from this search. She is currently working on a film about the american pioneer avantgarde filmmaker and warhol superstar marie menken. Mead, gregory bateson or marcel duchamp, anyone looking for a detailed essay on maya s life will be decieved and should better find a copy of martina kudlaceks excellent film in the mirror of maya deren or the available volumes of maya s amazing biography, the legend of maya deren, by neiman, hodson and clark. The high priestess of experimental cinema maya deren is recognizable as the woman with the enigmatic expression at the window, silently observing from within. Camera obscura collective, the, excerpts from an interview with the legend of maya deren project, in camera obscura berkeley, california, summer 1979. Reliable information about the coronavirus covid19 is available from the world health organization current situation, international travel. It contains a broad spectrum of her writings, including the complete text.
Convinced that there was poetry in the camera, she deaed all commercial production conventions and started to make films with only ordinary amateur egtlipment. Through the fictional dialogue between mayas friends and her own voice recordings, the documentary reenacts some of the derenmekas debates regarding form and improvisation that filled the village voices pages between 1960 and1961. Soussloff maya deren, jane brakhage wodening seeing doubles. The very classification amateur has an apologetic ring. In celebration of her contribution to experimental cinema, this video by laura ivins outlines some of the key. Deren was also a choreographer, dancer, film theorist, poet, lecturer, writer, and photographer. In 1987, jo ann kaplan directed a biographical documentary about deren, titled invocation. Filmmaker maya deren is one of the most influential women in art history. Excerpts from an interview with the legend of maya deren. Born april 29, 1917, this year would have been maya derens 100th birthday. Maya deren april 29, 1917 october, 1961, born eleonora derenkowska ukrainian. At anthology film archives in new york, the 66seat maya deren theater was erected for their film and video exhibitions. The prestige of the legend of maya deren and the comprehensive scope of its research have discouraged other writers from undertaking a formal biography.
Oct 07, 2010 after derens death in 1961, footage from the 18,000 rituals she filmed was incorporated in divine horsemen. A documentary biography and collected works, volume i, part 2, chambers. An introduction to the notebook of maya deren, 1947 jstor. Meshes of the afternoon 1943 ranks among the most widely viewed of all avantgarde films. Meshes or afternoon 1943, was with husband alexander hammid, whose mms forgotten village, of nations and others. The films narrative is circular and repeats several motifs, including a flower on a long driveway, a key falling, a door unlocked, a knife in a loaf of bread, a mysterious grim reaperlike cloaked figure with a mirror for a face, a phone off the. This barcode number lets you verify that youre getting exactly the right version or edition of a. It is a complex, gripping, deeply moving narrativejerry tallmer. Oclcs webjunction has pulled together information and resources to assist library staff as they consider how to handle coronavirus. Maya deren at land maya deren was an experimental filmmaker who was engaged in many additional artistic spheres, including music, dance and poetry, and which helped her to create six films that are wellknown in the world of avantgarde cinema. It was shot without dialogue or sound a soundtrack by composer teiji ito was added later, in 1959 and in black and white.
She studied journalism and political science at the syracuse university in new york, finishing her ba at the new york. Volume 1, signatures concerns derens early and university life, involvement in socialist youth groups and early poetry and fiction. Reading deren bisexually, maria pramaggiore maya deren and me, barbara hammer appendix. Maya deren s ethnographic representation of ritual and myth in haiti, moira sullivan 3. The following entry presents an overview of derens career. Meshes of the afternoon, maya derens earliest and bestknown film, was made early in 1943 in collaboration with her thennewlywed husband, alexander hammid. Her influence, especially in independent film, has not only endured but also increased in the decades following her death. Maya deren 19171961 russianborn american filmmaker, dancer, essayist, and film critic. Maya deren was one of the pioneering figures of avantgarde cinema in america and also a noted author, poet, anthropologist, and alternative cultural figure of the 1940s and 1950s. Born in kiev in 1917, maya deren emigrated to the united states with her parents a few years later, grew up mainly in syracuse, new york, and attended syracuse university. Congratulations to everyone involved for a first rate piece of workdavid ehrenstein. Champion of american independent film, in film news new york, septemberoctober 1979.
Looking again at maya deren minerva access university of. Take on prince chaacs mission and construct an outstanding city with many inhabitants. The rejection letters he receivedalso found in the maya deren collectiontend to reiterate the opinion that derens poetry had no intrinsic interest. In the modernist poetics and experimental film practice of maya deren 1917.
Maya deren, influential director and performer who is often called the mother of american avantgarde filmmaking. Maya deren, take zero is, to us, a reminder of different ways of thinking cinema. Documentary about the life of avantgarde filmmaker maya. Although she never made a film that ran longer than fifteen min utes, maya deren is a legend of the. Maya deren american director and actress britannica.