+- clovenhooves (https://clovenhooves.org)
+-- Forum: Celebrate Women! (https://clovenhooves.org/forumdisplay.php?fid=40)
+--- Forum: Women in Art (https://clovenhooves.org/forumdisplay.php?fid=42)
+--- Thread: Maya Deren, avant-garde filmmaker (/showthread.php?tid=1352)
Maya Deren, avant-garde filmmaker - Magpie - Jul 5 2025
Maya Deren (born Eleonora Derenkovskaya) was a filmmaker, as well as a choreographer, dancer, film theorist, poet, lecturer, writer and photographer. Her debut, Meshes of the Afternoon, was one of the most influential experimental films in American cinema. The main collaborators on her films were her second husband Alexander Hammid and cinematographer Hella Heyman.
Further reading: How Maya Deren Became the Symbol and Champion of American Experimental Film: https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-front-row/how-maya-deren-became-the-symbol-and-champion-of-american-experimental-film
Works:
- Meshes of the Afternoon: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoETYvwI7I0 (14 min)
- At Land: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EvafmE3Lel0 (14 min 50 sec)
- A Study in Choreography for Camera: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3W9yFHaVGI (2 min 8 sec)
- The Private Life of a Cat: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l1HRdBafWEQ (22 min) Note: she was uncredited for this film.
- Ritual in Transfigured Time: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P86jPAHOvG4 (14 min 26 sec)
- Meditation on Violence: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmVQ3YcMUuc (12 min 25 sec)
- The Very Eye of Night: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u6ppBqHIb6Y (14 min 36 sec)