“Deren acted the role of cinematic Prometheus, stealing the fire of the Hollywood gods for those whom the gods refused to recognize.”. This is an excerpt from "Maya Deren by Wendy Haslem".
If you became interested in Maya Deren, this article would be the perfect starting point. It gives an introduction on herself and her films.
This article was published in "Senses of Cinema - an online film journal devoted to the serious and eclectic discussion of cinema". The same journal published some more articles on her:
Senses of Cinema became one of my new favourite webpages, while I was looking for mor information on Maya Derren. On this webpage there is so much more to read. There are lots of more articles on other experimentel film makers, for example Stan Brakhage (also a personal friend of Maya Deren).
With IN THE MIRROR OF MAYA DEREN, documentary filmmaker Martina Kudlacek has fashioned not only fascinating portrait of a groundbreaking and influential artist, but a pitch-perfect introduction to her strikingly beautiful and poetic body of work.
Crowned "Fellini and Bergman wrapped in one gloriously possessed body" by the L.A. Weekly, Maya Deren (née Eleanora Derenkovskaya) is arguably the most important and innovative avant-garde filmmaker in the history of American cinema. Using locations from the Hollywood hills to Haiti, Deren made such mesmerizing films as AT LAND, RITUAL IN TRANSFIGURED TIME, and her masterpiece, MESHES OF THE AFTERNOON, which won a prestigious international experimental filmmaking prize at the 1947 Cannes Film Festival.
Starting with excerpts from these films, IN THE MIRROR OF MAYA DEREN seamlessly and effectively interweaves archival footage with observances from acolytes and contemporaries such as filmmakers Stan Brakhage and Jonas Mekas, dance pioneer Katherine Dunham, and Living Theater founder Judith Malina. With an original score by experimental composer John Zorn. Read More
Additional Information:
A short and a big interview with director Martina Kudlacek . Older articles in this weblog on "Maya Derren"
Yesterday I saw the movie "At Land" from Maya Deren. It's in black and white and doesn't need any sound. The movie was done in 1950 but it still looks very experimentel. Experimentel in a "Positive" way ! It still seems to inspire todays filmakers, I was reminded of a Moby video (don't know the name) and even a tv show from my childhood "the man from atlantis".
Here is a introduction on here, Ifound on the web: With the advent of 16mm equipment came the birth of film as personal artistic expression, and Maya Deren led the revolution. The woman who was "her own avant-garde movement," had what can only be described as an eclectic set of interests. She immersed herself in political science, journalism, English literature, classical ballet, Taiwanese kickboxing, and Haitian religious rituals.
Calling herself a "visual poet," Deren catalogued disparate images and explored their shared relationship to an emotion or symbolic meaning, the latter often left to the audience to ascertain. Her movies are haunting, lyrical, and breathtaking fusions of human and cinematic movement, where the actors dance with the camera. Though called a heretic by those who worked with her, she was the first person to receive a Guggenheim grant for filmmaking and the first woman to receive the Grand Prix Internationale in avant-garde film at the Cannes Film Festival. Read more
I liked this introduction to Maya Deren the most, but I will link (soon) to more detailed articles at the bottom of this article.
“Deren acted the role of cinematic Prometheus, stealing the fire of the Hollywood gods for those whom the gods refused to recognize.”. This is an excerpt from "
Yesterday I saw the movie "At Land" from Maya Deren. It's in black and white and doesn't need any sound. The movie was done in 1950 but it still looks very experimentel. Experimentel in a "Positive" way ! It still seems to inspire todays filmakers, I was reminded of a Moby video (don't know the name) and even a tv show from my childhood "the man from atlantis".