“I am content if, on those rare occasions whose truth can be stated only by poetry, you will, perhaps, recall an image, even only the aura of my films. And what more could I possibly ask, as an artist, than that your most precious visions, however rare, assume, sometimes, the forms of my images.” Maya Deren, “A Statement of Principles” (1961)

A pivotal figure in surrealist art and American experimental film, Ukrainian-American filmmaker Maya Deren (1917-1961) entranced viewers with cinematic visions that reflected her interests in movement, psychoanalysis, and religious tradition. Following her sojourns in Haiti as choreographer Katherine Dunham’s assistant in the early 1940s, Deren and her second husband Alexander Hammid decamped in Los Angeles, where they filmed her first landmark short Meshes of the Afternoon (1943). This early work reflects concepts and techniques that would go on to define her career: dream––or more fittingly, nightmare––logic, complex choreography that was taken to superhuman heights through illusionary cinematography, and a heavy sense of foreboding. In the following years, Deren’s work would continue to become more experimental, eschewing narrative for surreal, seemingly impossible choreographic sequences that were enhanced by early cinematic sleights-of-hand. This screening series celebrates Deren’s focus on movement, the body, and the otherworldly scenes that transformed her subjects from mere dancers to divine figures.

This screening includes:

Ritual in Transfigured Time, 1946. 15:00.

A Study in Choreography for Camera, 1945. 03:00.

At Land, 1944. 14:00.

Meshes of the Afternoon, 1943. 14:00.