Maya Deren Forum
Created by Moira Sullivan
This is the first international forum for those interested in the
work of Maya Deren, U.S. avant-garde filmmaker
and film theorist of the 1940's and 1950's.Deren used to say that her films
cost what Hollywood spends on lipstick. Below are stills from Meshes of the
Afternoon (1943) by Maya Deren and Alexander Hammid and At Land
(1944) , with photography by Deren, Hammid, and Hella Heyman which feature innovating editing technique and
cinematography: jump cuts, double exposure, and creative uses of temporarality through duration. The bottom two photos are
positive images of the original negative used in Ritual in Transfigured Time
(1946). See also film clips of Meshes of the Afternoon
and Divine
Horsemen , courtesy of Re:voir
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Gene Kelley consulted Deren about her work in 'choreocinema', or dance films which include A Study
in Choreography for Camera with Talley Beatty in 1945 and Ritual in
Transfigured Time with Rita Christiani , Anais Nin
and Frank Westbrook and her 'tour de force' ethnographic footage shot in
According to Paul Hammond The Shadow and Its
Shadow: Surrealist Writings on Cinema , "It needs emphasizing that Surrealism's
incompatibility with the partial, aesthetic program of the avant-garde remains
a consistent one up to the present day. Critics who insist on pursuing the purely
academic question of the Surrealist influence...on say, the American
avant-garde of the 1940s and after (Maya Deren,
Curtis Harrington, Kenneth Anger, through to Stan Brakhage
and others) are straining after a gnat. Even if they overlook-as they usually
do-the basic ethical incompatibility...they must be aware that...the Americans
have never really got to grips with Surrealism, that the psycho-sexual
obsessions of Anger, Harrington and Markopoulos, however 'oneiric'
they may be, owe everything to Jean Cocteau, a lot to each other, and nothing
to Bunuel."
In An Anagram of Ideas on Art, Form and Film Deren
cites Cocteau as one of her personal favorites, and Blood
of the Poet was one of the first films she owned. Though she chose many
names for her work:avantgarde,
ritualistic, and chamber films, she never used surrealistic.
With the Guggenheim Deren
traveled to
Maya Deren's ideas have been largely
unexplored in film history. This web page is designed to be a public forum of
the work of Deren and will include film analyses and
events that celebrate her achievements in film, philosophy, ethnography and
dance. Deren's films continue to become known to
young film students and audiences all over the world. Her work has contributed
to a renaissance of intertextual references in
popular culture. More and more young filmmakers and artists find inspiration in
her work. We can also witness her effects in mainstream pop culture and film
such as the films of David Lynch and a music video by Milla
Jovovich.
Film Reviews of
Maya Deren and In the Mirror of Maya Deren,Moira Sullivan
© Moira Sullivan, 2004
Excerpts from An Anagram of the Ideas of Filmmaker Maya Deren
© Moira Sullivan, 1997
The Real and the Unreal
TOWARDS EMBODIED KNOWLEDGE? Maya Derens
Divine Horsemen The Living Gods of Haiti
and the rupture of ethnographic documentary film
© Ilona Hongisto, Wider
Screen 2/2004
SPECIAL NOTE: An international speaker circuit
on Maya Deren for film programs, colleges,
universities and educational institutions is available for those interested in
learning more about the specialized and intricate work of this gifted artist.
Previous programs have been held in
IMPORTANT INFORMATION ABOUT PHOTOS ON THIS SITE. All
photos are copyright
the Maya Deren Forum,
Jay Sullivan , Internet and
Multimedia Consultant
Become
a member of the The Maya Deren Forum created
by Moira and Jay Sullivan with discussions on
the work of Maya Deren.
© Copyright Moira Sullivan 1998
editorial copyright and responsibility- Moira Sullivan
The Maya Deren Forum was founded in 1993.