Myth is the facts of the mind made manifest in a fiction of matter.
August 6, 2013 7:13 AM Subscribe
Maya Deren has been called The High Priestess of Experimental Cinema.
Probably her greatest work was Meshes of the Afternoon a 13min. silent movie made in 1943.
Here is a review and some stills and clips from her work.
The music is by Teiji Ito who later became her third husband. (See also).
Maya Deren was one of the influences on David Lynch.
Probably her greatest work was Meshes of the Afternoon a 13min. silent movie made in 1943.
Here is a review and some stills and clips from her work.
The music is by Teiji Ito who later became her third husband. (See also).
Maya Deren was one of the influences on David Lynch.
Maya Deren previously; Meshes of the Afternoon previously. (Not complaining—earlier links don't work—just mentioning for informational purposes. My comment in the first thread still holds.)
posted by languagehat at 7:41 AM on August 6, 2013
posted by languagehat at 7:41 AM on August 6, 2013
"Meshes of the Afternoon" gets all the press, but my favorite Maya Deren film is probably "A Study in Choreography for Camera," with the late, great dancer Talley Beatty.
Deren is a great, legendary figure in American film. Stan Brakhage said he once saw her, under the apparent influence of some kind of voodoo spirits, pick up a refrigerator and throw it across the room. She is also said to have put a curse on him after he made "Window Water Baby Moving" (previously) because it revealed too many of the "mysteries of women," though the curse didn't take.
posted by Mothlight at 8:25 AM on August 6, 2013 [1 favorite]
Deren is a great, legendary figure in American film. Stan Brakhage said he once saw her, under the apparent influence of some kind of voodoo spirits, pick up a refrigerator and throw it across the room. She is also said to have put a curse on him after he made "Window Water Baby Moving" (previously) because it revealed too many of the "mysteries of women," though the curse didn't take.
posted by Mothlight at 8:25 AM on August 6, 2013 [1 favorite]
saw her, under the apparent influence of some kind of voodoo spirits, pick up a refrigerator and throw it across the room.
How great would it be to have a League of Extraordinary Avant-Garde Filmmakers, with Maya Deren as the deceptively-dainty scrapper of the group?
If the collection of her short films (including Meshes) is still available on Netflix Instant, go check it out.
posted by Strange Interlude at 8:46 AM on August 6, 2013
How great would it be to have a League of Extraordinary Avant-Garde Filmmakers, with Maya Deren as the deceptively-dainty scrapper of the group?
If the collection of her short films (including Meshes) is still available on Netflix Instant, go check it out.
posted by Strange Interlude at 8:46 AM on August 6, 2013
Maya Deren is great. She studied under Hans Richter (previously 1, 2) after he came to the U.S. in 1941 and became an instructor (and, eventually, the director) of the Institute of Film Techniques at City College New York. (Side note: when Richter first started teaching there, women were allowed to sit in on the classes, but not actually major in film. He went to the head of CCNY and made them change the policy, thus opening the program to women like Deren, Shirley Clarke, and others.)
posted by scody at 8:52 AM on August 6, 2013 [2 favorites]
posted by scody at 8:52 AM on August 6, 2013 [2 favorites]
Is there any particular reason you linked to Marcel Dzama?
Scody; great info there.
I seemed to have missed those other link dead posts. On further searching I found the obit post for her then husband and codirector Alexander Hammid.
From that post's last link I found this great site of all things Maya Deren.
posted by adamvasco at 9:47 AM on August 6, 2013
Scody; great info there.
I seemed to have missed those other link dead posts. On further searching I found the obit post for her then husband and codirector Alexander Hammid.
From that post's last link I found this great site of all things Maya Deren.
posted by adamvasco at 9:47 AM on August 6, 2013
Agreed with Mothlight, "A Study in Choreography for Camera" is also worth a look indeed.
posted by aletheia at 9:49 AM on August 6, 2013
posted by aletheia at 9:49 AM on August 6, 2013
I can't access video on my phone, but I'm guessing Dzama might have been influenced by "At Land"?
posted by pxe2000 at 10:28 AM on August 6, 2013
posted by pxe2000 at 10:28 AM on August 6, 2013
Trivia: Maya Deren also turns up in James Merrill's epic Ouja-board poem The Changing Light at Sandover. Reading that was the first time I heard of her.
posted by dnash at 11:29 AM on August 6, 2013
posted by dnash at 11:29 AM on August 6, 2013
She also influenced Grant Morrison, IIRC.
posted by drezdn at 12:24 PM on August 6, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by drezdn at 12:24 PM on August 6, 2013 [1 favorite]
Deren's work was at LACMA's recent blockbuster show of Surrealist Women Artists in the Americas. Not that she was a doctrinaire Surrealist, but that approach to life and art was a big part of her strength as a filmmaker, I think. (Lynch, too, of course, despite his relentless proselytizing on behalf of TM.)
posted by kozad at 2:54 PM on August 6, 2013
posted by kozad at 2:54 PM on August 6, 2013
Meshes is incredible, but my favorite is the surprisingly funny At Land.
After revolutionizing American film, Deren more or less gave up filmmaking to become a voudou priestess. She went to Haiti, and went deeper into "riding the loa" than any white person ever imagined. And though she didn't ever edit a film of the experience, she shot a great deal of interesting footage and wrote a fairly important book on the subject.
The documentary In The Mirror Of Maya Deren is a great look at her life.
posted by ThatFuzzyBastard at 5:03 PM on August 6, 2013 [1 favorite]
After revolutionizing American film, Deren more or less gave up filmmaking to become a voudou priestess. She went to Haiti, and went deeper into "riding the loa" than any white person ever imagined. And though she didn't ever edit a film of the experience, she shot a great deal of interesting footage and wrote a fairly important book on the subject.
The documentary In The Mirror Of Maya Deren is a great look at her life.
posted by ThatFuzzyBastard at 5:03 PM on August 6, 2013 [1 favorite]
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