Maya Deren

Amy Wong

Brief Info about Maya Deren

Maya Deren was born on April 29, 1917 in Kiev, Ukraine with the birth name of Eleanora Derenkowksy. But with the influence of her second husband, Alexander Hammid, she changes name to Maya. Maya Deren had three husbands, where two were divorced. Deren was an independent filmmaker, who constantly writes, travels, and lectures to support her films.
Deren moved to the US in 1922 with her parents. Her father was a psychiatrist while her mother was an artist. Deren studied journalism and political science at Syracuse University. After marrying her first husband, Gregory Bardacke, she moved to New York City; finished her studies and received her BA at NYU. Deren received her MA in English Literature from Smith College in 1939. During the same year, she had her first divorce.
Deren married Alexander Hammid, a filmmaker, in 1942. With the help of Hammid, Deren made her first short film in 1943, Meshes of the Afternoon. Throughout Deren’s life, she made six short films and several incomplete films. While traveling to Haiti, Deren shot over 20,000 feet of footage.
Deren died at the age of 44 on October 13, 1961 due to massive cerebral hemorrhage. Twelve years after her death, Teiji Ito, Deren’s third husband, and Ito’s second wife, Cherel Winnett, edited Deren’s footage of Haiti and titled Divine Horseman: The Living Gods of Haiti.


Meshes of the Afternoon 1943



Maya Deren appears in most of her films. Deren casts as the main lead in Meshes of the Afternoon. This film was presented as a dreamlike sequence. This film felt like a poem which repeats several lines, but in each section, it reveals new details about what is happening. After watching the film, you may want to question whether she is sleeping on the sofa or is she chasing the mirror masked person. Also, you may question whether she is dreaming or is it reality. In the beginning of the film, Deren presents the shadow movements, hand and feet appearing, and background music. All of these components display a sense of mystery and creepy feeling. Watching this film reveals the feeling of one’s experience of an incident.
The slow motion movement of Deren running up the stairs reveals the intensity of what is going to happen up stairs. As Deren enters the room, her body movement shows an evil force is pushing or preventing her from entering the room. The way she moves also displays a sense of illusion which is telling the audience that she is dreaming. This film also shows a sight confusion of dream and reality.


Ritual in Transfigured Time 1946



Maya Deren casts as the supporting role in Ritual in Transfigured Time. This film appears like a dream. The constant changes in the sceneries present the film to be timeless. As the actress kept running, she ran into a ball room. In the ball room, she encounter a guy, but the scenery changes after they separated from each other and now the motions continues in a different place. The actors’ movements were performed like they were dancing. All the movements in the film seemed like an everlasting dance. In the outside scenery, the movements of the actor and how it was edited shows a sense of confusion between reality and illusion. The actor seemed like a statue, but it would always suddenly move. The actress seems to be scared, so she runs away from this constantly pausing and moving person.


Katrina T. Simmons

Meditation on Violence



The actor is displayed with a lot of movement and a reflection can be seen on the wall almost like a mirror image, similar to her film In the Mirror of Maya Deren. In the first scene with the white wall, the actor dances soft and angelic. The movements are bigger and it helps puts more emphasis on the body. Oppose to the black wall where all of his movements are intense and sharp. With the intense and sharp moves the details in the body itself shows emotion. The strain of the arms displays more muscle than would the soft moves behind the white wall. Then he stands in between a white and black wall where everything is combined. He alternates between soft and intense movement, displaying passion and emotion throughout. Deren to me does this to show a basic difference in the movements the body could have. Just like when it came to the poet O’ Hara and being able to understand exactly what poetry should be, Deren shows there’s different ways the body can move.


The Eye of Night 1958




The symbol of the Gemini, displayed with two bodies in movement as one of the opening scene, shows the different ways movement, even if stationary, can be displayed. In this film The Eye of Night 1958, Deren presents the night sky, one of the natural movements of nature. Exploiting what we don’t take time to observe and understand that they are constantly moving. There are dancers featured in white, similar to the negative from still shots. The dancers are shown in constant movement representing what Deren views of the night’s sky. Deren takes ballet to a whole different experience by showing it in a simple form of black and white without the strong presence of a background or musical effects, like other ballets. The great contrast allows for us to observe the body movements more clearly.


At Land



In At Land again Deren focuses on movement, showing the flow of the oceans wave and then Deren’s body as the waves hit her. The part that sticks out the most was when she was on the sand and then she began pulling herself up on the piece of tree and ends up at the table. The way in which it is filmed, allows the audience to take part in every move she makes. After alternating scenes of her moving across the table and moving through nature, she ends up at a chess game. I thought this was funny since the films are about movement and she captures a chess game, where the whole game is about movement and the success of winning the game, comes from how intelligent and skillful the moves are.

I would describe myself as a real world evolutionist. If things had set rules and everyone had to abide by them than life would be boring, but because people are willing to think outside of the box and experiment, life becomes interesting. Everything that people do is a stepping stone for generations to come. Film to me is whatever the film maker believes it to be when they are constructing their work.