Two films by MAYA DEREN,AT LAND & RITUAL IN TRANSFIGURED TIME,
and the documentary film about MAYA DEREN by Martina Kudlacek
IN THE MIRROR OF MAYA DEREN
AT LAND (1944)
photographed by Hella Heyman and Alexander Hammid
At Land is a 15-minute silent experimental film written, directed by and starring Maya Deren. It has a dream-like narrative in which a woman, played by Deren, is washed up on a beach and goes on a strange journey encountering other people and other versions of herself. Deren once said that the film is about the struggle to maintain ones personal identity.[citation needed] The composer John Cage and the poet and film critic Parker Tyler were involved in making the film, and appear in the film, which was shot at Amagansett, Long Island.
RITUAL IN TRANSFIGURED TIME (1946)
Choreographic collaboration with Frank Westbrook and Rita Christiani, featuring Anaïs Nin and Gore Vidal. 14 mins, B&W, silent
Ritual In Transfigured Time silently follows Rita Christiani's perspective as she enters an apartment to find Maya Deren immersed in the ritual of unwinding wool from a loom. Deren includes another expression of the external invading the internal with a strange wind that surrounds and entrances her as she becomes transported by the ritual. Ritual in Transfigured Time links the looming ritual with the ritual of the social greeting. Christiani enters a party, meets and greets, moving throughout the crowd like a dancer. Her movements become increasingly expressive and fluid, the ritual becomes a performance. Key themes in this film are the dread of rejection and the contrasting freedom of expression in the abandonment to the ritual.
IN THE MIRROR OF MAYA DEREN (IM SPEIGEL DER MAYA DEREN (2002) BY Martina Kudlaceki 103 min
A documentary film about avant garde filmmaker Maya Deren (1917-1961) by Austrian filmmaker Martina Kudlacek is based on the biography The Legend of Maya Deren. The soundtrack to this documentary was made by the avant-garde composer John Zorn.
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