“From the early 1940’s until her death in 1961, Maya Deren evoked
and exemplified the American avant-garde movement virtually by herself.
Her first film, MESHES OF THE AFTERNOON, set the tone for the decade
and linked the movement to the older European avant-garde films of
Cocteau and Buñuel.”

- Cecile Starr, The New York Times

"The cinema of Maya Deren delivers us from the studios: it presents
our eyes with physical facts which contain profound psychological
meaning; it beats out within our hearts a time which alternates,
continues, revolves, pounds, or flies away… Poetry, after all, is the
feast which life offers those who know how to receive with their eyes
and hearts, and understand."

- Le Corbusier

"Intensely personal, symbolic and surreal films that reveal her
deepest, darkest fantasies. She's Fellini and Bergman wrapped in one
gloriously possessed body. Watching these films can change forever your
concept of what cinema can be."

- L. A. Weekly
Further Information:

Includes:

MESHES OF THE AFTERNOON (1943-59, in collaboration with Alexander Hammid, music by Teiji Ito, 14 min.)

AT LAND (1944, silent, 15 min.)

A STUDY IN CHOREOGRAPHY FOR CAMERA (1945, silent, 4 min.)

RITUAL IN TRANSFIGURED TIME (1945-6, silent, 15 min.)

MEDITATION ON VIOLENCE (1948, music arranged by Maya Deren, 12 min.)

THE VERY EYE OF NIGHT (1952-59, choreographic collaboration by Anthony Tudor, music by Teiji Ito, 15 min.)

Special Features:

Excerpt from

DIVINE HORSEMAN: THE LIVING GODS OF HAITI

PRIVATE LIFE OF A CAT

Previously unreleased short by Alexander Hammid

PICTURE GALLERY

NOTES AND QUOTES