Product Description

Until now, Maya Deren's essays on the art and craft of filmmaking have not been available in a comprehensive volume equally handy for students, film enthusiasts, and scholars. Essential Deren: Collected Writings on Film contains all of Deren's essays on her own films as well as more general essays on film theory, the relation of film to dance, various technical aspects of film production, the distinction between amateur and professional filmmaking, and the famous 1946 chapbook titled "An Anagram of Ideas on Art, Form and Film," which has been reset here for the first time. There are hard-to-find articles written for magazines and art journals, as well as lectures, Q&A sessions, program notes, and manifestoes. This book will be particularly welcomed by the large audience that saw Martina Kudlacek's documentary, "In the Mirror of Maya Deren," during its theatrical release in the U.S. and Europe in 2002. The importance of Maya Deren's films and writings is further evidenced by the American Film Institute having named its highest award for independent filmmaking the "Maya Deren."

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #159164 in Books
• Published on: 2005-01-03
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 261 pages

P. Adams Sitney, author of Essential Cinema
Maya Deren was the first of a distinguished succession of filmmaker-theoreticians of the American avant-garde cinema...

About the Author
Maya Deren's life is the subject of a multi-volume biography in progress (see: The Legend of Maya Deren). Born in Kiev in 1917, Maya Deren emigrated to the United States with her parents a few years later, grew up mainly in Syracuse, New York, and attended Syracuse University. A social activist from her teens, she became interested first in dance and subsequently in filmmaking. Throughout the 1950s, until her premature death in 1961 at the age of 44, Maya Deren was a leading exponent of experimental cinema and considered one of its most influential artists. She first traveled to Haiti to film dances in 1947, and returned in following years for lengthy stays. The work in Haiti led to the classic ethnographic study, Divine Horsemen, written with the encouragement of Joseph Campbell, as well as audio recordings and a documentary film which was later edited by Teiji and Cherel Ito. A two-hour documentary on Maya Deren and her work was produced for BBC television in 1987. Martina Kudlacek's 2002 documentary, "In the Mirror of Maya Deren," received a theatrical release and widespread critical acclaim. Deren's own films have been released on DVD as "Experimental Films" and "Divine Horsemen" from Mystic Fire Video.

Customer Reviews

Essential Film Art
Maya Deren, poet, dancer and independent filmmaker, was interested in the emotional essence of a thing and believed that film was the perfect medium to capture it. "Essential Deren," edited by Bruce McPherson, contains the kernel of Deren's artistic philosophy.

Much of what is contained here is a criticism of general cinema -- both fiction and documentary -- as not fully utilizing the almost endless possibilities contained within the film camera. She describes this tool as almost having a life of its own: "The complexity of the camera . . . can inspire its manipulation on the explorative and creative level simultaneously" (from Deren's "An Anagram of Ideas on Art, Form and Film," page 102 of "Essential Deren").

Some of her writing, especially that which explains her artistic philosophy, can be difficult but ultimately rewarding reading for those willing to explore the work of a serious artist. But even those who skim this book cannot fail to hear Deren's clarion call to go out and buy a camera and start making art film (and there are practical chapters on camera manipulation included). She was a true independent who felt that anyone with an artistic sensibility and a film camera could create art vastly superior to that of general cinema.

An anthology of writings concerning cinema theory
Essential Deren is an anthology of writings concerning cinema theory by acclaimed filmmaker Maya Deren. From the poetics of "Cinema as an Art Form" to tips on "Creative Cutting" to scrutiny of fims in medias res and much more, Essential Deren is a treasury of insight reflecting a life and a professional career dedicated to the highest potential of expression movies can bring. Appendices present Deren's articles in the "Village Voice" as well as manifestoes and program notes; a bibliography, filmography, and list of resources points the reader toward more useful and fascinating discussion of the film as trade and medium. Especially recommended reading for cinematography students, connoisseurs and critics, and college libraries and references shelves.