Event: November 2022
Fri
4/11/22
07:30 PM
Retrospective: Maya Deren
Film
The retrospective is dedicated to the works of Maya Deren, probably the best-known US pioneer of experimental film, dancer, and film theorist of the 1940s and 1950s. Deren was born Eleanora Solomonovna Derenkovskaya in Kyjiw/Ukraine in 1917 and released nine short films during her lifetime; two more films were released after her death. She filmed Marcel Duchamp, explored voodoo rituals, experimented with cinematic language and earned the title “mother of the American avant-garde.”
In the first half of the 20th century, cinema was just beginning. Most filmmakers relied on theater and literature, so films seemed static, consisting primarily of dialogue. Deren's films were completely silent – no one spoke, and there wasn't even any music playing. Yet they were hypnotic: Deren skillfully manipulated space and time. She urged freelance filmmakers to leave their tripods behind, not loading up on equipment. Instead the filmmaker is equipped by holding the camera and using the body as a tripod.
This retrospective is intended to pay tribute to this pioneer of poetry film. In her films, Deren employed a poetic film language that served as a template for later filmmakers.
Kino in der Kulturbrauerei
Schönhauser Allee 36, 10435 Berlin
Entrance fee:
9/7 €
Tickets online