Maya Deren
1917-1961
Maya Deren, original name Eleanora Derenkowsky, (born April 29, 1917, Kiev, Ukraine—died Oct. 13, 1961, New York, N.Y., U.S.), influential director and performer who is often called the “mother” of American avant-garde filmmaking. Her films are not only poetic but instructive, offering insight into the human body and pysche and demonstrating the potential of film to explore these subjects. Deren immigrated to the United States with her parents in 1922. Although the family settled in Syracuse, New York, Deren attended secondary school at the League of Nations School in Geneva, Switzerland. She then studied journalism at Syracuse University (1933–35), where she became active in the socialist movement. She graduated from New York University in 1936 and received an M.A. in literature from Smith College, Northampton, Massachusetts, in 1939. Having become interested in modern dance, Deren began working for choreographer Katherine Dunham. In 1941, while on tour in Los Angeles with Dunham and her dance troupe, Deren met Alexander Hammid, a Czech filmmaker. Deren and Hammid married the next year, and in 1943 they codirected Meshes of the Afternoon. They shot the film in their own home, w…
Films