Maya Deren - Legacy

Legacy

Maya Deren had a passionate sense of social commitment and moral purpose that distinguished her from the less favorable values of the entertainment industry; from the indifferent, ironic attitudes of her surrealist and dada predecessors; from the cool, hip attitudes of her Beat successors; from the passive aesthetic of stylized filmmakers; and from the pretentious attitudes of contemporary film theorists. Early political Socialist activism served as the base for Deren's organizational and creative endeavors; her pursuit of art was grounded in her strong ethical, moral and social convictions.

Deren was a key figure in the creation of a New American Cinema, highlighting personal, experimental, underground film. In 1986, the American Film Institute created the Maya Deren Award to honor independent filmmakers.

The Legend of Maya Deren, Vol. 1 Part 2 is one of the most extensive compilation's ever written on a female artist, consisting of hundreds of documents, interviews, oral histories, letters, autobiographical memoirs. Similarly to the way her films blend into different categories, Legend is both autobiographical and biographical, documentary and fiction. The editors expressed they could not 'apologize to to our readers for the amount of material in these pages. That is how Deren lived. What gives notion to it all...is the chronology of her days and weeks, works and dreams, the rhythm she created in her life.'"

Works about Deren and her works have been produced in various media:

• In 1987, Jo Ann Kaplan directed a biographical documentary about Deren, titled Invocation: Maya Deren (65 min)
• In 1994, the UK-based Horse and Bamboo Theatre created and toured Dance of White Darkness throughout Europe—the story of Deren's visits to Haiti.
• In 2002, Martina Kudlacek directed a feature-length documentary about Deren, titled In the Mirror of Maya Deren (Im Spiegel der Maya Deren), which featured music by John Zorn.

Deren's films have also been shown with newly-written alternative soundtracks:

• In 2004, the British rock group Subterraneans produced new soundtracks for six of Deren's short films as part of a commission from Queen's University Belfast's annual film festival. At Land won the festival prize for sound design.
• In 2008, the Portuguese rock group Mão Morta produced new soundtracks for four of Deren's short films as part of a commission from Curtas Vila do Conde's annual film festival.