EPISODE · Oct 23, 2025 · 49 MIN
Maya Deren - The Cardinal Points And The Points Between
from Missing Witches · host Missing Witches
Deren, Maya. An Anagram of Ideas on Art, Form and Film. Alicat Book Shop Press, 1946.———. Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti. Vanguard Press, 1953.———. “Religion and Magic.” Tomorrow: Vol. 3, No. 1 (Autumn 1954): 29–35.———. Essential Deren: Collected Writings on Film. Edited by Bruce R. McPherson. New York: Documentext, 2005.———. “A Statement of Principles.” e-flux Notes. Accessed 2024. https://www.e-flux.com/notes/621433/a-statement-of-principlesDeren, Maya. Witch’s Cradle. 1943. With Marcel Duchamp.———. Meshes of the Afternoon. 1943.———. At Land. 1944.———. Ritual in Transfigured Time. 1946.———. Meditation on Violence. 1948.———. Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti. Filmed 1947–1951, completed posthumously by Teiji Ito and Cherel Ito, 1985.Barrett, Del. “Maya Deren.” Hundred Heroines. Accessed 2024. https://hundredheroines.org/weekendread/maya-derenDurant, Mark Alice. “Sometimes I Am What I Really Am: On Mark Alice Durant’s Maya Deren.” LA Review of Books. Accessed 2024. https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/sometimes-i-am-what-i-really-am-on-mark-alice-durants-maya-derenThe Marginalian (Maria Popova). “Legendary Filmmaker Maya Deren on Cinema, Life, and Her Advice to Aspiring Filmmakers.” January 23, 2015. https://www.themarginalian.org/2015/01/23/maya-deren-advice-on-film-letterOgawa, Michiko. Searching for The Cosmic Principle: Transcribing and Performing the Film Music of Teiji Ito. Doctor of Musical Arts Dissertation, University of California, San Diego, 2016.Filmschoolrejects. “12 Filmmaking Tips from Maya Deren.” Accessed 2024. https://filmschoolrejects.com/filmmaking-tips-maya-deren-a6ddb39a6442Wikipedia Contributors. “Ritual in Transfigured Time.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Accessed 2024. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ritual_in_Transfigured_TimeInverted Audio. “The Cosmic Music of Teiji Ito.” Accessed 2024. https://inverted-audio.com/feature/the-cosmic-music-of-teiji-itoRisa Dickens (personal notes, 2025). The Missing Witches coven is trans-inclusive, anti-racist, feminist, pro-science, anti-ableist, and full of AWE and LOVE.If that sounds like your people, come find out more. https://www.missingwitches.com/join-the-coven/
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What this episode covers
Maya Deren — witch of the lens, socialist of dreamtime, fugitive from the machinery of capital — transformed the moving image into a site of ritual. Her films Meshes of the Afternoon, At Land, Ritual in Transfigured Time, Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti and Witch's Cradle dissolve boundaries between dream and waking, art and ceremony, self and spirit. She built a new language for film and died in poverty. She wrestled with addiction; her collaborations, including with her much younger husband Teiji Ito, shimmer with both creative brilliance and the complexities of power.
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Maya Deren - The Cardinal Points And The Points Between
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