In the Mirror of Maya Deren

Wide ranging, authoritative and often beautiful documentary about the avant garde movie-maker who virtually created the US independent film scene. From her immigrant roots (b. Kiev 1917) to her death aged 44 from a cerebral haemorrhage, Deren was a tireless experimenter in both content and context, a spiritual parent to Jonas Mekas' archive and exhibition activities. According to Stan Brakhage, one of many film-making contributors , her poetic films were 'rituals in moving vision', just part of a portfolio that included pioneering research into Haitian voodoo. For Deren, as demonstrated here, art and life were intense and inseparable.