The dream-like narrative of Meshes of the Afternoon provides a link between Surrealism and American experimental cinema.

Maya Deren was a filmmaker, writer, theorist, anthropologist and dancer. Her best-known work, Meshes of the Afternoon was made in collaboration with her first husband, the Czech cinematographer Alexander Hammid. The film indicates her fascination with dreams, ritual, psychological states and the manipulation of space and time. Although strongly affiliated with Surrealism, Deren rebuffed such labels, claiming that she was interested in ‘the credibility of the unreal, not the incredibility of the unreal’.

Deren appears as the protagonist in a web of events that traverse the boundaries between dream states and reality. Through rhythmic montage and experimental editing, Deren subverts the established temporal logic of Hollywood cinema. Her character is doubled, tripled and then quadrupled, breaking down any sense of a single coherent identity. Symbolic objects, such as a key and a knife, and actions such as walking and gazing through a window, are repeated and interrupted throughout the film. Shot in the sunlit hills of Los Angeles, the film is nonetheless a dark reverie filled with an air of paranoia, suspicion and impending death. The appearance of a mysterious hooded figure with a mirrored face amplifies the noir atmosphere.

Meshes of the Afternoon was originally made as a silent film. The soundtrack by Deren’s third husband, Teiji Ito, was added in 1959. The film has come to be recognised as one of the most influential in American experimental cinema, directly inspiring filmmakers such as Kenneth Anger, Stan Brakhage and David Lynch.

Maya Deren (1917-1961) was born Eleanora Derenkowsky in Kiev, Ukraine, and emigrated to the United States in 1922. She lived and worked in New York City.

Alexander Hammid (1907-2004) was born Aleksandr Hackenschmied in Linz, Austria. He lived and worked in Czechoslovakia, and emigrated to the United States in 1939.

Courtesy of Tavia Ito / Re:Voir Video

Curated by Stuart Comer