Ritual in Transfigured Time (1946)

Directed by

Maya Deren

Genre

silent film

Country

United States

Runtime

15 min

Rating

6.9 of 10 from 68 voters

Elsewhere

IMDb

How it feels

A silent experimental short film that uses dance, slow motion, and freeze frames to tell a story about social rituals and personal transformation.

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What happens

Ritual in Transfigured Time is a 1946 American experimental silent short film directed by Maya Deren. Like Deren's previous work, A Study in Choreography for Camera (1945), she explores the use of dance on film through the lens of commentary of societal norms, metamorphosis, and anthropomorphism. The film is notable for its disjointed storytelling and use of slow motion, freeze framing, and unique blend of stage dance and film. Deren became known for her affinity for dance in other subsequent films such as Meditation on Violence, Ensemble for Somnambulists, and Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti. Elinor Cleghorn writes: "While she never undertook formal training, she identified as a dancer; but rather than pursuing a career as a performer she made her fascination with dance as cultural expression the focus of her progression as a writer and researcher." (from Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

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