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
The catalogue in 3D
The film shelves have a room of their own that you can walk around in. The cat behind the counter is the AI Catbot, and they pick real films from the same catalogue when you tell them what you feel like watching. Nothing is for sale, here or in there. Go in from here and this film is already out on the counter, with more like it waiting on the shelf next to it.
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)
More like this
A Study in Choreography for Camera (1946)
Emak-Bakia (1926)
Meshes of the Afternoon (1943)
Contrathemis (1941)
Un Chien Andalou (1929)
Themis (1940)
Opus IV (1925)
John Pellet's Dream (1916)- More like this film, on a shelf you can walk up to.It's the lit case on the top shelf.