FILM DIRECTOR

Maya Deren

1917 - 1961

Photo of Maya Deren

Icon of person Maya Deren

Maya Deren (; born Eleonora Derenkovskaya, Ukrainian: Елеоно́ра Деренко́вська; May 12 [O.S. April 29] 1917 – October 13, 1961) was a Ukrainian-born (Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, now Ukraine) American experimental filmmaker and important part of the avant-garde in the 1940s and 1950s. Deren was also a choreographer, dancer, film theorist, poet, lecturer, writer, and photographer. The function of film, Deren believed, was to create an experience. Read more on Wikipedia

Since 2007, the English Wikipedia page of Maya Deren has received more than 781,362 page views. Her biography is available in 31 different languages on Wikipedia (up from 30 in 2019). Maya Deren is the 454th most popular film director (down from 339th in 2019), the 335th most popular biography from Ukraine (down from 232nd in 2019) and the 7th most popular Ukrainian Film Director.

Memorability Metrics

  • 780k

    Page Views (PV)

  • 55.19

    Historical Popularity Index (HPI)

  • 31

    Languages Editions (L)

  • 4.67

    Effective Languages (L*)

  • 3.55

    Coefficient of Variation (CV)

Among FILM DIRECTORS

Among film directors, Maya Deren ranks 454 out of 2,041. Before her are Anton Corbijn, Ken Russell, Nick Castle, Philippe Garrel, Yves Allégret, and Gérard Oury. After her are Umberto Lenzi, Jacques Deray, Delbert Mann, Glauber Rocha, Lung Chien, and John Lasseter.

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Contemporaries

Among people born in 1917, Maya Deren ranks 125. Before her are Đỗ Mười, Carlos Puebla, Wilhelm Brasse, Paul Frère, Yakov Pavlov, and Andrew Wyeth. After her are Wieland Wagner, Văn Tiến Dũng, Samael Aun Weor, Infanta Alicia, Duchess of Calabria, Semyon Kurkotkin, and Raymond Burr. Among people deceased in 1961, Maya Deren ranks 53. Before her are Shigeko Higashikuni, Valentin Bondarenko, Milan Stojadinović, Anna May Wong, Henri Breuil, and Robert Garrett. After her are Paul Ramadier, Seyyed Hossein Borujerdi, Grandma Moses, Thomas Beecham, Vanessa Bell, and Luke Voyno-Yasenetsky.

Others Born in 1917

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Others Deceased in 1961

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In Ukraine

Among people born in Ukraine, Maya Deren ranks 335 out of 1,365. Before her are Yevgeny Vuchetich (1908), Mila Kunis (1983), Borys Paton (1918), Tamara Smirnova (1935), Elisabeth Bergner (1897), and Janina Lewandowska (1908). After her are Hilarion of Kiev (990), Nicolae Văcăroiu (1943), Onufriy (1944), Carolyne zu Sayn-Wittgenstein (1819), Dmytro Dontsov (1883), and Dmitry Dmitrievich Maksutov (1896).

Others born in Ukraine

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Among FILM DIRECTORS In Ukraine

Among film directors born in Ukraine, Maya Deren ranks 7. Before her are Andrzej Żuławski (1940), Sergei Bondarchuk (1920), Alexander Dovzhenko (1894), Otto Preminger (1905), Anatole Litvak (1902), and Jerzy Kawalerowicz (1922). After her are Larisa Shepitko (1938), Richard Boleslawski (1889), Grigori Kozintsev (1905), Grigory Chukhray (1921), Yuri Ilyenko (1936), and Les Kurbas (1887).

Ukrainian born Film Directors

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Filmography

Meshes of the Afternoon
Director
A woman returning home falls asleep and has vivid dreams that may or may not be happening in reality. Through repetitive images and complete mismatching of the objective view of time and space, her dark inner desires play out on-screen.
Jan 1st 19437.7 / 10
At Land
Director
A dream-like narrative in which a woman (Deren), is washed up on a beach and goes on a strange journey, a quest for personal identity, encountering other people and other versions of herself.
Jan 1st 19447.3 / 10
A Study in Choreography for Camera
Director
Maya Deren’s shortest, two-minute A Study in Choreography for Camera seems like an exercise piece to capture a dancer’s movement on celluloid, which later on developed into her masterpieces such as Ritual in Transfigured Time and Meditation on Violence.
Oct 17th 19455.9 / 10