Alexander Hammid, Czech avantgarde filmmaker/photographer, collaborator on early films of Maya Deren
1907-2004
Alexander Hammid died on July 26, 2004 in his home in New York City at the age of 96. We are grateful for his wonderful films and images and extend condolences to his family and friends. Alexander Hammid

"Aimless Walk", still by Alexander Hammid, 1930

 

Cinemateket, Biograf Sture and Filmhuset, Stockholm SWEDEN , February 9, 13 2004
In the Mirror of Maya Deren, by Martina Kudlacek and six films by Maya Deren Go to "Cinemateket" on the Swedish Film Institute website. Then click on " Maya Deren"

Maya Deren
Stockholm 9 - 13 februari 2004
Sture 9 Februari kl. 14.30
Filmhuset 13 Februari kl. 19.00
"Maya Deren is one of the most important names in US experimental film. We show her best work, together with Martina Kudlacek's documentary In the Mirror of Maya Deren .

In the Mirror of Maya Deren (Im Spiegel der Maya Deren) av Martina Kudlacek, (Czech, Switzerland, Germany, 2002 with Stan Brakhage, Jonas Mekas. 103', no subtitles, English and Creole dialogue. On the dancer and experimental filmmaker Maya Deren.

Afterwords the following films will be screened:

Meshes of the Afternoon, USA 1943, 14'
. At Land, USA 1944, 15'
. Ritual in Transfigured Time, USA 1945, 14'
. Study in Choreography for Camera, USA 1945, 4'
. Meditation on Violence, USA 1948. 12'.
Charlottesville, Virginia , February 23, 2003
In the Mirror of Maya Deren, Martina Kudlacek will screen as a part of the OFFScreen's 'New Approaches in Biographical Documentary' series. Visit for details.

Boston, Harvard Film Archives Feb 14- Feb 19, 2003, 9PM
Carpenter Center for the Visual Arts
Harvard University
24 Quincy Street
Cambridge, MA

Directors in Focus: "Breaking the Mirrors: the Films of Maya Deren"
Featuring (in two part blocks):
Meshes in the Afternoon
At Land
Ritual in Transfigured Time
A Study in Choreography for Camera
Meditation on Violence
The Very Eye of Night
The Private Life of a Cat
Witch's Cradle
Divine Horsemen
In the Mirror of Maya Deren (Martina Kudlacek) at 7PM.
Check the web site for times and dates Harvard Film Archives

New York City, January 24-30, 2003 In the Mirror of Maya Deren, Martina Kudlacek Anthology Film Archives in New York.
"Anthology is pleased to present a series of events in celebration of Maya Deren, Alexander Hammid, and Teiji Ito, centered around the World Theatrical Premiere of a stunning new documentary, IN THE MIRROR OF MAYA DEREN, by Martina Kudlacek. Accompanying the film will be additional programs of Maya Deren's work (including unfinished and unreleased films), as well as programs featuring Hammid's experimental films and Ito's film scores. Renowned avant-garde composer/performer John Zorn will play two concerts, performing his score for IN THE MIRROR OF MAYA DEREN and creating live soundtracks for silent films by Deren. These programs were curated by Martina Kudlacek, with support for the Alexander Hammid events from the Czech Center New York. and with support from the Austrian Cultural Forum New York."

New York City, Friday January 24, 2003 Anthology Film Archives in New York.
9:45 LIVE CONCERT BY JOHN ZORN: MUSIC FOR SILENT FILMS OF MAYA DEREN
Films will include:
AT LAND1944, 15 minutes, silent, 16mm. Photographed by Hella Heyman and Alexander Hammid.
A STUDY IN CHOREOGRAPHY FOR CAMERA1945, ca. 3 minutes, silent, 16mm. By Maya Deren and Talley Beatty.
RITUAL IN TRANSFIGURED TIME1946, ca. 15 minutes, silent, 16mm. Choreographic collaboration with Frank Westbrook. Photographed by Hella Heyman. With Rita Christiani and Frank Westbrook.
ENSEMBLE FOR SOMNAMBULISTS (Toronto Film Society workshop)1951, ca. 7 minutes, silent, 16mm. Restoration Print.
Total running time: ca. 45 minutes.
(Admission is $8)

Sunday , January 26, 2003 Anthology Film Archives in New York.
3:30 TRIBUTE TO TEIJI ITO
Teiji Ito was born in Tokyo on January 22, 1935, to a Samurai family. For generations they had been one of the great theater families of Japan. Ito came to the United States at the age of six. He became interested in the music of other cultures at an early age, especially the percussion music of Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean. He studied with master drummer Coyote in Haiti, where he had gone with Maya Deren in 1955. In 1960, he and Deren married. As a composer and musician, he provided the musical score for Deren's films MESHES OF THE AFTERNOON and THE VERY EYE OF NIGHT. His keen awareness of jazz, blues, and flamenco infused his later music with a spontaneous, improvisational quality. His knowledge of Buddhism, Voudoun, and Native American beliefs adds a mystical element to his work. He was a visionary composer. Teiji Ito died in Haiti in 1982.
Graeme Ferguson 61 MORTON STREET(1960, ca. 7 minutes, silent, 16mm). With Teiji Ito, Maya Deren, Gil, Sonny, Rilo during a rehearsal.
Program of FILMS SCORED BY TEIJI ITO:
Maya Deren THE VERY EYE OF NIGHT (1952-55, 15 minutes, 16mm)
Walter Lewisohn THE CONSTANT GEISHA (1954, 7 minutes, 16mm)
Charles Boultenhouse HANDWRITTEN (1959, 9 minutes, 16mm)
Marie Menken DWIGHTIANA (1959, 4 minutes, 16mm)
Maya Deren and Alexander Hammid MESHES OF THE AFTERNOON (1943, music added 1959, 14 minutes, 16mm)
Ed Emshwiller LIFELINES (1963, 7 minutes, 16mm)
Charles Boultenhouse DIONYSUS (1964, 26 minutes, 16mm)
Ben Hayeem FLORA (1965, 6 minutes, 35mm)
Marie Menken BAGATELLE FOR WILLARD MAAS (1967, 5 minutes, 16mm)
Marie Menken ARABESQUE FOR KENNETH ANGER (1967, 4 min.,16mm)
Marie Menken MOONPLAY (1967, 5 minutes, 16mm)
Willard Maas VALENTINE FOR MARIE (1967, 4 minutes, 16mm)
Willard Maas ORGIA (1967, 12 minutes, 16mm)
Total running time: ca. 125 minutes. The program will be followed by a reception in honor of Teiji Ito.

Columbus, Ohio, January 10-11, 2003 In the Mirror of Maya Deren, Martina Kudlacek Wexner Center in Ohio.

Home
Screenings of In the Mirror of Maya Deren, Martina Kudlacek, 14-14 November 2002
Stockholm Film Festival

Toronto, Canada. The Loop Collective, October 27, 2002. Liquid Bodies: an Evening of Experimental Cinema Movement and Performance including Maya Deren's Study in Choreography for Camera.
Loop Collective

Washington,D.C. Austrian Embassy, September 30, 2002. Screening of In the Mirror of Maya Deren, by Martina Kudlacek.

Cologne, Germany. 2-6 October, 2002,  Special Matinée on Maya Deren , Dance, Film and Ritual by Moira Sullivan, and screening and special appearance of Martina Kudlacek, In the Mirror of Maya Deren , Feminale

Complete Program information (German)

TATE Modern, London, : "Surrealism: Desire Unbound", screenings of extract from Meshes of the Afternoon, Maya Deren, through January 1, 2002. On tour in Stockholm, Sweden April, 2002.

Berkeley, California : Pacific Film Archives ,September 11, 2001. The Films of Maya Deren. 

Cuenca, Spain:  May 28-29, 2001:Maya Deren lectures in Cuenca, Spain, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha in Cuenca, by Moira Sullivan sponsored by film director Ignacio Oliva Mompean, instructor on the Cuenca campus in the Deparment of Bellas Artes, and author of an upcoming Spanish anthology on Deren's work.

Santa Cruz, California:  University of California, April 29, May 6, 2001: Reel Time concert sponsored by Phil Collins, director of an avant-garde musical program, called 'The New Music Works'. Collins has asked film historian and film critic Mort Marcus to introduce several films for his annual in which he presents the music of contemporary composers created for specific films. They'll be presenting the music and showing the films (Man Ray's The Mysteries of the Hotel of Dice and Weine's Cabinet of Dr. Caligari as well as Deren's At Land on April 29th at the University of California at Santa Cruz and on May 6th at the Louden Nelson Auditorium in downtown Santa Cruz. Phil describes his piece as "an accompaniment" which "combines the voice of mezzo-soprano Rita Lilly and the New Music Works Ensemble embellished by the timbral nuances of Chinese cheng and concertina and resonates the persevering mobility of this.

New York , from June 25 to July 30, Sept. 5 to Oct. 1, 2000.''The Color of Ritual, the Color of Thought: Women Avant-Garde Filmmakers in America, 1930-2000,'' a series at the Whitney Museum of American Art. Review in New York Times

Gradisca, Italy :Maya Deren Weekend,May 19-20 2000. Dissolvenze is the title given to a series of programs on art and cinema arranged by the cultural association Gli Iconauti,'People of the Moving Image' where the work of Maya Deren was featured, invited guest Moira Sullivan.
For information please contact: Anna Antonini

Paris, France:  April l6-11, 2000. Racine Noires : Recontre des Cinema du Monde Noir , Forum des Images Haitian film festival featuring the work of Maya Deren, Divine Horsemen, the Living Gods of Haiti, assembled from Deren's ethnographic footage and posthumously edited by Teiji and Cherel Ito.

San Francisco, California : Maya Deren Symposium sponsored by Bill Nichols and Akira Lippit , San Francisco State University, April 27, 1996.

Paris , France : Maya Deren Colloquium  at  Centre Pompidou,Cinema du Musée, March 1,1996. Includes the presentation of the doctoral thesis Dialogues Theoriques avec Maya Deren by Alain-Alcide Sudre, France.

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