Barcelona Llibres

Book published for the “Maya Deren. Una cadència d’imatges” exhibition at the Museu Etnològic i de Cultures del Món. Deren, described as a filmmaker, writer, poet, dancer and ethnologist/anthropologist (she travelled to Haiti between 1947 and 1955), is, essentially, one of the most important avant-garde filmmakers and a key figure in twentieth-century experimental cinema.

An introduction to the work and figure of Maya Deren in a textual and visual book that is almost an object in itself and which, as well as offering an extensive biography of this essential experimental filmmaker, contains specialised texts that transcend her and her work, paying special attention to Haiti.

The book focuses on her work and her figure, has an introduction by the exhibition curator Ainize González, three texts on Haiti by the historian David Marínez Fiol, the writer Edwidge Danticat, and the professor in folklore and comparative literature, and ends with an extensive biography of Maya Deren.

Inside, the book has a fold-out made up of a selection of stills from Deren's films that allow it to be opened and placed as if it were a star-shaped object. A visual and textual game that captures the essence of the project, as well as that of the filmmaker's work.

This is the first exhibition catalogue in Catalan on Maya Deren and her work, and one of the few books with texts on the filmmaker in Spanish.