Maya Deren
Maya Deren (1917–1961) was a Ukrainian-American director, poet, and dancer regarded as the most important figure in postwar American avant-garde cinema. After studies in literature and journalism she turned to dance and then to 16mm filmmaking, producing short works of immense formal and ritual ambition with her then-husband Alexander Hammid. She was also an influential theorist, lecturer, and ethnographer of Haitian Vodou. Her acclaimed films include Meshes of the Afternoon, At Land, A Study in Choreography for Camera, Ritual in Transfigured Time, and Meditation on Violence.