This presentation is the most excellent biography and not all soundbites
This is a bare-bones review. If you want details purchase the film; you will not be disappointed.
Born:
Eleanora Derenkovskaya April 29, 1917, in Kiev, Russia (now Ukraine)
Maya Deren came to the USA in 1922 as Eleanora Derenkowsky.
Died:
October 13, 1961 (age 44) in Manhattan, New York City, New York, USA
What happened in between?
Watch the film.
Alexander Hammid - married Maya in Hollywood 1943. He tells his version of her life.
Katherine Bunham (choreographer) said she could have been a dancer.
Excerpts from her films are shown.
Grame Ferguson (filmmaker, co-founder of IMAX Corp.) describes "At Land" (1944). See it in her experimental films.
Maya describes her own film making.
Marcia Vogel (co-director Cinema 16) tells her tale of Maya encounters.
Amos Vogel (writer, co-director Cinema 16) tells his tale of Maya encounters. "A new kind of talent."
Stan Brakeage (filmmaker) describes "Meditation on Violence" (1948).
Judith Malina (Actress, director "The Living Theater") tells her tale of Maya encounters.
Varieties of others also tell his/her tale.
"The Very Eye of Night" (1953) did not screen until 1959.
The presentation is in black and white. Also, color when appropriate.
Read "Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti" published in 1952. Edited by Joseph Campbell.