“Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti”, a film by Maya Deren

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Date/Time
Date(s) - Sunday, 09/20/2015
8:00 pm - 9:30 pm

Location
Klinger Studios

Categories


DIVINE HORSEMEN: THE LIVING GODS OF HAITI (1985) 

A FILM BY MAYA DEREN (1985, 52 MIN., B&W)
TOMORROW, SUNDAY, SEPTEMBER 20
DOORS AT 7:30 FILM AT 8PM
KLINGER STUDIOS, 1ST FLOOR
11627 KLINGER HAMTRAMCK

“Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti journeys into the world of the Vodoun religion, communing with the drums and loa rituals, made by avant-garde filmmaker Maya Deren between 1947-1951.

The film captures the rituals of Rada, Petro and Congo cults, whose devotees commune with the cosmic powers through invocations — ritual offerings, song and dance. The Vodoun pantheon of deities, or loa are introduced as living gods, actually taking possession of their devotees. Also featured are the Rara and Mardi Gras celebrations.

Although best known as a pioneer of independent experimental cinema, Maya Deren(born 1917 as Eleanora Derenkowsky in Kiev, Ukraine, died in 1961 in New York City) was also a Vodoun initiate, and hence able to take her camera and recorder where few have gone before or since. The soundtrack conveys the power of the ritual drumming and singing. Maya went first to Haiti as an artist, thinking to make a film in which Haitian dance should be a leading theme. But the manifestation of rapture that first fascinated and then seized her transported her beyond the bounds of any art she had ever known. She opened to the messages of that speechless deep, which is, indeed, the wellspring of the mysteries,” Wilder Utopia.

A brief conversation will take place after the film.