Elles cinema hosted a film night dedicated to revisiting the work of pioneering filmmaker Maya Deren (1917–1961), one of the foundational figures of experimental and feminist cinema, through a screening of a selection of her short films.
Maya Deren was a filmmaker, poet, choreographer, dancer, and photographer who, during the 1940s and 1950s, developed a distinct cinematic vision that challenged the dominant Hollywood narrative. Despite her limited body of work, her films remain a remarkable model of what feminist cinema can truly be.
The program featured a curated selection of Deren’s short films, followed by a lecture by film researcher Zeina Ahmed, which explored the artistic and intellectual context of Deren’s work, her significance in the history of global feminist cinema, and opened a broader discussion around the meanings and interpretations of her films.
