• Maya Deren: Ritual in Transfigured Time, 1946

  • Maya Deren, Alexander Hammid: Meshes of the Afternoon, 1943/59

  • Sidney Peterson, Hy Hirsh: Clinic of Stumble, 1947

  • Kenneth Anger: Puce Moment, 1949/70

  • Maya Deren: At Land, 1944

  • Sidney Peterson: The Lead Shoes, 1949

A limited number of wheelchair accessible spaces may still be available for this screening. Please contact bampfa@berkeley.edu if you would like a ticket for a wheelchair accessible space.



Rituals in Transfigured Time: Maya Deren, Sidney Peterson, and Kenneth Anger



Cinematic choreography and bodies in motion are central to the films in this program. Maya Deren’s iconic psychodramas are elevated by the specificity of gesture and movement in the films, while cinematography and editing allow her subjects to defy time, space, and gravity. Sidney Peterson and his students at the California School of Fine Arts (later the San Francisco Art Institute) transform San Francisco into a surreal dreamscape in The Lead Shoes, an oblique oedipal drama, shot with a distorting anamorphic lens and accompanied by a propulsive cacophony of traditional ballads. Peterson collaborated with Hy Hirsh and dancer Marian Van Tuyl, extending the innovative choreography of Clinic of Stumble through multiple superimpositions. Kenneth Anger’s paean to old Hollywood glamour, Puce Moment, was shot at eight frames a second, giving the motion an evocative stutter.

Films in this Screening

Meshes of the Afternoon

Maya Deren, Alexander Hammid, United States, 1943/59

FILM DETAILS 
Print Info
  • B&W
  • 16mm
  • 14 mins
source
  • The Film-Makers’ Cooperative
permission
  • Kino Lorber

At Land

Maya Deren, United States, 1944

FILM DETAILS 
Print Info
  • B&W
  • 16mm
  • Silent
  • 15 mins
source
  • The Film-Makers’ Cooperative
permission
  • Kino Lorber

Ritual in Transfigured Time

Maya Deren, United States, 1946

FILM DETAILS 
Print Info
  • B&W
  • 16mm
  • Silent
  • 15 mins
source
  • The Film-Makers’ Cooperative
permission
  • Kino Lorber

Clinic of Stumble

Sidney Peterson, Hy Hirsh, United States, 1947

FILM DETAILS 
Print Info
  • Color
  • 16mm
  • 13 mins
source
  • BAMPFA
permission
  • Canyon Cinema

The Lead Shoes

Sidney Peterson, United States, 1949

FILM DETAILS 
Print Info
  • B&W
  • 16mm
  • 16 mins
source
  • BAMPFA
permission
  • Canyon Cinema

Puce Moment

Kenneth Anger, United States, 1949/70

FEATURING
Yvonne Marquis

FILM DETAILS 
Print Info
  • Color
  • 16mm
  • 7 mins
source
  • Kenneth Anger Estate, represented by Brian Butler

Event Accessibility

If you have any questions about accessibility or need accommodations to attend this event, please contact us at bampfa@berkeley.edu or (510) 642-1412 (Wed–Sun, 11 AM–7 PM) as soon as you can. Advance notice helps us fulfill your request.

Learn more about accessibility services at BAMPFA.