In 1947 filmmaker Maya Deren received the first Guggenheim Fellowship for creative work in motion pictures based on a proposal for a film on Haitian dance. On trips to Haiti in 1947, 1949 and 1954, she shot several thousand feet of "Voudoun " rituals. (Creole usage by Deren) Deren had previously advanced her craft as a filmmaker and artist by applying principles of Gestalt psychology, duration and a 'mythical method' to the newest art instrument of the 20th century. A creative work was the sum of its parts where in assemblage something new was formed making it a "volatile whole", the foundation of Deren's film work until she arrived in Haiti. Here she reworked her conceptual framework in order to 'render' the logic of Voudoun without manipulation. Four earlier films were distinguished by innovative principles of continuity: "Meshes of the Afternoon "(1943), "At Land", (1944), "A Study for Choreography for Camera "(1945), and "Ritual in Transfigured Time "(1945-6). Based on these achievements, she was awarded the Guggenheim fellowship which partially financed "Meditation on Violence "(1947) and the Haitian footage.
Deren's ethnographic contributions to the study of Haitian Voudoun include not only 20.000 feet of ceremony but recordings of rituals and folk music, a mythological study of the religion--"Divine Horsemen", articles, lectures and television and radio appearances. Her interest in ethnographic dance began in the early 1940's before her filmmaking career was launched, as secretary to choreographer Katherine Dunham. Dunham whose mentor was anthropologist Melville Herskovits had been to Haiti, studied dance and even filmed in 16mm. Through her, Deren met several of her dancers and craftsmen - some of whom were to later collaborate in her films: Talley Beatty, Rita Christiani and lyricist John LaTouche. With access to Dunham's research she wrote an early series of articles about religious possession in dance with a focus on the "personality of the possessed". Later with the publication of "Divine Horsemen " the "individual" is obliterated, serving as a vehicle for the "loa "(gods). This also corresponded with formal concerns in film beginning with "Ritual in Transfigured Time ", where the individual becomes a part of a larger collective consciousness. Deren tackled the interrelationship between magic, science and religion which according to Bronislaw Malinowski was the apex of modernism. This research was interrupted during her early years as a filmmaker and returned to full circle with the Haitian footage and discourse written during the 1940's and 1950's, illustrating a foundation of knowledge that accompanied her as a filmmaker into a Haitian "hounfor "(temple).
Although Deren abandoned a preliminary plan for a film in Haiti it is important to emphasize ceremonial footage shot in Haiti embracing principles of choreocinema. Her initial filmmaking project grew out of a collaboration with Gregory Bateson and inspired by his review of the arrangement of cultural artefacts at the 1946 South Sea Exhibit at the Museum of Modern Art. Bateson compared it to a symphony where themes introduced were picked up in another movement. Deren requested to loan Balinese footage from Margaret Mead and Bateson from their field work of the 1930's to be edited into a "cross-cultural fugue" of Haitian and Balinese ritual and Western children's game. Deren intended to link these three themes as a "cinepoem ""in "choreocinematic " form. In field studies she noted the articulations of a mythical discipline which infused matter with spirit and in order to respect the "ceremonial logic" in representation, abandoned her "cinepoem".
Not long after arriving in Haiti Deren decided on extensive documentation of Haitian Voudoun ceremony. Retakes within this material are extremely rare. On the back of Deren's Bolex was taped "Speed Stop Focus Finder Motor". These prompts allowed her to safeguard shots that could never be redone as she would "shoot to cut " to eliminate post-editing and "plan by eye "- prepare a visual shorthand of the pro-filmic event. The traditional use of footage accompanied by expert witness and testimony was rejected for a film with music. Aware of the potential of documentary film to create a fiction through editing, Deren was determined to represent Voudoun rituals with respect to their mythic origin. With this goal, she was successful which not only the footage but "Divine Horsemen" confirms.
The Haitian footage is housed at Anthology Film Archives, acquired through Grove Press in 1972. Parts 1-4 and 7 were shot in December 1947 and on a later trip in 1949 and parts 5-6 were shot in 1954. Deren wrote that the precedence for filming in Haiti was rare for in those instances in which it was permitted, ceremonies were interrupted by comments or gestures which destroyed the ritual. Because animal sacrifices were forbidden in Haiti, photography had also been discouraged. Although it was unusual for an outsider to be permitted into ceremonies Deren was allowed through her association with Isnard, the houngan (priest) of a "hounfor " (temple) outside Port-au-Prince. She described the major portion of the initial 5.400 ft. footage as an eight day "ceremony caille "- a benediction to the "loa" or deity of the "hounfor". The basic form of the ceremonies was similar so she was able to capture aspects from different perspectives religious drawings made of corn meal, or "vevers", chicken and goat sacrifices offered to the four directions and other ceremonial preparations. There are numerous possessions in a variety of forms where the individual is dressed in the accouterments of the god or in ordinary attire. In addition drumming, singing and forms of prayer are filmed.
"In the second batch of my material", Deren wrote " I concentrated on various dance and ritual movements, many of which photographed in slow motion, with the action of the body clearly delineated." The footage of 1954 contains ceremonies, documentation of Voudoun altars, carnivals and festivals and everyday Haitian life. She wrote of her dedication to this material "sitting over the viewer, the splicer, -so many nights - pushing together shots which would not marry", calling "the creative act fundamentally unreasonable and irrational. . . whenever I tried to 'stop a moment, to isolate it from its context it projected an impression which was not at all what the Haitians meant. In fact it often did not even look like dance - at least dance in the sense in which we think of it. And it became clear to me that certain fundamentals governing ritual had to be established before any specific statements about Haitian dance could be made to make sense. . . dance is only part of the ritual and its form is governed by the larger pattern, rather than being contained in itself. This larger 'logic' is known, rather than constantly 'visible', and for this reason the dance may seem itself formless and anarchic." ( From Deren's notes housed at Boston University Mugar Library, Special Collections)
During visits to Haiti Deren negotiated with several production companies wanting documentaries, projects which for various reasons were canceled. She tried to release her material through grant foundations, production companies and television without success, the largest frustration of her filmmaking career. Insisting on creative control, funding was difficult to obtain. Borrowing editing facilities wherever she could, in her renewal to the Guggenheim she submitted four categories of footage for consideration. "This material has actually two separate values. Until I sat down and carefully went through it to make an outline catalog of the 5.400 feet, I had failed to realize that quite independent of its aesthetic value in relation to my film, it had enormous historical and anthropological value as well. It seems that my ability to establish unusually sympathetic relations with the Haitian country people resulted in the recording of ritual material which had not previously been put on motion-picture film."
( From Deren's notes housed at Boston University Mugar Library, Special Collections)
Failing to acquire renewal on the basis of this intention, Deren tried to illicit anthropological interest in her film. Despite support from Margaret Mead, Gregory Bateson and Melville Herskovits, orthodox anthropologists rejected the footage because she was not a trained observational field worker. And Deren disagreed with them "In effect, sensitivity to form, she wrote provides the artist with a vast area of clues and data that might elude the professional anthropologist whose training emphasized... "scientific" detachment [muffing] his normal sensitivity and responsiveness [and making him] dependent upon the vagaries of informants' memory, intelligence and articulations." (Divine Horsemen) She argued that verbal information even in Western culture is unreliable and would not be sufficient in Haiti "in a language which is largely imagistic and in reference to a religion which is completely couched in ritualist action". (Divine Horsemen) Criticizing the dualism of anthropology, she stated that African cultures are "predicated on the notion that truth can be apprehended only when every cell of brain and body - the totality of a human being is engaged in that pursuit". (Divine Horsemen)
Notes on Deren's Haitian Footage.
© Moira Sullivan, 1998.
Maya Deren's original footage of 20,000 feet was shot in Haiti during trip in 1947, 1949 and 1954. It is stored at Anthology Film Archives in New City and occasionally featured in their film program (You can request that the footage be projected at a fee). Additionally, all of Deren's films are archived here including outtakes from her films and some unfinished work (The Haiku project, Medusa and parts from Witches Cradle with Marcel Duchamp).
The documentary film Divine Horsemen, the Living Gods of Haiti by Teiji and Cherel Ito is an assembled film of some of the best parts of the footage with sound added ( Parts are read from Deren's monograph Divine Horsemen. ). It should be understood however that this is the Ito's editorial work since Deren insisted that a film was both a product of the camera and editing. Therefore, the Ito collaboration is a 'fiction' of the material. Donald Cosentino refers to Deren's 'surrealistic editing', an observation which can be attributed to the Ito assemblage. The film is a good introduction to Deren's footage.
History of Anthology Film Archives Acquisition of Deren's footage
In 1972, Anthology Film Archives received from Grove Press five cartons of films in various canisters of the work of Maya Deren in Haiti owned by Barney Rossett. A rudimentary description of the contents was as follows: "The entire set of Haitian reels is markedly similar and repetitious in content with few exceptions. For the most part the action involves Haitian people involved in Voudoun ritual and dancing. This includes mystical drawings made on the ground, the oft-repeated sacrifice of chickens or cocks and small goats, accompanied by seated drummers, There are several instances of apparent religious hysteria and about 400 feet of Mardi Gras parade." (notes by Anthology Film Archives, Linda Patton, 1972)
The physical conditions of the footage were in a state of deterioration with shrinkage and darkness and fading of the tonal quality due to aging. Some of the splices were old and need of repair. Anthology Film Archives restored the prints through reprinting and correction of the original splices.
The Making of the Ito Compilation Documentary
In 1973, Cherel Winnett and Teiji Ito requested to edit Deren's footage.Teiji Ito, (Maya Derens husband at the time of her death), was sound editor who had recorded music in Haiti which was to be used in the film.Cherel Winett, film editor, who had studied film at the San Francisco Art Institute made the documentary"Blueberry Summer". According to Anthology Film Arhives curator Jonas Mekas, they were advised not to work with the the footage because of its delicacy and age which would jeopardize the only existing material on Deren's work in Haiti. In an application for funding to edit Deren's footage in 1973, Mekas supervised the intended project, coordinated by "Mr. Teiji Ito and Ms. Cherel Winnett". One result of the completed project unfortunately is that some of the original footage can not be viewed in the original sequence as it was cut out of the material.
According to the budget appropriation, there was 18,000 feet or negative and positive (re)print. Half of the footage was requested to be optically treated with sound transfer and editing..
Parts of the introduction to Divine Horsemen were quoted including Deren's reference that the plan for a film was somewhere among her belongings and her footage was kept in "a fire-proof box in her closet". One of the most frustrating setbacks of Deren's career was her failure to release the footage and she tried countless times to have it accepted for anthropological use--and denied because she was an outsider to the field. Ironically, Divine Horsemen is considered a classic study of Haitian Voudoun.
Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti, from the title of Deren's monograph, was released in 1977.
Editorial details
The Ito compilation which claims to contain footage 1947 to 1951 also includes material from 1954. There is some synchronization of sound to image such as birds chirping or their wings fluttering but the predominant focus is on the music of the ceremonies--in particular ceremonie caille (described below by Deren). The narrators were John Genke with Joan Pape reading a short description of the Agwe ceremony. Focus is on the different loa , or gods and goddesses in Voudoun ceremony including Legba, Ogun, Ghede, Erzulie, Damballah and Azacca and Agwe--with animation of the particular vevers.
Editorial inconsistencies with Deren's original material are the insertion of animation of the loa Damballah after the closeup of an individual under possession lasting into a minute of material from the Agwe ceremony; a long shot of a La-place (assistant) to the houngan (priest) Isnard in 1947 cracking a whip introducing the Boeuf Azacca ceremony in 1949; and footage from 1954 showing the Haitian boy Jacques doing the juba intercut with Mardi Gras material. Some use of corresponding movement is used such as Jacques and the baton twirlers and the pelvic movement of a woman possessed by Ghede with the pelvic movements of baton twirlers at Mardi-Gras. The films ends with a freeze frame of Ghede at the Mardi Gras. (all postproduction by the Ito's).
Boston University Mugar Library Special Collections, Home of the Maya Deren Collection
Marie Deren, Maya's mother, bequeathed her deceased daughter's papers , photographs and sound recordings to Boston University Mugar Library Special Collections which is the largest center for Deren researchers in the world. One interesting document to be found there is Deren's Guide to Haiti Film Catalogue, a shot description of 5400 ft of her best footage from Haiti. This inventory is the best record for understanding her footage. The film was divided into seventeen sections. The first eight reels were for the eight day ceremonie caille filmed in 1947; the next four reels were sections she refilmed of the ceremony in 1949; the last five reels were dance festivals and ceremonies, dates between 1949 and 1954.
REELS MARKED BY MAYA DEREN
Reel 1 Ceremonies, Yam, Legba and House
Reel 2 Ceremonies Ogoun and part of Azacca
Reel 3 Ceremonies Azacca continued
Reel 4 Ceremonies Azacca continued
Reel 5 Ceremonies Ghede
Reel 6 Filming ceremony
Reel 7 Filming ceremony
Reel 8 Filming ceremony
Reels IX through XII are marked from 1949
Reel 9 Aguet
Reel 10 Ghede
Reel 11 Dancing at Isnards, Dancing at House
Reel 12 Congo Dancing
Reels XIII through XVII are different aspects of Haitian culture/and or dance
Reel 13 Mardi Gras [footage of the festival and parade]
Reel 14 Rara [footage of Haitian dance festival in spring]
Reel 15 Walking [a pre-planned sequence of Haitian women walking to market]
Reel 16 Titon dancing-- Petro, Juba, Martinique [pre-planned sequence of Haitian dances]
Reel 17 Boeuf Azacca [part of a ceremony to the loa]
CEREMONIES MARKED BY MD:
MONDAY--LEGBA, YAM
TUESDAY--MAISON
WEDNESDAY--OGOUN
THURSDAY--AZACCA
FRIDAY--Ghede
SPECIAL NOTE : CEREMONIE CAILLE
A description of the eight-day ceremony ceremonie caille in Divine Horsemen provides a background to this footage: "Sunday: Action de Grace; Monday Service for les Marassa [Divine twins] and les Morts (the collective dead]; in the evening, the coucher yam [ritual where yams are laid to sleep at night],late afternoon and evening,feasting of Legba, Loco, Ayizan, Damballah, Ayida, Erzulie and Agwe; and their escorts (these loa are considered to be on very good terms and amenable to being served together);Wednesday: Ogoun with a dance in the evening in his honor; Thursday: Azacca, or Erzulie, or perhaps one of the other loa; Thursday: Azacca, or Erzulie, or perhaps one of the other loa especially important to the hounfor; Friday: Ghede; Saturday, the Petro loa; Sunday: often a bapteme[baptism], followed by a reception; Monday: a personal loa perhaps a work loa such as Mounanchou. If possible, each loa is served on the day of the week sacred to him. The procedure is, usually,to perform the individual ceremony either in the mid-morning or in the late afternoon, while the rest of the day is devoted to the preparation of food,and in the evening, there is generally a danse de rejuissance in honor of the loa feasted that day. ( Divine Horsemen , p. 212.)
MAJOR HAITIAN LOA , OR GODS AND GODDESSES
Azacca =loa of agriculture
Ghede =loa of the Dead
Erzulie =loa of love
Agwe =loa of sea
Legba = loa of the crossroads
Damballah =ancient serpent loa
Ogoun = loa of war
Damballah and Ayida = supreme parents
Loco and Ayizan =priestly parents
Petro loa = nanchon (tribe) of loa of American origin
Rada loa = nanchon of loa of Dahomean origin
FOOTAGE AS CLASSIFIED AT ANTHOLOGY FILM ARCHIVES, NEW YORK. (Deren's marking= [MD] )
CBS Odyssey 303 B 305 306 Includes several ceremonies, including Agwe.
#306 600 ft 16mm silent . From 400 ft can labeled "Odyssey". Ceremony around poteau mitan.
[MD] A2978 Haiti Voudoun. Reel 1 of 2. Reel 2 of 2. A2977. Chicken and goat. 400'cans labeled CBS Odyssey. Chicken and goat offering to loa. Tuesday-Goats.
#305 outs 300 ft.
#303 A+B 300 ft [MD]: Titon, Juba, Martinique, Titon XV, XVII Azacca Boeuf.
#303B Walking. From XVI Walking.
PT. I - IV Haiti # 304 (Each 4325 ft=17.300 ft.) Ceremonie caille. Isnard Monday Yam and Legba, PM Agassou. Tuesday Maison. Wednesday Ogoun and Azacca. Agwe;--barque d'Agwe [raft of offerings to Agwé set to sea] ceremony on boat. Ghede, Congo ceremony.
PT V Haiti # 300 1825 ft Yam and Ghede, Mardi Gras.
PT VI Haiti #300 1825 ft., Haiti 1954 [MD]: Joe & Isnard. Ceremony, bull, Ghede,Mardi Gras, Indoor altar, outside drawing of vever. Jacques doing juba, home of Haitian family.
Part VII #302 1825 ft. Joe and Isnard [MD] :XIII, XIV Rada , XII-XIX Mardi Gras, XVI Walking.
- See also "Maya Deren's Ethnographic Representation of Ritual and Myth in Haiti", Moira Sullivan, in Maya Deren and the American Avant-Garde , Bill Nichols, editor, 2001.
Additional Reading:
Maya Deren Forum
Towards Embodied Knowledge?
Some Metaphors For The Creative Process
Senses of Cinema - Maya Deren: The High Priestess of Experimental Cinema
