Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti | Maya Deren

Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti (1947)
16mm Film

Deren never completed this film, it was editied by Teiji (her husband) and Cherel Ito after her death.

Comprising documentary footage of Haitian rituals and dances, it defeated her attempts to make the film she had intended. Instead, she transformed her experiences into a book of the same title. The film is a sad trace of the film she grappled with and stands as a testament to her artistic integrity.

As she says in her book, her inability to make the film was ‘…the most eloquent tribute to the irrefutable reality, and impact of Voudoun mythology’. – Michael O’Pray, Programme notes from Rituals in Transfigured Time, BFI.