Meshes of the Afternoon

(1943) is the 14-minute avant-garde film that director Maya Deren made in collaboration with her then husband, Alexander Hamid. The film is silent except for snippets of added sound, such as the ticking of a clock. In 1957, the Japanese composer Teiji Ito, Deren's second husband, added an ambient, dreamy soundtrack to the film. The action centres around a woman (played by Deren) who repeatedly follows another woman, the latter of whom is dressed in black, is holding a flower and has a mirror for a face. Every time this mysterious presence disappears around the corner, Deren enters a house. The second time she goes inside, her first version is still there; the third time, there are three of her. The film is black-and-white with sharp shadows and many diagonal lines, and was shot with a camera that follows the woman from striking angles. A knife, a telephone and a key return time and again and sometimes abruptly merge. Subsequently, a man (played by Hamid) enters this menacing, circular fantasy world. Born in Kiev, Ukraine, director Deren was a prominent experimental filmmaker in New York in the 1940s and 1950s. won the Grand Prix Internationale at the 1947 Cannes Film Festival.