Maya Deren - At Land (1944)

'At Land' (1944) is one of Maya Deren's following shorts after 'Meshes of the Afternoon' (1943). This is a gripping short which explores a woman trying to keep her identity. The plot follows a dream-like narrative in which a woman, played by Deren is washed up on a beach and goes on a strange journey encountering other people and other versions of herself. I particularly love the opening scene where the ocean is reversed, it is a really gripping scene and it makes me excited to begin trying techniques like this for my own film.

I love the way Deren's work experiments with reality creatively. It is explored in a way which makes people think 'out of the box'. The scene in the film where the woman is walking along the beach picking up the rocks shows the raw emotions of despair and panic she is going through whilst trying to 'keep her identity.'

 I am really interested in experimenting with reality and developing a visual experimentation piece that portrays the Psychological dislocations of the human mind.

'Artistic freedom means that the amateur filmmaker is never forced to sacrifice visual drama and beauty to a stream of words...to the relentless activity and explanations of a plot...nor is the amateur production expected to return profit on a huge investment by holding the attention of a massive and motley audience for 90 minutes...Instead of trying to invent a plot that moves, use the movement of wind, or water, children, people, elevators, balls, etc. as a poem might celebrate these. And use your freedom to experiment with visual ideas; your mistakes will not get you fired.'