Martha Graham: Dance on Film 2007

In the Mirror of Maya Deren 2002

Documentary about the life of avant-garde filmmaker Maya Deren, who led the independent film movement of the 1940s.

Invocation: Maya Deren 1986

Maya Deren is a legend of avant-garde cinema. This authoritative biography of the charismatic filmmaker, poet and anthropologist features excerpts from her pioneering Meshes of the Afternoon and her unfinished documentary on Haiti, interviews with Stan Brakhage and Jonas Mekas, and recordings of her lectures. Narrated by actress Helen Mirren, this definitive documentary offers startling insights into one of the most intriguing, accomplished figures in cinema history.

To the Fair! 1964

Promotional film extolling the wonders to be seen at the New York World's Fair.

To Be Alive! 1964

"To Be Alive!" was designed to celebrate the common ground between different cultures by tracing how children in various parts of the world mature into adulthood.

Night Journey 1960

Night Journey, the dance, had its premiere only two and a half years after Appalachian Spring, and it is a close cousin. It too has a stream-of-consciousness narration: Jocasta, as she is about to kill herself, remembering what has happened to her. It too contains soul-delving solos, broken up by ensemble dances. Here, however, the ensemble is a darker element. As the story was taken from Greek tragedy, so the corps is the equivalent of Greek tragedy’s chorus. They tell us how to feel: afraid mostly. In this piece Graham pushed her habitual economy to its limits.

The Medium 1951

Madame Flora is terrified when she perceives a supernatural presence during one of her fraudulent séances...

Of Men and Music 1951

A documentary featuring musicians including Artur Rubinstein, Jan Peerce-Nadine Conner, and Jascha Heifetz.

2x Bail 1947

Hymn of the Nations 1944

Hymn of the Nations, originally titled Arturo Toscanini: Hymn of the Nations, is a 1944 film directed by Alexander Hammid, which features the "Inno delle nazioni," a patriotic work for tenor soloist, chorus, and orchestra, composed by Italian opera composer Giuseppe Verdi in the early 1860s. (For this musical work, Verdi utilized the national anthems of several European nations.) In December 1943, Arturo Toscanini filmed a performance of this music for inclusion in an Office of War Information documentary about the role of Italian-Americans in aiding the Allies during World War II. Toscanini added a bridge passage to include arrangements of "The Star-Spangled Banner" for the United States and "The Internationale" for the Soviet Union and the Italian partisans. Joining Toscanini in the filmed performance in NBC Studio 8-H, were tenor Jan Peerce, the Westminster Choir, and the NBC Symphony Orchestra. Preserved by the Academy Film Archive in 2010.

At Land 1944

A woman washes up on a beach and embarks on a surreal journey, encountering others and fragmented versions of herself in a quest for identity.

Meshes of the Afternoon 1943

A woman returning home falls asleep and has vivid dreams that may or may not be happening in reality. Through repetitive images and complete mismatching of the objective view of time and space, her dark inner desires play out on-screen.

The River of Life and Death 1941

The River of Life and Death captures the slow time in the well-known Indian pilgrimage place of Benares, the act of purification by water, the burning funeral pyres, and the dandling snakeheads under the temple stairs.

Crisis 1939

A documentary about the conquest of Czechoslovakia by the Nazis just prior to World War 2.

...and Life Goes On 1935

On the coast of Yugoslavia lives fisherman Ivo Kralj, his wife Marie, son Vuk, and Ivo's mother in one happy home. Marie, who loves her husband and always looks forward to his return from sea, attracts Nikola, with whom Ivo, out of jealousy, has a scuffle at a dance. After the outbreak of World War I Ivo is mobilized. He ends up in a P.O.W. camp where he is subjected to hard labour. His family then receives news of his death. The years pass and the lonely widow Marie is occasionally visited by her friend Nikola. Ivo's mother would like her to remarry. Soon after the wedding Marie becomes pregnant. Ivo, who has been thought dead, succeeds in escaping the P.O.W. camp where he has spent several years. Upon his arrival home he finds his name on a memorial erected to the victims of the war...

Erotikon 1930

Andrea, a beautiful daughter of a railway gateman, is seduced by a rich passenger, who missed his train. Left pregnant, Andrea marries another man and moves to Prague, only to encounter her former lover and recover her former lust.