Society of Cinema: Dreaming with Maya
By Christopher Wessels
12 September 2023
18:00-20:00

Christopher Wessels shares the beginning of a body of work paying homage to Maya Deren (1917-1961). Deren was one of the most important avant-garde filmmakers of her time for her use of experimental editing techniques. “Dreaming with Maya” is a meditation on 80 years since the release of Maya’s first short film in 1943. After the screening, there will be a conversation with Christopher on the process of the work and moving beyond ‘professionalism’.

Christopher was born in Gqeberha (formerly Port Elizabeth) and raised in Cape Town. He is a cinematographer who has had two films nominated to the Cannes Film Festival. His graduation work Ongeriewe was En Competition Court Metrage (2006) and his latest offering to be at Cannes was Rafiki nominated in the Un Certain Regard (2018) category. He has more than 20 years experience of working in the film and television environment. When not shooting films he works as a curator/artist. He worked as a curator with the Children’s Library Project at Åbo Akademi University (2016-2018). He is founding member of Museum of Impossible Forms in Helsinki where he was one of the Artist Directors, and he is co-founder of Third Space (2014-2016), a collective of artists and curators in Helsinki. He is co-founder of the Miracle Workers Collective and co-curator of the Finnish Pavilion at the 58th Venice Biennale 2019. His artistic and curatorial practices look at the un-silencing of counter hegemonic narratives and the building of counter hegemonic institutions with anti-racist, anti-sexist and class consciousness at its foundations. He lives in Turku.

Warmly welcome!