Maya Deren (April 29, 1917 â October 13, 1961), born Eleanora Derenkowskaia (Russian: ÐлеоноÌÑа ÐеÑенкоÌвÑкаÑ), was one of the most important American experimental filmmakers and entrepreneurial promoters of the avant-garde in the 1940s and 1950s. Deren was also a choreographer, dancer, film theorist, poet, lecturer, writer and photographer.