Robert Gardner

This documentary interweaves celluloid and voice recordings by Maya Deren, and colleagues who knew her firsthand: Jean Rouch, Jonas Mekas, Alexander Hammid, Cecile Starr etc. Maya Deren (1917-1961) was an experimental filmmaker. In the 1940s and 1950s she made several influential avant-garde films, such as Meshes of the Afternoon (1943). Images from this and her other work are used in this documentary. You can also hear her voice, as well as accounts by contemporaries such as Jean Rouch and Jonas Mekas.

Clarence is a new boy in school, recently arrived in New York from the rural south. Angel is already there, Hispanic and proud of it. Clarence has dyslexia, a reading difficulty; Angel is hyperactive; both disturb their class and are punished by exile out of the classroom to the hallway. They meet, talk, share experiences and hopes. Angel's activity is translated into teaching Clarence to read, and together they build a school friendship that transcends race and ethnicity and the lack of understanding of themselves by the system.