Maya and Mia At La La Land

Abstract

Jenny Oyallon-Koloski’s Maya and Mia At La La Land, is a videographic film which draws fascinating parallels between Maya Deren’s At Land and Damien Chazelle’s La La Land. By bringing together two such starkly disparate source materials – experimental film vs popular musical – this practice research presents a compelling exploration of what Chazelle identifies as the inherently “radical nature” of the musical. Oyallon-Koloski uses various editing techniques from continuity editing and Soviet montage, to Deren’s own parametric framework, to interweave the films and make abstract narrative connections between their two central female characters. In so doing, she not only critiques the on-screen representation of women, but also draws attention to the stylistic synergies between the two filmmakers.