Avant-garde filmmaker Maya Deren spent a few years documenting voodoo rituals in Haiti. She filmed many of the ceremonies but never completed her film which was finally edited by her husband.
Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti, is essentially a series of scenes of ritualized dance ceremonies dedicate to the various gods of the Haitian people. Some of the dances feature sacrifices of animals as part of the ceremony. A couple of the ceremonies show some of the Haitian priests being possessed by the Haitian gods.
As a film maker Deren was interested in dance and ritual so it's understandable that she was attracted to the elaborate ritualized dance of this religion.
Since Deren was unable to complete her film it's impossible to know what her intentions with all the footage would have been. Still, a very fascinating and peculiar piece of film making.
52 minutes.
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