Robert Joseph Flaherty (February 16, 1884, Iron Mountain, Michigan, United States - July 23, 1951, Dummerston, Vermont) was a filmmaker who directed and produced the first commercially successful feature length documentary film (Nanook of the North) in 1922. Image File history File links Flaherty212. ... Image File history File links Flaherty212. ... February 16 is the 47th day of the year in the Gregorian Calendar. ... 1884 (MDCCCLXXXIV) is a leap year starting on Tuesday (click on link to calendar) of the Gregorian calendar (or a leap year starting on Thursday of the 12-day-slower Julian calendar). ... Iron Mountain is a city located in Dickinson County in the U.S. state of Michigan. ... July 23 is the 204th day (205th in leap years) of the year in the Gregorian Calendar, with 161 days remaining. ... 1951 (MCMLI) was a common year starting on Monday; see its calendar. ... Dummerston, Vermont Dummerston is a town located in Windham County, Vermont. ... The film director, on the right, gives last minute direction to the cast and crew, whilst filming a costume drama on location in London. ... Documentary film is a broad category of cinematic expression united by the intent to remain factual or non-fictional. ... Promotional poster for Nanook of the North Nanook of the North is a silent documentary film by Robert J. Flaherty, released in 1922. ... 1922 (MCMXXII) was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ...

Flaherty was one of seven children born to prospector Robert Henry Flaherty (an Irish Protestant) and Susan Klockner (a German Catholic). Flaherty began his career as a prospector in the Hudson Bay region of Canada, working for a railroad company. In 1913, on his third expedition to the area, his boss, Sir William Mackenzie, suggested that he take a motion picture camera along so that he could record the unfamilar wildlife and people he encountered. He was particularly intrigued by the life of the local Inuit people, and spent so much time filming them that he had begun to neglect his real work. On the other hand, he received an avid response from anyone who saw the footage he shot. A prospector is a person who prospects, or explores an area for natural resources such as minerals, oil, flora or fauna. ... Protestantism is a general grouping of denominations within Christianity. ... Hudson Bay, Canada. ... 1913 (MCMXIII) is a common year starting on Wednesday. ... Inuit (Inuktitut syllabics: ᐃᓄᐃᑦ, singular Inuk or Inuq / ᐃᓄᒃ) is a general term for a group of culturally similar indigenous peoples inhabiting the Arctic coasts of Siberia, Alaska, the Northwest Territories, Nunavut, Québec, Labrador and Greenland. ...

To make the film, Flaherty lived with Nanook and his family for some time before beginning filming; the film was destroyed in a fire started from his cigarette and so Flaherty returned and reshot the film. He later claimed that this was to his advantage, since he was unhappy with the original footage. According to him, it was too much like a travelogue and lacked a cohesive plot. For the new film, Flaherty staged almost everything, including the ending, where Nanook and his family are supposedly at risk of dying if they could not find or build shelter quickly enough (the igloo had been built beforehand, with a side cut away for light so that Flaherty's camera would have a picture). Flaherty also insisted that the Eskimos not use rifles to hunt, though they had become common, and pretended at one point that he could not hear the hunters' pleas for help, instead continuing filming their struggle and putting them in greater danger. Eskimos, or Esquimaux, are terms used to refer to people who inhabit the circumpolar region (excluding Scandinavia and most of Russia, but including the easternmost portions of Siberia). ...

Nanook of the North was a successful film, and Flaherty was in demand afterwards. On a contract with Paramount to produce another film on the order of Nanook, Flaherty went to Samoa to film Moana; the studio heads repeatedly asked for daily rushes but Flaherty had nothing to show because he had not filmed anything yet -- his method was to live with his subjects as a participant-observer, becoming familiar with their way of life before building a story around it to film. Flaherty was also concerned that there was no inherent conflict in the peoples' way of life, providing further incentive not to shoot anything. Eventually he decided to build the film around the ritual of a boy's entry to manhood. The film, on its release, was not as successful as Nanook of the North. The Paramount Pictures logo used since 2003. ... Moana is a (1926) documentary film directed by Robert J. Flaherty, the creator of Nanook of the North. ... In film, daily rushes (or simply rushes or dailies) is the footage shot during a given day, without external soundtrack or adjustment. ...

Louisiana Story was another heavily fictionalized "documentary"; this one was about the installation of an oil rig in the Louisiana swamp. The film stresses the oil rig's peaceful and unproblematic coexistence with the surrounding environment, and was in fact funded by an oil company. The main character of the film is a cajun boy. The poetry of childhood and nature, some critics would argue, is used to make the exploitation of men and nature look beautiful. Virgil Thomson's music tells the spectator which feelings he should have. Natural gas drilling rig A drilling rig or oil rig is a structure housing equipment used to drill for and extract oil or natural gas from underground reservoirs. ... Official language(s) English and French Capital Baton Rouge Largest city New Orleans at last census; probably Baton Rouge since Hurricane Katrina Area  - Total  - Width  - Length  - % water  - Latitude  - Longitude Ranked 31st 134,382 km² 210 km 610 km 16 29°N to 33°N 89°W to 94°W Population... The Cajuns are an ethnic group consisting essentially of the descendants of Acadians who were expelled from Nova Scotia as a result of their refusal to swear allegiance to the British Crown and resettled in Louisiana. ... Virgil Thomson, photographed by Carl Van Vechten, 1947 Virgil Thomson (November 25, 1896 - September 30, 1989) was an American composer from Missouri, whose rural background gave a sense of place in his compositions. ...

Filmography

• Nanook of the North (1922)
• Moana (1926)
• Man of Aran (1934)
• Elephant Boy (1937)
• Louisiana Story (1948)

Promotional poster for Nanook of the North Nanook of the North is a silent documentary film by Robert J. Flaherty, released in 1922. ... Moana is a (1926) documentary film directed by Robert J. Flaherty, the creator of Nanook of the North. ... Man Of Aran is a documentary film on life on the Aran Islands by Robert J. Flaherty (1934). ... Elephant Boy is a 1937 British film by documentary film-maker Robert Flaherty, based on a story from Rudyard Kiplings The Jungle Book, and starring Sabu Dastagir. ... Louisiana Story is a 1948 78-minute, black-and-white, American fiction film, which is often misidentified as a documentary film. ...

Further Readings

• Calder-Marshall, Arthur, The innocent eye; the life of Robert J. Flaherty. Based on research material by Paul Rotha and Basil Wright, New York, Harcourt, Brace & World 1966
• Murphy, William Thomas, Robert Flaherty ; A guide to references and resources, Boston, Mass.: Hall, 1978
• Paul Rotha, Robert J. Flaherty: A Biography, Univ of Pennsylvania Press 1984
• Richard Barsam, The Vision of Robert Flaherty: The Artist As Myth and Filmmaker, Indiana University Press 1988
• Robert J. Christopher, Robert & Frances Flaherty: A Documentary Life, 1883-1922, McGill-Queen's University Press 2005

Paul Rotha (*June 3th, 1907- March 7th 1984) was a socialist british film maker and film historian. ... Paul Rotha (*June 3th, 1907- March 7th 1984) was a socialist british film maker and film historian. ...

External links

• Robert J. Flaherty at the Internet Movie Database
• Senses of Cinema: Great Directors Critical Database
• Robert Flaherty Film Seminar