Robert Flaherty
Born: 1884-02-16 in Iron Mountain, Michigan, USA
Died: 1951-07-23
Known For: Directing
Biography
Robert Joseph Flaherty (February 16, 1884 – July 23, 1951) was an American filmmaker who directed and produced the first commercially successful feature-length documentary film, Nanook of the North (1922). The film made his reputation and nothing in his later life fully equaled its success, although he continued the development of this new genre of narrative documentary with Moana (1926), set in the South Seas, and Man of Aran (1934), filmed in Ireland's Aran Islands. Flaherty is considered the "father" of both the documentary and the ethnographic film. Andrew Sarris in his influential book of film criticism The American Cinema: Directors and Directions 1929–1968 included him in the "pantheon" of the 14 greatest film directors who had worked in the United States.
Filmography
2025
- Cast of Shadows as self (archival)
2023
- Monica in the South Seas as Self (archival footage)
2010
- A Boatload of Wild Irishmen as Self (archive footage)
1983
- A Letter to Freddy Buache ... (In Memory Of)
1950
- The Titan: Story of Michelangelo ... (Director)
1949
- Guernica ... (Director)
1948
- Louisiana Story ... (Director)
1943
- Why We Fight: The Battle of Russia ... (Director of Photography)
- Why We Fight: The Nazis Strike ... (Director of Photography)
- It's All True ... (Original Story)
1942
- Why We Fight: Prelude to War ... (Director of Photography)
- The Land as Narrator (voice)
1937
- Elephant Boy ... (Director)
1935
- A Night of Storytelling ... (Director of Photography)
1934
- Man of Aran ... (Director)
1933
- The English Potter ... (Director)
1931
- Tabu: A Story of the South Seas ... (Producer)
- Industrial Britain ... (Director)
1928
- White Shadows in the South Seas ... (Co-Director)
1927
- Twenty-Four Dollar Island ... (Director)
1926
- Moana ... (Director)
1925
- The Pottery Maker ... (Director)
1922
- Nanook of the North ... (Director)
1916
- The Eskimo ... (Director)