Person
Robert Flaherty
Iron Mountain, Michigan, USA
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, N…
IMDbKnown for
Popular titles
Biography
A closer look
Read full 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
Movies and shows, newest first
-
2025
Cast of Shadows
Movie self (archival)
-
2023
Monica in the South Seas
Movie Self (archival footage)
-
2010
A Boatload of Wild Irishmen
Movie Self (archive footage)
-
1983
A Letter to Freddy Buache
Movie In Memory Of
-
1950
The Titan: Story of Michelangelo
Movie Producer
-
1949
Guernica
Movie Director
-
1948
Louisiana Story
Movie Director
-
1943
Why We Fight: The Battle of Russia
Movie Director of Photography
-
1943
Why We Fight: The Nazis Strike
Movie Director of Photography
-
1943
It's All True
Movie Original Story
-
1942
Why We Fight: Prelude to War
Movie Director of Photography
-
1942
The Land
Movie Narrator (voice)
-
1937
Elephant Boy
Movie Director
-
1935
A Night of Storytelling
Movie Director of Photography
-
1934
Man of Aran
Movie Director
-
1933
The English Potter
Movie Director
More credits
-
1931
Industrial Britain
Movie Director
-
1931
Tabu: A Story of the South Seas
Movie Producer
-
1928
White Shadows in the South Seas
Movie Co-Director
-
1927
Twenty-Four Dollar Island
Movie Director
-
1926
Moana
Movie Director
-
1925
The Pottery Maker
Movie Director
-
1922
Nanook of the North
Movie Director of Photography
-
1916
The Eskimo
Movie Director
