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From: "Jean Rice" <>
Subject: [IGW] Robert J. FLAHERTY (1884-1951) - Father of documentary filmmaking (GRIERSON)
Date: Mon, 30 Dec 2002 20:59:01 -0800

BIO: Robert J. FLAHERTY (1884-1951) was born in MI and grew up in Canada. From an early age he showed an interest in photography, later moving to film. Known as the "father of documentary filmmaking," his first film, "Nanook of the North (1922), was shot during a 16-month stay in an Eskimo community. It earned international praise for its dramatic interpretation of the Eskimo way of life and was a major contributor to the genre of nonfiction filmmaking that emerged in the 1930s. Indeed, the term "documentary" was first coined by fellow filmmaker John GRIERSON who used it to describe Flaherty's 1926 film "Moana," about an isolated South Seas tribe. Flaherty went on to make several more documentaries in the 1930s and 1940s.

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• [IGW] Robert J. FLAHERTY (1884-1951) - Father of documentary filmmaking (GRIERSON) by "Jean Rice" <>