Moana
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{{Infobox_Film |
name = Moana |
image = |
imdb_id = 0017162|
director = [[Robert J. Flaherty]] |
writer = [[Robert J. Flaherty]] |
starring = Fa'amgase<br>Pe'a<br>Ta'avale<br>T'ugaita |
producer = [[Robert J. Flaherty]]|
music = |
cinematography = [[Robert J. Flaherty]]|
distributor = [[Paramount Pictures]] |
released = [[January 7]], [[1926 in film|1926]] (U.S. release) |
runtime = 85 min. |
language = |
}}
'''''Moana''''' ([[1926 in film|1926]]) is a [[documentary film]], the first [[docufiction]] in the history of [[cinema]], directed by [[Robert J. Flaherty]], the creator of ''[[Nanook of the North]]'' ([[1922]]). Contemporary to [[Robert Flaherty]], the [[Portugal|Portuguese]] [[José Leitão de Barros]] is with him one of the first filmmakers to explore [[docufiction]] and [[ethnofiction]] as forms of dramatic narrative: ''[http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0021125/ Maria do Mar]'' ([[1930]]) is the second one.
Trying to get Flaherty to repeat the success of his earlier project, [[Paramount Pictures]] sent Flaherty to [[Samoa]] to capture the traditional life of the Pacific islanders on film. Flaherty arrived in Samoa in April 1923 and stayed until December 1924, with the film being completed in December 1925. Flaherty took both a regular movie camera and a [[Prizma|Prizmacolor]] camera, hoping to film some footage in that color process, but the Prizmacolor camera malfunctioned. ''Moana'' is thought to be the first feature film made with [[panchromatic]] black-and-white film, rather than [[orthochromatic]] film.
Unlike ''Nanook'', however, Flaherty was always one step behind Western influences. Finally ending up in the village of [[Safune]] on the island of [[Savai'i]], he found that the missionaries had been there before him, and the native population had already abandoned their traditional clothing for Western styles.
Furthermore, the island was a virtual paradise so that unlike ''Nanook'', he could not build on the theme of "Man against Nature" for the storyline of his film. Therefore, while the film was visually stunning, it failed at the box office, leaving Flaherty to attempt to find other locations more like the treacherous Arctic for his next film.
The word "documentary" was first applied to films of this nature in a review of this movie written by "The Moviegoer", a pen name for [[John Grierson]] in the ''[[New York Sun (historical)|New York Sun]]'' on [[8 February]] [[1926]].
<br clear="all">
{| style="margin:0 auto" align=center id=toc width=600
!style="background:#CCCCCC" align="center"|[[Robert J. Flaherty]]
|-
|-
|align="center"|
<small>
''[[Nanook of the North]]'' (1922) •
''[[Moana]]'' (1926)
''[[The Twenty-four Dollar Island]]'' (1927) •
''[[Tabu (film)|Tabu]]'' (1931)
''[[Man of Aran]]'' (1934) •
''[[Elephant Boy (film)|Elephant Boy]]'' (1937)
''[[The Land (film)|The Land]]'' (1942) •
''[[Louisiana Story]]'' (1948)
</small>
|}
{{documentary-film-stub}}
[[Category:Documentary films]]
[[Category:Films directed by Robert Flaherty]]
[[Category:1926 films]]
[[Category:Paramount films]]
[[cs:Moana]]