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EducationalTabu (1931) (Blu-ray)
Just as the film industry was converting to sound, two of the silent era's most visionary artists fled to the South Seas to collaborate on a work of pure visual beauty untainted by Hollywood's latest technical obsession. F.W. Murnau was a supreme stylist who had crafted dreamlike fables both in Germany (Faust) and the U.S. (Sunrise). Robert J. Flaherty was a groundbreaking documentarian whose Nanook of the North and Moana defined the ethnographic film movement. Over the course of nine months, they immersed themselves in Tahitian culture. Drawing inspiration from the topography and people of the surrounding islands, they (with Murnau at the helm) fashioned an emotionally rich story of the flowering romance between a young man and woman, as the shadow of civilization begins to fall upon their island paradise.
Initially released in the U.S. by Paramount in a shortened and censored form, this restoration (produced by Luciano Berriatúa for the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung) represents Murnau's approved version, and is presented in the historically correct 1.19:1 aspect ratio."
Digitally restored from archival 35mm elements, in the original 1.15:1 aspect ratio.
"The Language of Shadows: Tabu," a 15-minute documentary by Luciano Berriat����¯�¿�½���¯���¿���½������¯������¿������½����¯�¿�½������¯����¯�¿�½������¿����¯�¿�½������½����¯�¿�½���¯���¿���½������¯������¿������½����¯�¿�½���¯���¿���½����¯�¿�½������ºa on the making and restoration of the film
"Tabu: Takes & Outtakes" 26 minutes of previously unseen sequences, assembled by Enno Patalas from unused footage, courtesy of the Osterreichisches Filmmuseum Wien and Cineteca del Commune di Bologna
"Tabu: A Work in Progress" ("Tabu: Feature zur Werkgenese" 15 minutes of raw camera footage, with narration, produced by the Deutsches Kinemathe.
"Hunt in the South Seas" ("Treibjagd in der�¼dsee"), a 1940 ethnographic short compiled from unused footage of Tabu.
- F. W. Murnau - Director
- F. W. Murnau - Writer
- Robert Flaherty - Writer
Reviews
"A masterpiece...Tabu is a symphony of sun, moon, sand and waves" - Michael Sragow, The New Yorker
Awards
Alfred Bauer Award Berlinale
Official Selection New York Film Festival
For press and publicity inquiries, please email press@kinolorber.com. A selection of press materials for this title may be available for download here.