Cast of Shadows (in the presence of Sami van Ingen)

Sami van Ingen: Cast of Shadows (FI 2025). Frances Hubbard Flaherty in Samoa during the production of Moana.

Moana (US 1925) credit: by Robert J. Flaherty and Frances Hubbard Flaherty.

SUOMI/FINLAND, 2025

OHJAUS/DIRECTOR: SAMI VAN INGEN 

KÄSIKIRJOITUS/SCREENPLAY: Sami van Ingen • KUVAUS/CINEMATOGRAPHY: Sami van Ingen • LEIKKAUS/EDITING: Sami van Ingen • LAVASTUS/PRODUCTION DESIGN: Sami van Ingen • ÄÄNI/SOUND: Sami van Ingen • MUSIIKKI/MUSIC: Sami van Ingen • TUOTANTO/PRODUCTION: Sami van Ingen • TUOTTAJAT/PRODUCERS: Sami van Ingen • ESITYSKOPIO/PRINT SOURCE: Sami van Ingen • ESITYSFORMAATTI/FORMAT: DCP • KIELI/LANGUAGE: englanti/English • TEKSTITYS/SUBTITLES: englanti/English • KESTO/DURATION: 121 min

Sodankylän Elokuvajuhlat / Midnight Sun Film Festival (MSFF) 2025

Viewed at Koulu/School, 11 June 2025

Ilpo Hirvonen (MSFF 2025): "Robert J. Flahertya pidetään dokumentaarisen elokuvan isänä, mutta hän on myös suomalaisen kokeellisen elokuvantekijän Sami van Ingenin isoisoisä. Vaikka Nanook, pakkasen poika (1922) ja Moana, auringon poika (1926) muistetaan Flahertyn taidonnäytteinä, koko Flahertyn perhe osallistui luomisprosessiin. Elokuvassaan Cast of Shadows van Ingen valottaa varjoon jäänyttä joukkoa keskittymällä etenkin Robertin vaimon Frances Hubbard Flahertyn tarinaan. Kirjeiden ja päiväkirjamerkintöjen välityksellä Robertista syntyy kuva tuhlailevana nautiskelijana, jonka projektit Frances onnistui pitämään jotenkin kasassa."

"Van Ingen on perinyt Flahertyjen mittavan arkistomateriaalin. Tutkimustyön pohjalta syntyi ensin Mika Taanilan kanssa tehty Monica in the South Seas (2023), jonka rinnalle nouseva Cast of Shadows edustaa samanlaista henkilökohtaista ja tieteellistä otetta yhdistelevää essee-elokuvaa. Vaikka teoksen fokus on historiallisessa aineistossa, van Ingen tematisoi myös oman suhteensa aiheeseen ja näin koko dokumentaarisen elokuvan perinteeseen." (IH)

Ilpo Hirvonen (MSFF 2025): "Robert J. Flaherty is considered the father of documentary cinema, but he is also the great grandfather of Finnish experimental filmmaker Sami van Ingen. Although Nanook of the North (1922) and Moana (1926) are remembered as Flaherty’s films, other members of the Flaherty family took part in the creative process. In his film Cast of Shadows, van Ingen sheds light on these people left in the shadows by focusing especially on the story of Robert’s wife Frances Hubbard Flaherty. Letters and diary entries form a picture of Robert as an indulgent spender whose projects Frances was somehow able to keep together."

"Van Ingen has inherited the vast archives of the Flahertys. The research based on these archives first brought us Monica in the South Seas (2023), which is now joined by Cast of Shadows that similarly blends personal and scientific approaches. While the film’s focus is on the historical material, van Ingen also thematizes his own relationship with that material and thus also the tradition of documentary cinema in general." (IH)

AA: Sami von Ingen, the inheritor and curator of the Flaherty legacy, is conducting its thorough reassessment, unflinching in major issues of authorship, colonialism and racism.

His project-in-progress started with the restoration and reconstruction of the sonorized Moana (US 1925), the authentic Samoan songs and sounds lovingly curated by Monica Flaherty. She was allowed to screen the movie (then in copyright by Paramount Pictures) in 16 mm live events only. Sami van Ingen produced the first 35 mm and DCP copies of that version and continued with Monica in the South Seas (FI 2023), the story of Monica Flaherty.

Cast of Shadows widens the net. It is a film-in-progress. Each screening is different, with changing emphases of a 10-hour material into a 2-hour presentation.

It is the unvarnished story of Robert Flaherty and a major tribute to his partner Frances Hubbart Flaherty without whom none of Robert's films would exist other than as unfinished projects, if at that. It is also the story of their three daughters, Barbara, Frances and Monica. Although Robert was an impossible and reckless father, the family always supported him. The issue of authorship needs to be specified. It would be more just to speak about "Flaherty films" than "films by Robert J. Flaherty" (see title card above).

Issues of colonialism and racism have been raised from day one, starting with Nanook and Moana, from the angle of etnofiction. The story is not simple, and it was not a matter of exploitation but more about a generous interchange. The Flaherty legacy is a wonderful subject to explore these questions of which we now know more than they did then. Also the very concept of "documentary" remains controversial. In my opinion today's critical reception doesn't diminish the value of the Flaherty films. They are as great as ever, and they electrify us in more complex ways.

Cast of Shadows helps us understand all this better.