Kino Lorber Releases New Restorations of Tabu: A Story of the South Seas and Moana with Sound

Available on Blu-ray & DVD December 8, 2015

F.W. Murnau's Romantic Drama of the South Seas, Restored by Luciano Berriatúa for the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung, and Monica Flaherty's 1980 Sound Version of the Groundbreaking 1926 Documentary by Robert and Frances Flaherty, Restored by Bruce Posner and Sami van Ingen, Coming to Blu-ray and DVD December 8th Packed with Special Features.

Kino Lorber presents two films shot on location in the South Seas in the 1920s, capturing the vanishing lifestyles and traditions of the Polynesian people. While the films may seem similar to one another in content, MOANA WITH SOUND and TABU are as different as they are similar, and reflect the unique perspectives and styles of the artists who made them.

Robert J. and Frances Hubbard Flaherty lived among the people of the Samoan Islands and found the aging leaders who could help recreate for their camera the authentic ceremonies and hunting rituals of the island of Savai'i. The 1926 review of MOANA, by John Grierson, said the film "has documentary value," the first time the word "documentary" had been applied to cinema. And it perfectly encapsulates the neutral, ethnographic approach of the Flahertys. This philosophy was carried on by the Flahertys' daughter, Monica, who returned to Savai'i as an adult and, with documentary filmmaker Richard Leacock, recorded live audio to marry to the film: the natural sounds, indigenous voices, the traditional songs and drumming of the Samoan people.

Robert Flaherty collaborated with F.W. Murnau (Nosferatu, Sunrise) on the 1931 drama TABU: A STORY OF THE SOUTH SEAS, but this film was much more European in style.  In telling the story of a pair of ill-fated lovers torn apart by ancient religious customs, Murnau wrote a detailed screenplay, crafted to generate suspense and pathos, and employed a formal visual style, drawing inspiration from German fine art. Contrasting MOANA WITH SOUND's naturalistic soundtrack, TABU was released with a synchronized score by Hugo Riesenfeld, inspired by classical European composers in a style typical of Hollywood scores at the dawn of sound.

Both MOANA WITH SOUND and TABU are mastered from archival 35mm film elements and have undergone meticulous digital restoration, and will become available on Blu-ray and DVD December 8, 2015. Each film is presented with a wealth of bonus content, providing detailed histories of the making and restoration of the films. TABU is presented in a new restoration by Luciano Berriatúa for the Friedrich-Wilhelm-Murnau-Stiftung, in the original 1.19:1 aspect ratio. MOANA WITH SOUND is presented in a new digital restoration by Bruce Posner and Sami van Ingen, which combines Monica Flaherty's 1980 soundtrack with pristine 35mm elements for the first time.

This restoration of MOANA WITH SOUND opened theatrically at New York's Film Forum on November 13, and was hailed as "A film of incomparable calm and beauty...remains a document of great historical truth. A lush and lively soundtrack!" (Alan Scherstuhl, Village Voice). Daniel Eagan, in Film Journal International, said, "Flaherty's compositions, his exposures, his sense of how to define place or show action placed him at the forefront of cinematography. In Moana he found his greatest subjects."