The Navigators: Pathfinders of the Pacific
odd: label: Local Numbers
content: HSFA 2015.17.2
name: label: Collection Creator
content: Low, Sam
setName: label: See more items in
content: The Navigators: Pathfinders of the Pacific
physdesc: label: Extent
content: 2 Film reels (58 minutes, color sound; 2,088 feet, 16mm)
unitdate: label: Date
content: 1983
dataSource: label: Archival Repository
content: Human Studies Film Archives
objectType: label: Type
content: Archival materials
label: Type
content: Film reels
scopecontent: label: Scope and Contents
content: Edited film, shot on the atoll of Satawal in the Caroline Islands under the supervision of anthropologist Sam Low, explores the continuity of Polynesian navigational methods. These methods are introduced through over-dubbed interviews and subtitled footage of Mau Piailug, the last man on Satawal to be initiated in recognition of his control over navigation and magic. Mau and a crew sail a replica of a traditional Polynesian canoe from Hawaii to Tahiti without using modern tools; Mau is depicted teaching the crew ancient astral and wind navigation techniques. Other footage includes: boat handling, men building a canoe and braiding rope, a communal fishing expedition, prayer at a Christian chapel, and women preparing food including coconut and breadfruit. Substantial time is allotted to interviews with anthropologists, explanatory narration, and animation, establishing the wide historical reach of Polynesian sailors by identifying similarities in artifacts such as pottery and canoes among far-flung islands. Emphasis on navigation as dying art, both by Mau and the third-person narrative.  Cinematography by Boyd Estus, directed by Sanford Low and Boyd Estus and written and produced by Sanford Low.