Filmed entirely in Tahiti, TABU represented an unusual collaboration between legendary directors F.W. Murnau and Robert Flaherty. Two lovers are doomed by a tribal edict decreeing that the girl is “tabu” to all men. While the lovers’ flight from judgment and the ultimate power of the tabu are reminiscent of Murnau’s expressionist films, TABU is all open air and sunlight - the brilliant tropical light sparkles on the ocean and glistens on the beautiful young bodies of the native men and woman. Murnau’s tragic death in a car accident on March 11, 1931, just weeks before the world premiere of TABU, cut short one of film’s most brilliant careers.