Light to Starboard
1972 · 47m · Canada
Directed by Jerry Krepakevich
Genres: documentary, historical
Tones: contemplative
The history of lighthouses in Canada is traced from lights maintained by keepers to the changeover to automated equipment.
Picked by Margot
The scouts
Everyone expects the lighthouse keeper to be a romantic figure, so Krepakevich just... watches them become obsolete, and somehow that's more interesting than any nostalgia trip could ever be—the subversion lives in the refusal to mythologize.
A formally composed historical documentary that locates itself squarely in the Canadian nonfiction tradition while executing a precise structural argument: the transition from human stewardship to automation becomes a meditation on labor, technology, and what we choose to preserve in the archival record.
The entire film hinges on Krepakevich's decision to let the keepers themselves disappear into the landscape rather than center their testimony—it's a formal choice that trusts the viewer to feel the loss without being told to, and it's devastating.