KoyanisqatsiUSA
1983, 87min.
 Script: Ron Fricke, Michael Hoenig, Godfrey Reggio, Alton Walpole, Dir./Prod: Godfrey Reggio, Dir. of Phot.: Ron Fricke, Compos.: Philip Glass, Sound: Steve Maslow, Edit.: Ron Fricke, Alton Walpole, Exc.Prod.: Francis Ford Coppola.
A documentary. It is also a visual concert of images set to the haunting music of Phillip Glass. The film opens on ancient native American cave drawings, while the soundtrack chants "Koyaanisqatsi" which is a Hopi indian term for "life out of balance". The film uses extensive time lapse photography (which speeds images up) and slow motion photography to make comparisons between different types of physical motion. In one of the first examples, we see cloud formations moving (sped up) intercut with a montage of ocean waves (slowed down) and in such a way we are able to see the similarities of movement between these natural forces. This technique of comparison exists throughout the film, and through it we learn more about the world around us. The film progresses from purely natural environments to nature as affected by man, and finally to man's own manmade environment, devoid of nature yet still following the patterns of natural flow as depicted in the beginning of the film, yet in chaos and disarray. Through this the film conveys its key message, which is Koyaanisqatsi: life out of balance; crazy life; life in turmoil; life disintegrating; a state of life that calls for another way of living. | Reggio, Godfrey Godfrey Reggio is an inventor of a film style which creates poetic images of extraordinary emotional impact for audiences worldwide. Reggio is prominent in the film world for his QATSI trilogy, essays of visual images and sound which chronicle the destructive impact of the modern world on the environment.
Born in New Orleans in 1940 and raised in Louisiana, Reggio spent 14 years in a Roman Catholic religious order of men (the Christian Brothers) —living in community, dedicated to prayer, study, and teaching. Based in New Mexico during the 1960’s, Reggio taught school, lectured, and co-founded Young Citizens for Action, a community organization project of that aided juvenile street gangs. Following this, Reggio co-founded La Clinica de la Gente, a Santa Fe community medical center, and La Gente, a community organizing project in the Northern New Mexico's barrios. In 1972, he co-founded the Institute for Regional Education in Santa Fe, a non-profit foundation focused on media development, the arts, community organization and research.
Koyanisqatsi, Reggio's debut as a film director and producer, is the first film of the Qatsi trilogy. The title is a Hopi Indian word meaning "life out of balance." Created between 1975 and 1982, the film is an apocalyptic vision of the collision of two different worlds - urban life and technology versus the environment. The musical score was composed by Philip Glass.
Powaqqatsi, Reggio's second film, conveys a humanist philosophy about the encroachment of technology on nature and ancient cultures, and the splendor that disappears as a result. The film focuses on the modern way of life and the concept of the Global Village, entwining the distinctive textures of ancient and Third World cultures. Powaqqatsi was co-written, co-produced and directed by Reggio and composed by Philip Glass between 1985 and 1987.
In 1991 Reggio directed Anima Mundi, a film commissioned by Bvlgari, the Italian jewelry company, for the World Wide Fund for Nature which used the film for its Biological Diversity Program. Accompanied by the music of Philip Glass, the twenty-eight minute Anima Mundi is a montage of intimate images of over seventy animal species that celebrates the magnificence and variety of the world's fauna.
In 1993, Reggio was invited to develop a new school of exploration and production in the arts, technology, and mass media being founded by the Benetton company. Called Fabbrica - Future, Presente, it opened in May, 1995, in Treviso, Italy, just outside Venice. While service as the initial director of the school through 1995, Reggio co-authored the 7 minute film Evidence which provides another point of view to observe the subtle but profound effects of modern living on children.
In 2002 Naqoyqatsi, the final film of the Qatsi trilogy was released.
Currently Reggio is a frequent lecturer on philosophy, technology and film. He resides in Santa Fe, New Mexico.
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