FILM / VIDEO

Koyaanisqatsi
(1983 / 87 minutes)
Produced and Directed by Godfrey Reggio
Filmed by Ron Fricke and edited by Alton Walpole & Ron Fricke
Music by Philip Glass with Music director & additional music by Michael Hoenig

KOYAANISQATSI was Geoffrey Reggio’s debut as a film director and producer. KOYAANISQATSI is the first film of the Qatsi trilogy, and was released in 1983. KOYAANISQATSI was the first full-length commercial nonverbal film (since silents). KOYAANISQATSI cinematographer and editor Ron Fricke captures 90 minutes of stunning visual images of North America, set to a moving score composed by Philip Glass.

Koyaanisqatsi is a Hopi Indian word meaning ‘life out of balance.’ Created between 1975 and 1982, KOYAANISQATSI is an apocalyptic vision of two different worlds--urban life, and technology versus the environment. KOYANISQATSI is a sort of documentary. There are no actors, there is no plot and there is no script. All of the images in KOYAANISQATSI are of real life. The subject of the images varies greatly. They are presented in such a way to show the contrast between humans and nature. The images provoke a thousand thoughts.

Ron Fricke was the principal cinematographer in KOYAANISQATSI. Ron Fricke later went on to create Baraka, as well a Chronos. Many of the techniques that work so well in KOYAANISQATSI, such as slow motion, time-lapse, and moving vehicle shots, are found in many later films such as Baraka and Dogora.

Images include: Cave paintings, desert landscapes, waves, cloud formations, mines, traffic formations commercial passenger aircraft, demolition, desolate urban landscapes, rocket explosions, crashing waves, sausage factory, rush hour workers, escalators, cityscapes, integrated circuits, canyons, fields, earthmovers, dams, explosions, aircraft, slums, machinery, and people.

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