Koyaanisqatsi

Koyaanisqatsi
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Godfrey Reggio
Written by	Ron Fricke Michael Hoenig Godfrey Reggio Alton Walpole[a]
Produced by	Godfrey Reggio
Cinematography	Ron Fricke
Edited by	Alton Walpole Ron Fricke
Music by	Philip Glass
Production companies	Institute for Regional Education Zoetrope Studios
Distributed by	Island Alive New Cinema
Release dates	September 5, 1982 (1982-09-05) (TFF) October 4, 1982 (1982-10-04) (NYFF) April 27, 1983 (1983-04-27) (limited release)
Running time	86 minutes[2]
Country	United States
Budget	$2.5 million[1]
Box office	$3.2 million[3]

Koyaanisqatsi^[b] is a 1982 American non-narrative documentary film directed and produced by Godfrey Reggio, featuring music composed by Philip Glass and cinematography by Ron Fricke.^[5]

The film consists primarily of

It is the first film in The Qatsi Trilogy, which was followed by Powaqqatsi (1988) and Naqoyqatsi (2002).^[8] The trilogy depicts different aspects of the relationship between humans, nature and technology. Koyaanisqatsi is the best known of the trilogy and is considered a cult film.^[9][10] However, because of copyright issues, the film was out of print for most of the 1990s.^[11] In 2000, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress for being "culturally, aesthetically, or historically significant".^[12][13]

Synopsis

Koyaanisqatsi runs for 86 minutes and consists of a montage of visuals accompanied by a minimalist score, without narration or dialogue. It opens with an ancient

The following sequence begins with sunbathers on a beach next to a power plant, followed by tourists visiting another power plant. The next images show clouds reflected on the façade of a glass skyscraper, Boeing 747 aircraft taxiing at an airport, cars driving on urban freeways, and various types of military vehicles.

Destruction of large buildings is depicted, including the one at the

The next sequence features a sunset reflected in the glass of a skyscraper, before depicting people interacting with modern technology. Traffic, rush hours, technology-aided labors are depicted viscerally. The sequence begins to come full circle as the manufacture of cars in an assembly-line factory is shown. Daylight highway traffic are shown, followed by the movement of cars, shopping carts, televisions in an assembly line, and elevators. Time-lapses of various television shows being channel surfed are shown. In slow motion, several people react to being candidly filmed; the camera stays on them until the moment they look directly at it. Cars then move speedier.

Shots of

Preceding the

The following screen shows a translation of the three Hopi prophecies sung in the final segment of the film:[1]

• "If we dig precious things from the land, we will invite disaster."^[c]
• "Near the Day of Purification, there will be cobwebs spun back and forth in the sky."^[d]
• "A container of ashes might one day be thrown from the sky, which could burn the land and boil the oceans."^[e]

Production

Background

In 1972, Godfrey Reggio, of the Institute for Regional Education (IRE), was working on a media campaign in Albuquerque, New Mexico, which was sponsored by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU). The campaign involved invasions of privacy and the use of technology to control behavior. Instead of making public service announcements, which Reggio felt "had no visibility", advertising spots were purchased for television, radio, newspapers, and billboards.^[15] Over thirty billboards were used for the campaign, and one design featured a close-up of the human eye, which Reggio described as a "horrifying image",^[16] To produce the television commercials the IRE hired cinematographer Ron Fricke, who worked on the project for two years. The television advertisements aired during prime-time programming and became so popular that viewers would call the television stations to learn when the next advertisement would be aired.^[15] Godfrey described the two-year campaign as "extraordinarily successful", and as a result, Ritalin (methylphenidate) was eliminated as a behavior-modifying drug in many New Mexico school districts.^[16] But after the campaign ended, the ACLU eventually withdrew its sponsorship, and the IRE unsuccessfully attempted to raise millions of dollars at a fundraiser in Washington, D.C. The institute only had $40,000 left in its budget, and Reggio was unsure how to use the small amount of funds. Fricke insisted to Reggio that the money could be used to produce a film, which led to the production of Koyaanisqatsi.^[17]

Filming

Reggio and Fricke chose to shoot unscripted footage and edit it into an hour-long film.

The IRE was continuously receiving funding and wanted to continue the project in 1976, using 35 mm film.

Reggio and Fricke came across time-lapse footage in "some low-visibility commercial work". They felt such footage was "the language [they] were missing", and collectively decided to implement time-lapse as a major part of the film to create "an experience of acceleration". For the time-lapse footage, Fricke purchased a Mitchell camera,^[21] and built a motor with an intervalometer, which was used to precisely move the camera between frames. The system was powered by a gel cell battery that lasted for twelve hours, which enabled Fricke to shoot without the use of a generator.^[22] Most time-lapse shots were filmed at a frame rate of 1½ frames per second. Fricke wanted the footage to "look normal" and not contain any "gimmicky" special effects.^[22] The time-lapse shot overlooking the freeway in Los Angeles was filmed from the top of a building through a double exposure, with ten-second delay between frames. The first take was shot throughout the day for twelve hours, then the film was rewound and the same scene was shot at night for twenty minutes.^[22] The scene with the Boeing 747 on the runway was filmed at Los Angeles International Airport, and was the longest continuous shot in the film. Fricke and his focus puller, Robert Hill, filmed at the airport every day for two weeks.^[23] To keep the shot of the 747 within the frame, the camera was slowly moved by increasing the voltage to the gear motors.^[22]

In addition to footage shot by Fricke, some of the footage of people and traffic in New York City was shot by cinematographer

The opening for "The Grid" begins with slow sustained notes on brass instruments. The music builds in speed and dynamics throughout the piece's 21 minutes. When the piece is at its fastest, it is characterized by a synthesizer playing the piece's bass line ostinato.

Glass's music for the film is a highly recognizable example of the

An abbreviated version of the film's soundtrack was released in 1983 by Island Records. Despite the fact that the amount of music in the film was nearly as long as the film itself, this 1983 soundtrack release was only 46 minutes long, and only featured some of the film's pieces.

In 1998, Philip Glass re-recorded the film score with Nonesuch Records with a length of 73 minutes. This new recording includes new additional tracks that were cut from the film, as well as extended versions of tracks from the original album. This album was released as Koyaanisqatsi, rather than a soundtrack to the film.

In 2009, a remastered album was released under Philip Glass' own music label, Orange Mountain Music, as Koyaanisqatsi: Complete Original Soundtrack. This recording, with a length over 76 minutes, includes the original sound-effects and additional music that was used in the film.^[32]

The music has become so popular that the Philip Glass Ensemble has toured the world, playing the music for Koyaanisqatsi live in front of the movie screen.

Professional ratings

Review scores
Source	Rating
AllMusic	[33]

Meaning

Reggio stated that the Qatsi films are intended to simply create an experience and that "it is up [to] the viewer to take for himself/herself what it is that [the film] means." He also said that "these films have never been about the effect of technology, of industry on people. It's been that everyone: politics, education, things of the financial structure, the nation state structure, language, the culture, religion, all of that exists within the host of technology. So it's not the effect of, it's that everything exists within [technology]. It's not that we use technology, we live technology. Technology has become as ubiquitous as the air we breathe ..."^[6]

In the

During the end titles, the film gives Jacques Ellul, Ivan Illich, David Monongye, Guy Debord, and Leopold Kohr credit for inspiration. Moreover, amongst the consultants to the director are listed names including Jeffrey Lew, T. A. Price, Belle Carpenter, Cybelle Carpenter, Langdon Winner, and Barbara Pecarich.

Releases

Theatrical distribution

Koyaanisqatsi was first publicly screened as a workprint at the Santa Fe Film Festival on April 27, 1982.^[37] Later that year, the film premiered at the Telluride Film Festival on September 5.^[1] It was screened again at the New York Film Festival (NYFF) on October 4, which was promoted as the film's "world premiere", despite its previous screening in September.^[38] While the NYFF was based in the Lincoln Center, an exception was made to screen Koyaanisqatsi at the larger Radio City Music Hall due to the film's "spectacular visual and sound quality".^[39]

Triumph Films offered to distribute the film, but Reggio turned down the offer as he wanted to work with a smaller company so he could be more involved with the release. He chose Island Alive as the distributor, a company newly formed in 1983 by Chris Blackwell of Island Records,^[40] and Koyaanisqatsi was the company's first release. Select theaters distributed a pamphlet that defined the title and the Hopi prophecies sung in the film, as well as a copy of the soundtrack from Island Records. The first theatrical run featured four-track Dolby Stereo sound, while later runs featured monaural sound.

The film's initial limited release began in San Francisco at the Castro Theatre on April 27, 1983.^[41] The producers spent $6,500 on marketing the initial release, which grossed $46,000 throughout its one-week run, and was the highest-grossing film in the San Francisco Bay Area that week. It was released in Los Angeles a month later where it grossed $300,000 at two theaters within 15 weeks. Additional releases in select cities throughout the United States continued in September 1983, beginning with a release in New York City on September 15. In mid-October, Koyaanisqatsi was released onto 40 to 50 screens throughout the country.^[42] It was a surprise arthouse hit as well as a popular presentation at colleges and universities.^[43][44][45]

Home media

Koyaanisqatsi was originally released on VHS and laserdisc by Michael Nesmith's Pacific Arts Video.^[46][47]

The rights to Koyaanisqatsi were passed through various multinational entertainment companies, which eventually prevented a home video release. IRE enforced their legal and contractual rights by creating a federal court lawsuit. IRE distributed a privately issued release of the film on DVD. The release was available to those who made a donation of at least $180 to IRE, and was distributed in a sleeve that was signed by Reggio.^[48]

On January 13, 2012, a Blu-ray version (screen ratio 16:9) was released in Germany.[51] The Blu-ray was also released in Australia by Umbrella Entertainment on March 22, 2012.^[52] In December 2012, Criterion released a remastered DVD and Blu-ray of Koyaanisqatsi, as part of a box set containing the Qatsi Trilogy. The release features 5.1 surround sound audio and a restored digital transfer of the film in 1.85:1 aspect ratio, approved by director Godfrey Reggio.^[53]

Reception

On Rotten Tomatoes, Koyaanisqatsi has an approval rating of 91% based on 22 reviews, with an average rating of 8/10. The website's critical consensus reads "Koyaanisqatsi combines striking visuals and a brilliant score to produce a viewing experience that manages to be formally daring as well as purely entertaining."^[54] Metacritic assigned the film a weighted average score of 72 out of 100, based on 10 critics, indicating "generaly favourable reviews".^[55] In 1983, the film was entered into the 33rd Berlin International Film Festival.^[56] Czech pedagogue Rudolf Adler, in his textbook for film educators, describes Koyaanisqatsi as "formulated with absolute precision and congenial expression."^[57]: 60 It has also been described as a postmodernist film.^[58]

Koyaanisqatsi is followed by the sequels