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FILM SUMMARY
It begins as a slow-motion trip, a deep dark bellowing voice harking from an otherworldly hemisphere. It is as
if you are standing on the edge of a canyon, witnessing it in reality rather than through a flickering man-made
screen. As if the very things that constitute you, your flesh and blood, are melding into the warm contours of the
earth. Crash! Industry, technology, hard cold steel, harsh metallic reflections, grinding gritty human interventions
blast forth onto the screen, reminding you of the other half of the world in which you live.
The first of three in the QATSI series, KOYAANISQATSI may be wordless but it certainly isn’t silent. Director
Godfrey Reggio’s message is poignantly transmitted through composer Philip Glass’ repetitive, minimalistic
soundtrack. The marriage of a slow-motion pan with the soothing low-bowed stroke of symphonic strings
counterpoise the time-lapsed rapidity of blatant horns hitting the cold mechanics of conveyor belts, factory
floors, and stiff-soled feet on hard pavement.
Reggio wishes to leave the message for us to decipher. The imagery and music are mere guides, yet one can’t
help but step out of the realm of KOYAANISQATSI feeling as if our extension into the natural world, pushing out
past the limitations of the original order of the universe, leads to nothing more than destruction, death, and
damage. After witnessing 86 minutes of stunning imagery, the lasting sensation is slightly desperate. Have we
Westerners taken the correct fork in the road? Or have we succumbed to an irreversible imbalance?
Over 30 years after its release, KOYAANISQATSI appears both verifiably outdated and futuristically fresh. We
have° been exposed to endless hours of slow-motion and time-lapse footage, in everything from feature films
to 10-second slots on commercial television. And yet its underlying message, if we listen carefully to the silence
between the soundtrack and stare into the stillness between shot changes, is as relevant today as it ever was.
Koyaanisqatsi
Discussion Guide
Director: Godfrey Reggio
Year: 1982
Time: 86 min
You might know this director from:
Visitors (2013)
Naqoyqatsi (2002)
Powaqqatsi (1988)
Discussion Guide Koyaanisqatsi 1
FILM THEMES
A wordless, minimally musical escapade through the chaos of the
Western world, KOYAANISQATSI features the opposing forces at work
in order for us to contemplate the planet where we live.
TECHNOLOGY AS NATURE’S DARK REFLECTIONS
When nature and technology meet, the human intervention at work can
appear as a hard slap on the soft face of the natural world. Where there
is unity and fluidity in the ocean, every water molecule flowing together,
technology replicates this interconnectedness and somehow strips the
grace away. Some call this attempt innovative and entrepreneurialistic.
KOYAANISQATSI, however, portrays technological advancements
as mere shadows of the original source. We replicate the replicated,
what we have witnessed in the natural world, contorting it, somehow
misplacing our spirits along the way.
THE LOSS OF CONNECTION
Where do we fit within nature’s chaos? Or are we the chaos? We
live closer together than ever before, yet we seem to manufacture
loneliness, rushing through busy cities in a sea of solitude. We build
magnificant and tremendous structures in an effort to mirror the
nature’s sublime presense, yet many of us have rarely experienced
something truly sublime. The film reminds us of the sense of connection
and awe that nature can uniquely instill deep inside of us.
OPPOSITES, IMBALANCES
We live in a world of opposing forces, a yin-yang kaleidoscope. Creation,
destruction. Ancient, modern. Light, dark. Movement, immobility.
Color, monochrome. Natural, constructed. Through real imagery,
KOYAANISQATSI substantiates the surreal. This play of opposites is
at the heart of every living being, every riverbed and human head.
Yet somehow we have slipped out of this natural balance, trying to
overshadow the real with the manufactured, trying to take basic needs.
The film begs the question- have have we succumbed to an irreversible
imbalance?
THE LACK OF WORDS, THE PRESENCE OF MUSIC
In the absence of words, music takes the role of storytelling device,
informing the imagery, directing the viewer. Reggio chose Glass for his
surrealistic leanings, his minimalistic soundscape, his ability to paint the
airwaves with feeling. A repetitive structure mirrors the world at large,
and the steady pace of the instrumentation moves the plot along. By
doing away with dialogue and allocating half of the storytelling devices
to the soundtrack, the music affects the imagery in a powerful manner,
infusing drama in a street setting, defining a scene as soothing or not. A
triumphant mountaintop accompanied by a soft symphony. A building
toppling to a dissonant synthesizer. A chanting voice closing the film.
The human in everything.
“Koyaanisqatsi:
1. crazy life;
2. life in turmoil;
3. life out of
balance; 4. life
disintegrating;
5. a state of life
that calls for
another way
of living.”
On-screen text from film
“Could it be that
our language
is no longer
capable of
describing the
world in which
we live?”
From The Qatsi Trilogy website
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Discussion Guide Koyaanisqatsi 2
FURTHER DISCUSSIONS:
1. Which five words would you use to describe KOYAANISQATSI to
someone who hasn’t seen it?
2. Have you seen either of the other two films in The Qatsi Trilogy?
If not, would you like to?
3. How did Philip Glass’ soundtrack inform the viewing of the film?
Was the soundtrack appropriate for the imagery?
4. In what ways has the world changed since the film was released in
1982?
5. In what ways is the world the same as when the film was released?
6. Did the film leave you feeling more hopeful about or despairing of
humanity?
7. Did KOYAANISQATSI portray humanity and technology in more
of a negative or positive light? Do you agree or disagree with this
portrayal?
8. Did you miss dialog in the film? How could dialog have been included
in the film?
9. In which ways did you witness humanity mirroring the natural
environment, and in which ways did humanity oppose it?
10. What thoughts/feelings were evoked by the time-lapse imagery?
By the slow-motion imagery?
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NOTES:
Discussion Guide Koyaanisqatsi 3
FILM FACTS:
WAYS TO INFLUENCE
1. Watch the other two films in The Qatsi Trilogy: “Powaqqatsi” and “Naqoyqatsi.” All three films were produced
and directed by Godfrey Reggio, with accompanying soundtrack by Philip Glass.
2. Support the producers of The Qatsi Trilogy – the Institute for Regional Education (IRE) – a non-profit
volunteer organization devoted to providing the public with information “they would otherwise not receive.”
3. Ask questions. Consider your impact. Find other like-minded people and take actions together, large or
small, in order to support a world that you think its worth living in.
4. Make one simple effort a day to remove yourself from society’s pace and reflect on the natural environment.
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• Since its release in 1982, KOYAANISQATSI has
been nominated and won a number of awards. In
addition, Philip Glass received an award for Best
Music at the Los Angeles Film Critics Association
Awards. In 2000, the film was added to the
Library of Congress’ National Film Registry.
• Director Godfrey Reggio was born in New
Orleans to a family lineage descended from
Francesco M. de Reggio, a nobleman and
influential government official in Louisiana.
He was a Catholic monk for 14 years, during
which time he set up many forward-thinking
facilities and projects aiding the local community
in New Mexico, where he has lived since the
1950s. During his time as a monk, he saw “Los
Olvidados” by Luis Bunuel, which was a major
source of inspiration behind his filmmaking.
KOYAANISQATSI was his first feature film.
• KOYAANISQATSI is the first film in The Qatsi
Trilogy, which includes “Powaqqatsi” (life in
transformation) and “Naqoyqatsi” (life as war).
• Godfrey chose to use a Hopi Native American
word for the title as the language “had no
emotional baggage attached to it.”
• One shot of a mountain range featured in the
film is leftover footage from “The Shining.”
• Cinematographer Ron Fricke has directed 4 films.
• Composer Philip Glass was born in Maryland
to Jewish parents who had immigrated to the
United States from Lithuania. His father owned
a record store, and Glass played the flute as a
child. Studying at the Juilliard School of Music,
the keyboard became his primary instrument.
A master of minimalist music, Glass prefers
to describe himself as a composer of “music
with repetitive structures.” When composing
the music for KOYAANISQATSI, he divided the
film into 12 sections. When Reggio first heard
the music, he completely re-edited the film
according to the feel of the compositions.
• When the film’s soundtrack was released in 1983,
it was only 46 minutes long. Glass rerecorded the
album in 1998 and released it at 73 minutes long.
• Reggio and director of photography Ron Fricke
worked together on a media campaign in New
Mexico in the early 1970s. With the $40,000
remaining from the campaign, Fricke insisted
they make a film. Filming began in 1975 for
KOYAANISQATSI and continued until 1981.
Apart from stock footage of Soviet tanks and a
military aircraft, all locations featured in the film
were shot in the U.S., and include New York City,
Horseshoe Canyon (Utah), St. Louis, Chicago,
Washington, the Four Corners, and Los Angeles.
• The cave paintings at the film’s start and finish
are over 1,500 years old and are located in Utah.
Discussion Guide Koyaanisqatsi 4
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