Koyaanisqatsi

Koyaanisqatsi is a 1982 movie. It was produced and directed by Godfrey Reggio. The music for the movie was composed by Philip Glass. The movie is a collection of shots from a wide range of places. Most of them show modern life as an unstoppable, almost mechanical sequence of events. The title of the movie, Koyaanisqatsi comes from the Hopi Indian language and means "life out of balance" or "crazy life". The movie is designed to make us question our modern way of life and to see that the way we live now is not in balance with nature. The movie shows a number of images, such as the organised demolition of the Pruit Igoe housing complex, the inside of a factory producing endless copies, the faces of strangers in crowded streets and time-lapse images of cars and other vehicles speeding along cities. The effect of the music and the movie together is very powerful. The movie is part of the Qatsi trilogy.

Koyaanisqatsi Media

• 2007 New York City Grand Central Terminal.jpg

  Grand Central Terminal in New York City is shown several times in the film.

• Koyaanisqatsi intertitle.png

  Koyaanisqatsi opening title card, designed by Paul Pascarella

• Pruitt-Igoe-collapses.jpg

  The demolition of the Pruitt–Igoe housing project in St. Louis, Missouri, was one of the early scenes filmed once production began in 1975.

• Time Lapse video of a 3 hour period in Silom Bangkok Thailand by Don Ramey Logan.webm

  Example of "time-lapse" video, which Koyaanisqatsi uses heavily

• Philip Glass 003.jpg

  Composer Philip Glass (pictured in 1993)

• Godfrey Reggio (1995) by Erling Mandelmann.jpg

  Godfrey Reggio (pictured in 1995), director of Koyaanisqatsi and the other films in the Qatsi trilogy