BUY TICKETS HERE
Join us at 1 p.m. Sunday, November 10, for a rare screening of Godfrey Reggio’s mesmerizing “Koyaanisqatsi” (1982), an astonishing collage that shuttles viewers from one jaw-dropping vision to the next, moving from images of untouched nature to others depicting human beings’ increasing dependence on technology.
KOYAANISQATSI | 1982 | DIRECTOR: Godfrey Reggio | MUSIC: Philip Glass | RUNNING TIME: 1H 26M | UNRATED no offensive material | PROJECTED IN 4K DCP
“From the opening moments of Koyaanisqatsi, it is clear that Reggio’s focus is something other than romance or adventure; near the beginning, we see what appears to be a rocket liftoff, followed by serene aerial shots of remarkable western sites and stop-motion imagery of cloudscapes. Having created a sense of the grandeur and dignity of the Southwest, Koyaanisqatsi then reveals industrial exploitation of the environment, shifting into highly kinetic time-lapse photography of urban scenes.
“These sequences demonstrate the remarkable degree to which the modern city-machine functions effectively—traffic zooms along New York City streets and Los Angeles highways; products get made and the day’s work gets accomplished—but ultimately, Reggio’s visual phantasmagoria suggests that the primary product of modern industrialized life is the destruction of individuality and serenity.
“At the conclusion of Koyaanisqatsi, on-screen text explains Reggio’s title (formed from elements in the Hopi language, koyaanisqatsi means, “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”), and he returns to that early shot in the film: the rocket lifts off, lofting into the sky—where it explodes, its fragments tumbling slowly to earth.” – Scott MacDonald
Tickets are $5 and available at link above. Students use code UMSTUDENT at checkout (must show Cane card at the door).
