Naqoyqatsi: Life as war is a documentary film released in 2002; it is the third and final film of the Qatsi trilogy by Godfrey Reggio. The film focuses on society’s transition from a natural environment to a technology-based industrial environment.
In the opening chapter, the first scene is a zoom in of the Tower of Babel as portrayed in the Bible, then, shots of an abandoned building from both interior and exterior are shown, followed by a black and white series of shots. One shot is one of a strong wave, followed by a mountain with an effect behind the mountains of stars falling like comets, then a natural scene, then a black and white animation of a mountain’s framework growing is shown, after that, inverted, black and white, layered people are seen walking. Many lines come above the scene, and then the title is revealed in big, red writing.
Powaqqatsi: Life in Transformation is the 1988 sequel to the experimental 1982 documentary film Koyaanisqatsi, by Godfrey Reggio. It is the second film in the Qatsi trilogy.
Powaqqatsi is a Hopi word meaning “parasitic way of life” or “life in transition”. While Koyaanisqatsi focused on modern life in industrial countries, Powaqqatsi, which similarly has no dialogue, focuses more on the conflict in third world countries between traditional ways of life and the new ways of life introduced with industrialization.
As with Koyaanisqatsi and the third and final part of the ‘Qatsi’ trilogy, Naqoyqatsi, the film is strongly related to its soundtrack, written by Philip Glass. Here, human voices (especially children’s and mainly from South America and Africa) appear more than in Koyaanisqatsi, in harmony with the film’s message and images.
I´ve been a bit absent during the last days, and the reason was my involvement with the Kassel Documentary Film and Video Festival, which will happen Nov 13-18! Now the program is finally online ! Besides documentaries and experimental films, the program features the exhibition MONITORING, showing installative video and media art works, and a range of audiovisual performances, for which Marcus and me where part of the selection team.
Curated from about 100 submission, Dokfest presents 4 nights of experimental concerts between performative art and club culture by German and international artists. To give you a taste here’s the lineup with some links to sites and videos. Find a professionals accreditation form here
I love this video! It harkens to a simpler time when code could only be widely distributed via magazine. Watching this, you can smell the punched, tear-away paper ribbons in the trashcan.
