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Godfrey Reggio
At the time of our interview, Godfrey Reggio had made only two films
Koyaanisqatsi
(1983) and
Powaqqatsi
(1988)but he had accomplished something rare in the annals of independent cinema: he had developed a considerable popular audience for feature-length, nonnarrative film experiences. After a reasonable success in commercial theaters,
Koyaanisqatsi
has become one of the most frequently rented films on the American college circuit, an almost inevitable Earth Day presentation, and in 1990
Powaqqatsi,
though it had failed to live up to commercial expectations in 35mm release, was able to fill Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center more than once: Philip Glass and his ensemble performed the
Powaqqatsi
sound track live. Reggio's success is due to several factors. First, he has been able to exploit a form of viewer pleasure most commercial and critical cinema has ignored, and he has been able to invest this pleasure with a spirit of social concern and spiritual mission. Second, he has developed a productive working relationship with Glass, whose music energizes both Reggio films.
Koyaanisqatsi
attempts to develop a provocative contrast between the natural world, as epitomized by the American Southwest, and modern technological society, as epitomized by the contemporary American city. Though it is not structured as a day in the life of either of its primary urban subjects, New York and Los Angeles, it has much in common with the tradition in independent cinema of the "city symphony"Alberto Cavalcanti's
Rein que les heures
(1926), Walter Ruttmann's
Berlin: Symphony of a Great City
(1927), Dziga Vertov's
The Man with the Movie Camera
(1929), Arne Sucksdorff's
Symphony of a City
(1948), Francis