Powaqqatsi (1988)

Director:

Godfrey Reggio

Writers:

Godfrey Reggio (writer)
Ken Richards (writer)

Release Date:

26 January 1989 (Argentina)

Genre:

Documentary | Music

Tagline:

Life in Transformation

Plot:

An exploration of technologically developing nations and the effect the transition to Western-style modernization has had on them. |

Plot Keywords:

Children | Worker | Water | Mankind | Rite

Cast

Christie Brinkley	...	(archive footage)
David Brinkley	...	(archive footage)
Pope John Paul II	...	(archive footage)
Dan Rather	...	(archive footage)
Cheryl Tiegs	...	(archive footage)

Directed by
Godfrey Reggio

Writing credits (in alphabetical order)
Godfrey Reggio		writer
Ken Richards		writer

Produced by
Shyam Benegal	....	international producer: India
Francis Ford Coppola	....	executive producer
Tom Garrett	....	co-producer
Yoram Globus	....	executive producer
Menahem Golan	....	executive producer
Marcel Kahn	....	associate producer
Mandeep Kakkar	....	international producer: India
Mel Lawrence	....	producer
George Lucas	....	executive producer
Tom Luddy	....	associate producer
Kurt Munkacsi	....	producer
Godfrey Reggio	....	producer
Lawrence Taub	....	producer

Original Music by
Philip Glass

Cinematography by
Graham Berry
Leonidas Zourdoumis

Film Editing by
Iris Cahn
Miroslav Janek
Alton Walpole

Production Management
William O'Dwyer Fogtman	....	production leader: Serra Pelada, Brazil

Sound Department
Jeff Rona	....	sound effects editor (as Jeffrey Rona)
Greg Smith	....	assistant sound recordist
Gary Summers	....	sound re-recording mixer

Camera and Electrical Department
Edward A. Gutentag	....	assistant camera
Murray Van Dyke	....	assistant camera

Editorial Department
Gay Browning	....	first assistant editor
Claire Bush	....	assistant editor

Music Department
Seymour Barab	....	musician: cello
John Moses	....	musician
Kurt Munkacsi	....	music production
Michael Riesman	....	musical director
Jeff Rona	....	musician: keyboards and synthesiser (as Jeffrey Rona)

Other crew
Philip Glass	....	script consultant
Ray Hemenez	....	research director
Juliusz Kossakowski	....	unit coordinator
William O'Dwyer Fogtman	....	unit coordinator

Production Companies

• Golan-Globus Productions
• NorthSouth
• Santa Fe Institute for Regional Education

Distributors

• Cannon Film Distributors (1988) (USA) (theatrical)
• Scotia-Cannon (1988) (West Germany) (theatrical)
• Imperial Entertainment (1990) (USA) (VHS)
• Chapel Distribution (1997) (Australia) (theatrical) (35mm print)
• 20th Century Fox Home Entertainment (2003) (Brazil) (DVD)
• MGM Home Entertainment (2003) (Germany) (DVD)
• Transmundo Films (1989) (Argentina) (theatrical)
• América Vídeo (Brazil) (VHS)
• Criterion Collection, The (2012) (USA) (DVD)
• Koch Media (2011) (Germany) (DVD)
• MGM Home Entertainment (2002) (Canada) (DVD)
• MGM Home Entertainment (2002) (USA) (DVD)
• Transmundo Home Video (THV) (1989) (Argentina) (VHS)
• Umbrella Entertainment (2010) (Australia) (DVD)

Other Companies

• Sprocket Systems  re-recording services provided by

Also Known As:

"Powwaqatsi: Life in Transformation" - USA (poster title)

Runtime:

99 min

Country:

USA

Language:

Hopi | English | Spanish

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby SR

Certification:

Sweden:Btl | USA:G | Germany:6 | Singapore:PG | Australia:G | Finland:S (2004) | UK:U | Brazil:Livre | Australia:PG (TV rating) | Argentina:Atp

Filming Locations:

Berlin, Germany

Company:

Golan-Globus Productions

Trivia:

The shot of the truck driving past the Indian boy as he walks along the road is the only staged shot in the film.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in Rasa Yatra (2012)

A film for our age

This film is, according to its director, a look at a "global culture"; a visual assessment of the response of the "third world" to the force of globalization and the pressure to modernize. He says there are both good points and bad points to be observed, and hopes to portray the creativity and industriousness with which people around the world respond to the demands of their environments.

I do not see this. I see a moving, and beautiful film, but not about this. I see the destructive effects of the ever-increasing commodification of nature, life, and labor, on people as they are forced to abandon their homes and livelihoods to nationalist projects and capital ventures. I see (to use Karl Polanyi's words) the uprooting of peoples and places, and the destructive forces of market enterprise disguised under tropes of progress and modernity.

Yes. Human beings are creative and industrious, and have dealt with these problems in unique and fascinating ways. But, rather than simply celebrating the Beauty of Human Life, in all it's glory, let this film be a call to recognize this beauty, and recognize its value as intrinsic, as part and parcel to the livelihoods of the people it is embodied within.