Godfrey Reggio (b.
1940) is a
United States director of experimental
documentary films. Bborn and raised in southwest
Louisiana, he is most known for his
Qatsi trilogy, which includes the films
Koyaanisqatsi,
Powaqqatsi, and
Naqoyqatsi. Reggio spent fourteen years in training to be a monk before abandoning that path and making the films; he has since been involved in many progressive political causes in the United States, including work for the
American Civil Liberties Union.
Cinematographer[?] on most of his films is
Ron Fricke, who directed the film
Baraka.
- About the Qatsi films: "It's not that we use technology, we live technology. Technology has become as ubiquitous as the air we breathe, so we are no longer conscious of its presence. So what I decided to do in making these films is to rip out all the foreground of a traditional film--the foreground being the actors, the characterization, the plot, the story--I tried to take the background, all of that that's just supported like wallpaper, move that up into the foreground, make that the subject, ennoble it with the virtues of portraiture, and make that the presence."