Godfrey Reggio (born March 29, 1940) is an American director of experimental

documentary film A documentary film or documentary is a non-fictional film, motion-picture intended to "document reality, primarily for the purposes of instruction, education or maintaining a Recorded history, historical record". Bill Nichols (film critic), Bil ...

Life

Reggio was born in New Orleans, Louisiana to an old and distinguished Louisiana family descended from Francesco M. de Reggio, an Italian nobleman who first settled in France and then in

French Louisiana The term French Louisiana refers to two distinct regions: * first, to Louisiana (New France), colonial French Louisiana, comprising the massive, middle section of North America claimed by Early Modern France, France during the 17th and 18th centu ...

around 1750. From the age of 14, Reggio spent the next fourteen years in fasting, times of silence, and prayer, training to be a friar within the

Congregation of Christian Brothers The Congregation of Christian Brothers ( la, Congregatio Fratrum Christianorum; abbreviated CFC) is a worldwide religious community within the Catholic Church, founded by Blessed Edmund Rice. Their first school was opened in Waterford, Ireland, ...

, a Roman Catholic pontifical teaching order. During his time with the order, Reggio co-founded La Clinica de la Gente, a facility that provided medical care to 12,000 community members in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and La Gente, a community-organizing project in

northern New Mexico Northern New Mexico in cultural terms usually refers to the area of heavy-Spanish settlement in the north-central part of New Mexico. However, New Mexico state government also uses the term to mean the northwest and north central, but to exclude ...

barrio ''Barrio'' () is a Spanish language, Spanish word that means "Quarter (urban subdivision), quarter" or "neighborhood". In the modern Spanish language, it is generally defined as each area of a city, usually delimited by functional (e.g. residenti ...

s. In 1963 he co-founded Young Citizens for Action, a community organization project that aided juveniles in the street gangs of Santa Fe. After he left the order, he co-founded the Institute for Regional Education in Santa Fe, a non-profit foundation focused on media development, the arts, community organization, and research, in 1972. Reggio has been involved in many progressive political causes in the United States, including work for the

American Civil Liberties Union The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is a nonprofit organization founded in 1920 "to defend and preserve the individual rights and liberties guaranteed to every person in this country by the Constitution and laws of the United States". T ...

, co-organizing a multi-media public interest campaign on the invasion of privacy and the use of technology to control behavior. Reggio resides in Santa Fe, New Mexico and focuses on films exploring the negative impacts of consumerism and fundamentalism on the world. Godfrey Reggio participated in the

Stock Exchange of Visions {{Unreferenced, date=August 2007 The Stock Exchange of Visions is a project initiated in 2006 by Fabrica, Benetton's research center. It gathers visionaries from diverse nationalities and cultures, who hail from a wide range of specialties, to prov ...

project in 2006.

Filmmaker

Reggio is most known for his '' Qatsi'' trilogy, which includes the films ''

Koyaanisqatsi ''Koyaanisqatsi'' (), also known as ''Koyaanisqatsi: Life Out of Balance'', is a 1982 American experimental non-narrative film directed and produced by Godfrey Reggio with music composed by Philip Glass and cinematography by Ron Fricke. The f ...

'' (1982), ''

Powaqqatsi ''Powaqqatsi'', also known as ''Powaqqatsi: Life in Transformation'', is a 1988 American non-narrative film directed by Godfrey Reggio and the sequel to Reggio's experimental 1982 film, ''Koyaanisqatsi''. It is the second film in the Qatsi trilo ...

'' (1988), and ''

Naqoyqatsi ''Naqoyqatsi'', also known as ''Naqoyqatsi: Life as War'', is a 2002 American non-narrative film directed by Godfrey Reggio and edited by Jon Kane, with music composed by Philip Glass. It is the third and final installment in the Qatsi trilogy. ...

'' (2002). The film titles are taken from the Hopi language: ''Koyaanisqatsi'' meaning "life out of balance," ''Powaqqatsi'' meaning "life in transformation," and ''Naqoyqatsi'' meaning "life as war". The soundtracks for all three films were composed by

Philip Glass Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up fr ...

. In 1995 Reggio directed the short feature titled ''Evidence'', another collaboration with Glass. He has also directed the documentary '' Anima Mundi'', funded by the

World Wide Fund for Nature The World Wide Fund for Nature Inc. (WWF) is an international non-governmental organization founded in 1961 that works in the field of wilderness preservation and the reduction of human impact on the environment. It was formerly named the Wor ...

to promote its diversity program. Reggio's most recent film is '' Visitors'', which premiered at the

2013 Toronto International Film Festival The 38th annual Toronto International Film Festival (TIFF) took place in Toronto, Ontario, Canada between September 5 and 15, 2013. '' The Fifth Estate'' was selected as the opening film and '' Life of Crime'' was the closing film. 75 films were ...

. Philip Glass returned as the film's composer and

Jon Kane Jon Kane is a film editor, director, and DJ based in Red Hook, Brooklyn, New York. Career Kane was the editor of ''Naqoyqatsi'', the third film in the Qatsi Trilogy directed by Godfrey Reggio and scored by Philip Glass. Kane has also done not ...

as the visual designer (having worked on ''

'' with Reggio in 2002). In 2014, Reggio was recognized by the Museum of Arts and Design in New York City with a full career retrospective titled ''Life with Technology: The Cinema of Godfrey Reggio''.

Filmography

References

External links

''Qatsi'' trilogy homepage
* *
Stock Exchange Of Visions: Visions of Godfrey Reggio

Godfrey Reggio discusses his influences

Godfrey Reggio's ''The Holy See''

The Brian Lehrer Show - A Visit with Godfrey Reggio, January 23, 2014

Godfrey Reggio: 'My Che Guevara was Pope John XXIII'
(Guardian, March 27, 2014) {{DEFAULTSORT:Reggio, Godfrey American documentary filmmakers American film directors American people of French descent American writers of Italian descent American male screenwriters American experimental filmmakers 1940 births Living people Artists from New Orleans Writers from New Orleans Screenwriters from Louisiana American film directors of Italian descent