Naqoyqatsi

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Naqoyqatsi

Naqoyqatsi DVD cover
Directed by Godfrey Reggio
Produced by Stephen Soderbergh
Godfrey Reggio et al.
Written by Godfrey Reggio
Music by Philip Glass
Cinematography Russell Lee Fine
Editing by Jon Kane
Distributed by Miramax Films
(USA)
Release date(s) October 18, 2002
Running time 89 minutes
Language English, Hopi
Preceded by Powaqqatsi
All Movie Guide profile
IMDb profile

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.

Koyaanisqatsi: Life out of balance, the first of the "Qatsi" films, was released in 1983. The second, Powaqqatsi: Life in transformation, was released in 1988. All three were scored by Philip Glass.

Screenshot from Naqoyqatsi
Screenshot from Naqoyqatsi

The name of the film is a Hopi word (written properly as naqö̀yqatsi) meaning "life as war".

In contrast to the first two parts, the majority of Naqoyqatsi was created not by filming in the real world, but by using archive footage and stock images, manipulated and processed digitally on non-linear editing workstations and intercut with specially-produced CGI. Reggio described the process as "virtual cinema."

There was some controversy over the production process after the film was released on DVD. Since most of the archive and stock footage used in the film were shot in a 4:3 aspect ratio, portions of the film were horizontally stretched to accommodate the wider aspect ratio used in the cinema and in the DVD transfer. One of the film's producers later explained in various Internet forums that the stretched image was an aesthetic decision and not a production error.[citation needed]

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