October Sun Films

Cinema began as a series of moving pictures, at some point coalescing into a story. Occasionally, title cards would convey information or dialogue that was seemingly necessary to the story. With the advent of sound, many filmmakers took it for granted that it was now necessary to embrace this new feature. Charlie Chaplin was a notable exception, refusing to ever let his Tramp character speak in order to hang on to the mystique.Starting in the 1980s, some documentary filmmakers decided to try their hand at conveying truth without words. The Qatsi (Hopi for “life”) trilogy, produced by Godfrey Reggio, is the most notable example. These films are not entirely silentthey feature compositions by the minimalist musician Philip Glass. But language is noticeably absent. When the first film, Koyaanisqatsi, was released in 1982, Reggio remarked that language “no long describes the world in which we live.”So what do these films depict? They feature shots of different cities, landscapes, and technological sites (like a Saturn V rocket or an automobile assembly line). Many of these shots are in slow-motion and time-lapse, slowing down the rapid pace of modern life. Reggio employed similar techniques for 1988′s Powaqqatsi and 2002′s Naqoyqatsi, although the themes shift with each on.Ron Fricke, who did the cinematography for Koyaanisqatsi, created a similar project called Baraka in 1992, and plans a sequel called Samsara for 2011. We suggest checking out one of these earlier films to see if the mysterious and subtle forms of wordless documentaries appeal to youthey can be quite unnerving at times. Still, they provide a unique alternative to “traditional” documentary filmmaking.