STATE OF THE ARTIST
LIFE
OUT OF
BALANCE Q&A WITH FILMMAKER GODFREY REGGIO
by Mark St. James Godfrey Reggio photographed by Graham Berry
B
orn in New Orleans, Godfrey Reggio is a legendary filmmaker whose non-narrative feature-length documentary films are nothing short of influential. Since its release in 1982, his first such effort, Koyaanisqatsi, has become recognized internationally as a classic among art films. While his films may be plainly described as time-lapse shots of landscapes set to music, they are emotionally visceral. His career-long collaboration with composer Philip Glass continues with his next film, Once Within A Time. I spoke with the seventy-year-old filmmaker at the Acme Film Productions warehouse in New Orleans.
A: floor to stand on. They are our terra firma. Craig, Adam and
Absolutely. I’m thrilled with the support team. They give us the
Dan are the basis of that. Also, the State will be going with us to the Atchafalaya Basin where I have a crew out there right now. That place has a got a voice so loud it’s like a thousand-piece choir. It’s the most beautiful place that’s under the enormous stress of disappearing because of all the shenanigans about private ownership and the resources there. This is an estuary, valuable not only to Louisiana but also for the whole Gulf. It’s a precious resource that can’t be looked at as a commodity to buy and sell.
it been like returning to your hometown of New Q: How much of the project is being filmed in New Orleans? Q: What’s Orleans to work on Once Within A Time? I came here to film a little less than a third of the film here with from New Orleans, it’s very important for me to come back A: more shooting in New York, Detroit, Vegas, the West Coast, and A: Being here and film. I grew up here as a child, my family’s been here perhaps in Japan. But what happened to me in New Orleans blew my forever. This city has made an indelible impression on me, from living near Oak Street, going to Mater Dolorosa, being in that neighborhood all those young years. While I live in New Mexico, I’m still a part of this place. I’m not in New Orleans but New Orleans is in me. I feel very fortunate to be able to come back and film here. And I guess I’m blown away by the enthusiasm of the crew I have here. Daniel Rector, for example, the chief grip. I’ve worked with grips all over the world in my limited experience and Danny is about the best person I’ve ever run into. He’s got an “internal time” clock. We do a lot of slow moves, like today we did forty-three of these moves. I would say at least half of those, without a clock, Danny gets within three seconds [of the target] time. So that’s amazing to me. And the spirit of the crew: I work with Craig Aspen, who’s my line producer. He took this on as a big challenge and he’s been walking on water with the crew and with me. He’s got a terrific capacity to organize and he’s produced what I wanted so I’m very pleased. And then Adam Brazy with Acme Film Productions is our transportation guy and it’s like a family being with them. especially important for the reputation of the Louisiana Q: It’s film industry when a director like you chooses to work here on a serious artistic project.
18 | January/February 2011
mind. I discovered my film in the flesh here in the first week of shooting. I wasn’t prepared for that. In other words I’ve gained much more than a little less than a third of the film, I’ve gained the whole form of the film. I have not only come to New Orleans to shoot a part of the film, I have come and the film has been revealed to me in the city of my birth and it’s blowing my mind. I expect to shoot, then that all happens, maybe in the edit, but it happened quickly here.
Q: Have you ever filmed anything in New Orleans before? I filmed in 1977 toward the end of the summer in Charity A: Yes. Hospital. There is a shot from that sequence in Koyaanisqatsi. this film, you gained access to the abandoned former site Q: For of Jazzland, the Six Flags Amusement Park, in New Orleans East. Tell me about your experience there.
Flags is beyond expectation. Film is fundamentally about A: Sixan illusion, how in two dimensions you create this illusion of
something real. Hollywood usually creates sets to fill out that illusion. Here we have something that is real, and you don’t have to have