Film / News
Back on screen by popular demand: Bristol’s very own Koyaanisqatsi
Back in 1982, the granddaddy of those wordless, hypnotic and often scary films about how we’re destroying the planet was released. Powered by an effective Philip Glass score, Godfrey Reggio’s brilliant Koyaanisqatsi had the misfortune to open in cinemas in the wake of punk and was consequently dismissed by lip-curling style warriors. (“The title . . . is pilfered from the Hopi tongue and means ‘vacuous hippy’,” sneered Time Out.)
Like so much of the era’s posturing, this seems both idiotic and dated in a time of climate crisis. But it didn’t deter Reggio, who produced two sequels (Powaqqatsi, Naqoyqatsi) while cinematographer Ron Fricke went on to direct both Baraka and Samsara. Koyaanisqatsi has continued to exert an influence down the years on such films as Lucky People Centre International, Manufactured Landscapes and, most recently Tom Lowe’s Awaken.
But why couldn’t increasingly green Bristol have one of those? Well now we do. Four years in the making, local musician and filmmaker Simon Preston‘s Bristol’s Secret Landscape is billed as “an immersive journey from the Severn Bore to Bridgewater Bay with a glance at Paleo-channels, 10,000-year-old toddlers’ footprints cast in the mud, salmon putchers, the site of England’s only recorded tsunami, Y-shaped lave nets, Roman V shaped fish traps, a migratory bird superhighway, and great oaks brought down from the highest point of the Forest of Dean past Drake’s House to the three old stone quays at Gatcombe to build 16th century sailing ships that started the global trade – notably privateering and slavery.”
is needed now More than ever
Brean Fairground in ‘Bristol’s Secret Landscape’
“Having spent a lifetime exploring the coasts of the South West and Wales, including our local coast, I was astounded at the complexity, beauty and morphological variety of the Bristol Channel once seen from above via a 4k drone camera,” Simon tells us.
The moods of this region also inspired his accompanying musical compositions which include contributions from singers, string and wind players. There’s also some special Severn poetry by poet Jo Bell.
Burnham Pier in ‘Bristol’s Secret Landscape’
Simon’s 55 minute film had a sell-out premiere at the Cube back in November. Now it’s back on screen by popular demand on Tuesday 25 January, with an informal Q&A and full supporting programme of short films from the south west and beyond. Go here for more information and ticket details.
All images supplied by Simon Preston
Our top newsletters emailed directly to you
