Variety has reported that Oscilloscope Laboratories has acquired the North American rights to Once Within a Time, a film by the experimental auteur Godfrey Reggio, his first new offering in a decade.
According to the paper’s exclusive report, the film is being co-directed by Jon Kane, with original music by Philip Glass and with additional music and vocals by Sussan Deyhim. It has been described as a “bardic fairy tale about the end of the world and the beginning of a new one.” The film, adds Variety, is also “tinged with apocalyptic comedy, rapturous cinematography, unforgettable vistas, and the innocence and hopes of a new generation.”
Reggio was quoted as saying “You will be surprised how much your ear may see, it shows us a World more real than true. It doesn’t answer your question, it raises a question: Which age is this, the sunset or the dawn?
Where all are implicated in this World of Now—Once Within a Time.”
In 1982, Reggio and Glass had worked together on Koyaanisqatsi, an iconic non-narrative film initially presented by Francis Ford Coppola. Its title, derived from the Hopi language, means “life out of balance.” Reggio soon followed up with several other experimental films in the same vein, including Powaqqatsi and Naqoyqatsi, part of his Qatsi film trilogy. All of his films depicted the troubled relationship between human beings, nature, and technology.
Once Within a Time will be released in the fall of 2023, after its premiere at The Museum of Modern Art, where it will debut as part of its September 26-October 4 series “Total Cinema of Sight and Sound: Godfrey Reggio and Philip Glass.”
The sale of the rights was negotiated by Steven Soderbergh, the film’s executive producer, and Dan Berger, president of Oscilloscope Laboratories. Soderbergh, who won an Oscar for his direction of Traffic, was quoted as saying: “A film can be visionary as hell but if that vision isn’t matched by your distributor, you’re sunk. Dan and the Oscilloscope team were all over this from the jump, and their excitement and belief has us counting the days until people can see Godfrey’s latest supernova of a movie.”
Berger added that “Once Within a Time is a rare film that can accurately be referred to as unlike anything you’ve seen before. It’s a gorgeous, trippy, thought-provoking, and daring work that will wow and surprise audiences. We’re ecstatic to get to be a part of getting this unique work of art in front of people in a theatrical setting to be seen as it should—big and loud.
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