Powaqqatsi is a 1988 American non-narrative film directed by Godfrey Reggio and the sequel to Reggio's experimental 1982 film, Koyaanisqatsi. It is the second film in The Qatsi Trilogy, which was followed by Naqoyqatsi (2002).
Theatrical release poster
Non-narrative film is an aesthetic of cinematic film that does not narrate, or relate "an event, whether real or imaginary". It is usually a form of art film or experimental film, not made for mass entertainment.
Viking Eggeling. Drei momente des Horizontal-Vertikalorchesters. c 1921. From De Stijl, vol. 4, nr, 7 (July 1921): facing p. 112.
Four frames from "Diagonal-Symphonie"
Dziga Vertov, Man with a Movie Camera, Opening shot, 1929
Photographer and filmmaker Man Ray (pictured here in 1934) was part of the Dadaist "cinema pur" film movement, which influenced the development of art film.