Christopher Nolan, Tacita Dean and Shivendra Singh in conversation at Yash raj films today afternoon (Express Photo/Amit Chakravarty)
“Making films is always, seemingly, about facing insurmountable odds. Anyone who tries to direct a film has to have a budget, crew and has to overcome all kinds of obstacles. I’m trying to empower filmmakers to view their choices of the medium as one more thing they have to fight for,” said filmmaker Christopher Nolan as he tried to explain why he has never compromised with shooting on celluloid film and is today spearheading the initiative to “save film”.
Speaking to the media in Mumbai on Saturday, he said, “None of these fights is easy, particularly when you are starting out. But they are all worth fighting for as we are all part of that tension and the process that filmmakers go through to tell stories that they want to tell.”
Nolan has never compromised with shooting on celluloid film. The reason, by his own admission, could be something as simple as “it would be very difficult” for him to “muster courage and go to the film sets if there were not real cameras there”.
Christopher Nolan is visiting Mumbai along with British visual artist Tacita Dean (Express Photo/Amit Chakravarty)
The director, who is visiting Mumbai along with British visual artist Tacita Dean, to promote the use of celluloid films and their preservation, said: “Film is a medium. It’s not the past. It’s a way of telling a story. You can use it for whatever you want it.”
Nolan has received wide appreciation for movies, such as Memento, The Dark Knight and Inception. Dunkirk, which has been shot on a combination of 65 mm film and Imax, was shown in a special 70 mm IMAX film screening at Carnival Cinemas, IMAX, Wadala, Saturday evening.
On Saturday morning, Nolan, Dean and Shivendra Singh Dungarpur, founder of the Film Heritage Foundation (FHF), held a roundtable with some prominent personalities of Indian cinema, exhibitors and museum directors, including Amitabh Bachchan, Kamal Haasan, Shah Rukh Khan. “We are making a case for celluloid film in the digital world. We had a very productive meeting with them…we are trying to engage the filmmakers in this discussion regarding how can we continue to enjoy celluloid infrastructure for filmmaking,” said Nolan, even as he emphasised that the issue was not film versus digital. “This is film plus digital. We are living in a landscape where we can have both,” Dean said.
“I’m somebody who chooses to shoot the movie in something which is difficult than shooting it digitally,”said Nolan, who was accompanied by his wife Emma Thomas, also his producer, and two sons on his India visit.