Christopher Nolan has recently watched legendary filmmaker Satyajit Ray's Pather Panchali and the ace Hollywood director says he is willing to learn more about Indian cinema.
The 47-year-old director, who is in India on a three day trip along with visual artiste Tacita Dean to promote the cause of film preservation and restoration, said his aim during his stay is to meet Indian filmmakers and get the better understanding of cinema culture here.
"I have had the pleasure of watching Ray's Pather Panchali recently, which I hadn't seen before. I think it is one of the best films ever made. It is an extraordinary piece of work. I am interested in learning more about Indian film industry and that is the reason why I came.
"Obviously, Tacita and I want to spread our message about reframing the feature films as broadly as possible. And India being the largest film industry in the world is an essential part of that. The other reason why I wanted to come here was from selfish point of view. I wanted to meet Indian filmmakers and learn more about India. I am looking forward to watching more Indian films in future," Nolan said in a group interview.
The director filmed a pivotal sequence of his 2012 film The Dark Knight Rises in Jodhpur and he says, "I would love to come back to shoot for longer".
Nolan, who shot his latest release Dunkirk on 65mm stock and has been vocal about his fondness for film as a medium, said it is important to preserve the traditional format for future generation.
"The film culture is always developing in ways we can't predict. The importance of this discussion about films is about preserving it as an option for future filmmakers. We can't say who is going to use or who is not. But one of the things worth pointing out that films as an acquisition medium is still vastly superior to digital imaging technology. Even if you then put out a DCP (Digital Cinema Package)," he said.
The Inception helmer met members of the Indian film fraternity yesterday and discussed about the various ways of preserving and archiving film as a medium.
Nolan said, "Photochemicals films are a very important cultural medium and it needs to have a place in the future of imaging."
The director believes filmmaking is an emotional process and as he works towards preserving films, he wants people to not analyse cinema on "logical terms".
"Film is an wonderful analogy for how we perceive the world and our dreams. Film is a tool for exploring time and that has always influenced me. It is about the subconscious and the emotional reaction.
"With this conversation of reframing the future of films (we are) trying to get rid of this idea of analysing the film in purely engineering terms or logical terms. The reality is no cinema should be analysed that way. Be it casting or music, these are all emotional decision and they should be that way," he said.