Paul Thomas Anderson films returning to the big screen on 35mm

Despite rumours to the contrary, film is not dead. Many filmmakers still shoot on 35mm, but the opportunity to see films projected on celluloid are diminishing. A handful of filmmakers are still fighting the good fight, however, with the most prominent trio of celluloid nuts being Christopher Nolan, Quentin Tarantino and Paul Thomas Anderson. Dunkirk, Nolan’s most recent film, was the only major release this year to receive significant distribution on film (both 35mm and 70mm), while Tarantino took prints of his most recent feature, The Hateful Eight, on a roadshow, which included a musical overture to start the show and an intermission between acts in addition to the 70mm presentation.

Anderson has been similarly committed to celluloid. “This is the only way I know how to do it,” the filmmaker said during the release of Inherent Vice, which showed on 35mm in several locations across the UK on its 2015 release. “I want to keep it alive a little longer, not phase it out. There's room for both things.”

It’s appropriate, then, that Park Circus’s UK wide tour of some of Anderson’s best films with screen on glorious 35mm. “This is the kind of thing you dream of as a filmmaker – the continued showing of your work in its native format in places that love and cherish films,” said Anderson. “Pinch me. No, don’t"

PTA on the set of Inherent Vice

Five features from his filmography are coming back on 35mm: Boogie Nights, Magnolia, Punch-Drunk Love, There Will Be Blood, and Inherent Vice. The tour begins 4 January at Light House Dublin with the prints visiting venues including London’s Prince Charles Cinema, Picturehouse Crouch End, Tyneside Cinema, HOME Manchester, and Watershed Bristol. In Scotland, meanwhile, Anderson’s films come to Glasgow Film Theatre, who are using the tour as an opportunity to crown Anderson their latest CineMaster, and the mini PTA retropective also come to Filmhouse in Edinburgh. Both seasons act as a perfect warmup to the release of the filmmaker’s seventh feature, Phantom Thread, on 2 February.

GFT’s Paul Thomas Anderson: CineMaster runs 7 Jan-13 Feb. For full details, head to glasgowfilm.org/shows/cinemasters-paul-thomas-anderson

Filmhouse's Paul Thomas Anderson on 35mm season runs 23 Jan-6 Feb. For full details, head to filmhousecinema.com/season/paul-thomas-anderson-35mm