Trailer for the documentary Celluloid Man.
In this masterful tribute to Indian film heritage, Shivendra Singh Dungarpur artfully weaves together dazzling archival footage with new material to illuminate the contributions of film archivist and conservationist P.K. Nair. In the mid-twentieth century, many countries created national film archives; it was not until 1964, that Nair took the task upon himself and founded the National Film Archive of India. Since then, over 12,000 films have been preserved in the archive, and the quest for cinematic conservation has become Nair’s lifework. In the past 40 years, the archive has grown increasingly dilapidated, and Nair’s former office is in effect a junkyard, suggesting a climate that is apathetic to the importance of a preserving film history. Nonetheless, Nair remains obsessively passionate about his work.