Convention - Cinemacon 2023: Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas will receive the NATO spirit of the industry award

By Mulder, 23 february 2023

The National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO) will honor Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas with the NATO Spirit of the Industry Award during this year’s CinemaCon, Mitch Neuhauser, Managing Director of CinemaCon, announced today. CinemaCon, the official convention of NATO, will be held April 24-27, 2023, at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas.  Nolan and Thomas will be presented with this special honor at the Big Screen Achievement Awards ceremony taking place on the evening of Thursday, April 27, at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace and hosted by official presenting sponsor The Coca-Cola Company. 

“I am deeply honored to present the Spirit of the Industry Award to our good friends Chris and Emma as my last official act as President of NATO,” noted NATO President and CEO John Fithian. “No one has done more to advance the theatrical experience than these two champions of cinema.”

Christopher Nolan and Emma Thomas’ films shatter the limits of what cinematic storytelling can achieve, maintaining a shared passion and commitment to the theatrical filmgoing experience that is unwavering and unparalleled. Nolan and Thomas’ films, including Tenet, Dunkirk, Interstellar, Inception and The Dark Knight trilogy, have earned more than $5 billion at the global box office and have been awarded 11 Oscars and 36 nominations, including two Best Picture nominations. 

Nolan and Thomas’ work can be seen this summer in Universal Pictures’ Oppenheimer, their first film with the studio, arriving exclusively in theaters on July 21, 2023. Written and directed by Nolan, Oppenheimer is an IMAX®-shot epic thriller that thrusts audiences into the pulse-pounding paradox of the enigmatic man who must risk destroying the world in order to save it. Oppenheimer stars Cillian Murphy as J. Robert Oppenheimer, Emily Blunt as Katherine “Kitty” Oppenheimer, Matt Damon as General Leslie Groves Jr. and Robert Downey, Jr. as Lewis Strauss. Oppenheimer also stars Florence Pugh, Benny Safdie, Michael Angarano, Josh Hartnett, Rami Malek and reunites Nolan with actor, writer and filmmaker Kenneth Branagh. Additional cast includes Dane DeHaan, Dylan Arnold, David Krumholtz, Alden Ehrenreich and Matthew Modine. 

The film is based on the Pulitzer Prize-winning book American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and the late Martin J. Sherwin. The film is produced by Emma Thomas, Atlas Entertainment’s Charles Roven and Christopher Nolan. 

Oppenheimer is filmed in a combination of IMAX 65mm and 65mm large-format film photography including, for the first time ever, sections in IMAX® black and white analogue photography. 

Christopher Edward Nolan (born 30 July 1970) is a British-American filmmaker. Known for his Hollywood blockbusters with complex storytelling, Nolan is considered a leading filmmaker of the 21st century. His films have grossed $5 billion worldwide. The recipient of many accolades, he has been nominated for five Academy Awards, five BAFTA Awards and six Golden Globe Awards. In 2015, he was listed as one of the 100 most influential people in the world by Time, and in 2019, he was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire for his contributions to film. Nolan developed an interest in filmmaking from a young age. After studying English literature at University College London, he made several short films before his feature film debut with Following (1998). Nolan gained international recognition with his second film, Memento (2000), for which he was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay. He transitioned from independent to studio filmmaking with Insomnia (2002), and found further critical and commercial success with The Dark Knight Trilogy (2005–2012), The Prestige (2006) and Inception (2010); the last of these earned Nolan two Oscar nominations—Best Picture and Best Original Screenplay. This was followed by Interstellar (2014), Dunkirk (2017) and Tenet (2020). For Dunkirk, he earned two Academy Award nominations, including his first for Best Director.

Nolan's work regularly feature in the listings of best films of their respective decades. They are typically characterised by epistemology and existentialism. Infused with a metaphysical outlook, they explore ethics, the construction of time, and the malleable nature of memory and personal identity. His work is permeated with mathematically inspired images and concepts, unconventional narrative structures, practical special effects, experimental soundscapes, large-format film photography, and materialistic perspectives. He has co-written several of his films with his brother Jonathan, and runs the production company Syncopy Inc. with his wife Emma Thomas.

CinemaCon attracts upwards of 6,000 motion picture professionals from all facets of the industry – from exhibition and distribution, to the equipment and concession areas – all on hand to celebrate the movie-going experience and the cinema industry.  CinemaCon is delighted to have both the International Cinema Technology Association (ICTA) and National Association of Concessionaires (NAC) as its tradeshow partners. CinemaCon is also thrilled to have The Coca-Cola Company – one of the industry’s most highly regarded and respected partners in the world of the movies – as its official presenting sponsor.

Filmography Christopher Nolan : Following (1998), Memento (2000), Insomnia (2002), Batman Begins (2005), The Prestige (2006), The Dark Knight (2008), Inception (2010), The Dark Knight Rises (2012), Interstellar (2014), Dunkirk (2017), Tenet (2020) and the upcoming Oppenheimer (2023)

Photo credit : Melinda Sue Gordon/Universal Pictures

(source : press release)