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Christopher Nolan (b. July 30, 1970) is an Academy Award–nominated director and screenwriter born in London, England, to an English father and American mother. Nolan began making 8mm films at age seven with an array of action figures. He studied English literature at University College London and joined the college film society and began making 16mm films. Nolan's short film, Tarantella was showcased on Image Union on PBS in 1989. In 1996, another short film, Larceny made its debut at the Cambridge Film Festival.
Nolan was influenced bu Graham Swift's Waterland which inspired him to tackle parallel timelines in film. After his London flat was burglarized, he was motivated to consider life from the burglar's perspective. He built on the idea, developing a story inwhich an unemployed writer nurtures his obsession for learning about the lives of strangers by following them and breaking into their homes to study them. The story grew into the film Following (1998). Following earned acclaim and was nominated for several awards and won the Black and White award at the Slamdance film festival.
For his next project, Nolan was inspired by a story written by his brother, Jonathan Nolan. Nolan spent several years working on the film Memento a critically acclaimed film about an insurance investigator suffering memory loss due to a head injury sustained when he interrupted his wife's murder. Memento earned Jonathan and Christopher an Oscar nomination for Best Writing, screenplay. It won several awards including the Waldo Salt Screenwriting award at Sundance Film Festival.
Nolan then focused on Insomnia (2002) a remake of a Norwegian film of the same name. The film starred notable actors Al Pacino, Martin Donovan, Robin Williams and Hillary Swank. He followed up with his first genre feature, Batman Begins. He worked with David S. Goyer on the script. The film revitalized the franchise and turned away from the comic book feel of the previous films. Batman Begins was hailed by fans and critics and proved a box office smash. Nolan also worked with Goyer on the story for the sequel The Dark Knight scheduled to be released in 2008.
In 2006, Nolan worked on The Prestige. The story was written by Jonathan Nolan and based on the Christopher Priest novel. He worked again with Christian Bale and Michael Caine. Also in the cast were Hugh Jackman, Piper Perabo, Scarlett Johansson, Rebecca Hall and David Bowie.
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