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Possibly the defining cinematic experience of the 2010s, Inception is Christopher Nolan’s ambitious fusion of heist thriller and science fiction, constructed across shifting layers of dreams and realised with remarkable technical precision and scale.

Dom Cobb (Leonardo DiCaprio) is a unique thief who enters the subconscious of his targets to steal information while they dream. Offered the chance to clear his criminal record, he is instead given an apparently impossible assignment: to plant an idea in a subject’s mind—an act known as “inception”. As Cobb assembles a team including Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt), Eames (Tom Hardy) and Ariadne (Elliot Page), the operation unfolds across multiple dream levels where time, gravity and perception behave unpredictably, and the boundary between reality and illusion becomes increasingly unstable. Nolan structures the film as both a meticulously engineered puzzle and a large-scale action spectacle, driven by Hans Zimmer’s powerful, insistent score and Wally Pfister’s expansive cinematography.

A major critical and commercial success on release, Inception won four Academy Awards and was widely praised for its originality and ambition and became a landmark moment in popular culture. Reviewers highlighted its ability to balance complex narrative construction with emotional clarity, alongside its groundbreaking visual effects and striking set-piece design.

While Inception was not shot with native IMAX cameras, it was meticulously reformatted for IMAX screenings to deliver an intensely immersive experience and one we are very excited to host at the festival.  

Dir. Christopher Nolan USA/UK 2010 148 mins  
Cast: Leonardo DiCaprio, Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Elliot Page, Tom Hardy, Ken Watanabe 

As part of Widescreen Weekend