When I worked on the Orkly Kid — Orkly Kid was shot on 16 mm, which looks great. I mean when you project the 16 mm print, it’s a beautiful image. That’s why when I shot What is it? my initial thought of it was that I would have just a 16 mm photochemical print of the movie. There were terrible technical problems. And I — in a certain way it was beneficial in the fact that I had to wait time for the technical problems, only were able to be resolved once I was able to do a digital intermediate, and then have a 35 mm print of the film. And I of course wouldn’t be able to tour with the 16 mm print as it stands. Now it’s even getting difficult to tour with a 35 mm print, which is unfortunate, because that’s — it is a better technology. I know there’s a lot of contention about it, but this digital revolution is not — there are great things about it, there’s no question. But there are things that are not necessarily as great as well.

But What is it? started out to be a short film, and somebody donated 16 mm film. What is it? is the last film that was ever shot on Agfa, which is a beautiful film stock from Germany. It had a more pastel quality to it. And I shot — it was originally going to be a short film which was shot in four days. And I shot that Agfa film stock, and then by the time six months later is when I — no, one year later exactly is when I started shooting it as a feature. But that was shot with Kodak stock. And it does have a slightly different look, and I built that into a concept within the film where there were different realms, because I knew it would have a different look. ((Battle In Heaven))

Most people will look at the film and they wouldn’t notice it. I see the difference between the Kodak film stock and the Agfa film stock. Funny enough, right now the film I’m shooting with my father, it’s a similar situation where Fuji just went out of business, and I’m shooting it on — basically it will be, if not the last film, one of the very last films that will be shot on Fuji. It’s a beautiful film stock, but I’m shooting this on 35. It’s my first film that I’ll be shooting on 35 mm film.