The New Age of Epic Image-Making: How IMAX, VistaVision & 65mm Are Reshaping Global Cinema

With Varanasi, Rajamouli Positions Indian Cinema on a Global IMAX Stage for the First Time;

For decades, aspect ratio was treated like a technical footnote a simple choice between widescreen or something close to television. But today, frame shape has become one of the most powerful storytelling tools in cinema. With filmmakers across the world returning to large-format film, native IMAX capture, and VistaVision, the audience is experiencing movies not just as visuals but as physical spaces.

Rajamouli’s upcoming film Varanasi shot and presented in true IMAX 1.43:1, a first for Indian cinema arrives at the center of this global shift. The choice is not merely technological; it defines the emotional scale of the narrative. This article explores how formats like IMAX, VistaVision, 65mm and anamorphic reshape the way we feel films today.

IMAX: An Engineered Environment for Total Immersion

what the IMAX 1.43:1 format? it isn’t just a bigger screen; it is an entire visual ecosystem engineered for immersion. Everything the oversized film frame, custom large-format cameras, dual-projector or laser systems, floor-to-ceiling curved screens, seating geometry, and precision multi‑channel sound is designed to engulf the viewer’s field of vision.

The goal is simple: remove the sensation of “watching a movie” and replace it with the sensation of being inside it.

This is why true 1.43:1 IMAX carries such emotional force. The towering vertical real estate gives monumental energy to faces, crowds, temples, rituals and landscapes. It is an aspect ratio built for awe the perfect language for a film like Varanasi, where spiritual geography, human density and architectural scale are core to the storytelling.

VistaVision: The Horizontal Negative Returns

Before digital large format, VistaVision pioneers ran 35mm film horizontally, creating a much larger negative area with finer grain and greater detail. Today, this format is experiencing a major revival.

– The Brutalist used 8‑perf VistaVision to stunning effect, winning the Oscar for Best Cinematography. 

– Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another (2025) returns to VistaVision for its grand, richly textured aesthetic. 

– Yorgos Lanthimos’s Bugonia uses VistaVision not for vistas but for psychological intensity and discomfort. 

– Emerald Fennell’s Wuthering Heights blends 35mm and VistaVision for a turbulent, emotional gothic landscape.

VistaVision provides a unique blend of detail, grain, depth and intimacy a middle ground between 35mm nostalgia and 65mm spectacle.

65mm Film: The Gold Standard of Image Capture

The Two Major 65mm Formats (Updated for 2024–2025)

Large-format 65mm film now sits at the center of global prestige cinematography, and its two primary formats each offer a distinct visual language. 

A. 5-Perf 65mm (Todd-AO / Panavision System 65)

Native Aspect Ratio: 2.20:1 Recent Uses: • The Smashing Machine (2024–2025) climactic sequences shot on 65mm • Sinners(2025) selected Ultra Panavision 70 sequences (2.76:1 derived from 65mm) • The Hateful Eight (Ultra Panavision revival) still influences current LF stylists • One Battle After Another (2025, Paul Thomas Anderson) incorporates 65mm + VistaVision (Traditionally:Lawrence of Arabia, Dunkirk non-IMAX scenes)*

Look & Feel: Benefits of 65mm film cinematography are Smooth, creamy, richly detailed, with a painterly roll-off and majestic scale. 5-perf 65mm is often used for emotional grandeur rather than spectacle a format that enlarges human presence without overwhelming the frame.

B. 15-Perf 65mm (IMAX 65mm Film)

Native Aspect Ratio: 1.43:1 Recent Uses: • Oppenheimer (2023) nearly half the film shot in IMAX 65mm • Sinners (2025) supernatural/vampire sequences in full-height IMAX 1.43 • The Odyssey (2026, Christopher Nolan) first film shot entirely on IMAX 65mm • Interstellar, Tenet foundational modern IMAX work

Look & Feel: Explosive clarity Zero visible grain Epic verticality Unmatched depth, presence, and tactile realism

IMAX 65mm doesn’t just show a scene it places the audience inside it. It’s the closest cinema has come to a fully immersive visual language.

Why This Matters for Varanasi

Rajamouli choosing true IMAX 65mm / 1.43:1 positions Varanasi within the same global league as the most ambitious visual epics being made today. It signals a once-in-a-generation leap not just for Indian filmmaking, but for how Indian audiences will experience cinematic scale, space, and spiritual architecture on screen

Large-format film has become the defining canvas of prestige cinema. The last two years have seen a resurgence of pure 65mm capture:

– Ryan Coogler’s Sinners mixes 2.76:1 Ultra Panavision 70 with 1.43:1 IMAX 65mm, using aspect ratio changes as a narrative device the world of vampires opens up vertically into IMAX. 

– Christopher Nolan’s upcoming The Odyssey is the first feature shot entirely on IMAX 65mm film. 

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