Photo by Abbot Genser/New Line Cinema

Director Michel Gondry on the set of "Be Kind Rewind," which hits theaters February 22

Photo by Abbot Genser/New Line Cinema

Jack Black stars in Michel Gondry’s "Be Kind Rewind."

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They’re just going to be part of the exhibition. There will be more and more videos in the video store and visitors can take them off the shelves and watch them in the gallery. Participators will give their addresses and we will send them DVDs with their films when the exhibit closes.

Are you worried the videos won’t be as good as Jack Black and Mos Def’s?

Well, I’m worried because there is not a set of rules, a minimum of protocol and organization. I’ve been working for years on the principle, before I did Be Kind Rewind, that there should be some rules; for instance, one person shouldn’t talk all the time. I have a lot of little rules like that because there will always be some people who are more charismatic than others and I don’t want them to take all the power. But, even though people’s videos are going to be full of mistakes and maybe not resemble anything, I’m pretty sure it’s going to be a fun time for people to make them.

Have you ever thought about creating an exhibit that is independent from a film?

Yeah, I had some ideas but so far Deitch has pushed me to be connected to films. Still, some pieces, like the piano in the Science of Sleep exhibition, which was the show’s most popular piece, had hardly anything to do with the movie.

Do you consider your movies more visual than narrative?

People tend to believe that of me, but I think all my videos have narrative. You always have to tell a story, even if the story is abstract. I can never extract one image from a video; you need to see it in context.

You went to art school. Did you want to be an artist growing up?

Yeah, sure. I was pretty good at drawing and I wasn’t very good at academics so it was the only way for me to go. I had the choice of majoring in tapestry, ceramics, or advertising. Tapestry seemed the most artistic one. It’s like you create a sort of painting with yarn.

Do you consider yourself an artist now?

I think so. But it’s not for me to say. It’s like, do you consider yourself a poet? It’s something very flattering for people to say to you, but if you say it yourself then it sounds very pretentious and it sounds like you’re missing the point.

Your son, Paul, who’s 16, is an artist. How do you encourage his art?

Well, he gets a lot of reward and satisfaction and I show my appreciation. I pushed him to paint, and he has his paintings all over the apartment. We’re going to make a movie together so he has a lot of stimulation. The movie [Master of Space and Time] is an animation; Daniel Clowes is writing, and I’m directing with my son.

You always incorporate technology into your films.

My spirit, my work, is very influenced by science in that I get a lot of inspiration by reading stuff about space, the birth of the universe, all the discoveries, the black hole. It’s just so counterintuitive and magical at the same time—it’s a concentration of ideas for stories.

You got your start in video with stop-motion animation. What’s the advantage of creating video effects by hand rather than computers?

I think there is a sense of reward that you can share on the spot with the rest of the crew. There’s a sort of democracy because you don’t have to have access to great technology to do it. And I think of how many times people have told me that they got inspired to do film and animation when they saw my work, and that’s very nice to hear. That’s really what I want to do in life, to get people to believe they are more creative than they are.