Memento is a movie.
The Academy Awards , now known officially as the Oscars , is a set of twenty-four awards for artistic and technical merit in the American film industry , given annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences ( AMPAS ) , to recognize excellence in cinematic achievements as assessed by the Academy 's voting membership . Memento is a 2000 American neo-noir psychological thriller film directed and written by Christopher Nolan , and produced by Suzanne and Jennifer Todd . The film 's script was based on a pitch by Jonathan Nolan , who later wrote the story `` Memento Mori '' from the concept . Memento is presented as two different sequences of scenes interspersed during the film : a series in black-and-white that is shown chronologically , and a series of color sequences shown in reverse order ( simulating for the audience the mental state of the protagonist ) . The film was subsequently ranked one of the best films of the 2000s by several critics and media outlets .