Bardo: Alejandro G. Iñárritu will take a break before directing his next movie (exclusive)

Watch: Alejandro G. Iñárritu says he's taking a break from filmmaking

As his new film Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths releases on Netflix, Oscar-winning director Alejandro G. Iñárritu has revealed he doesn’t know when — or if — he’s going to make another movie.

He’s 'not in a rush at the moment' to make another film,” he explained to Yahoo UK, although he doesn’t totally rule out the possibility.

“I think it will depend. I’m not hungry now, let me put it that way. Bardo was a huge full meal, so I’m not thinking about dinner. I’m very satisfied with this experience.

'Now it’s time to get a little silence I think.”

It’s seven years since the release of his previous film, the multi-award winning The Revenant, although the gap between the two films wasn’t deliberately planned. For the first two years he worked on a virtual reality installation, which he describes as 'a beautiful project' but he admits he “appreciates the time between one film and another.

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“I think the silence between films, at least for me, is what informs and feeds and cultivates this internal, intimate life that we create. I found the reason for Bardo between one and the other, but I think I’m very slow and I’m not prolific,” he explained.

Watch a trailer for Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths

“I take my time. I like my life and I like to devote myself to certain other things which are much more important than cinema. Cinema demands so much of your life. It takes your life out of you. I appreciate my life and I want to live my life and I think the guy in Bardo has regrets, so I’ve learned from that.”

At the centre of Iñárritu’s film is journalist and filmmaker Silvario (Daniel Giménez Cacho), who reflects on his success in an attempt to reconcile himself with his past, his present and his identity as a Mexican. In co-writing the script, he drew on his own life for pivotal sequences in the story, which was also filmed in his home country of Mexico. It was the first time he’d returned in twenty years.

Iñárritu won the Best Director Oscar for The Revenant, following his Academy Awards the previous year – Best Original Screenplay and Best Director – for Birdman, which also took the Best Picture prize.

The films were preceded by a series of critical successes, including Amores Perros (2000), 21 Grams (2003), Babel (2006) and Biutiful (2010). His Best Director nomination for Babel made him the first Mexican director to be nominated in that category.

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Alongside Daniel Gimenez Cacho, Bardo’s ensemble cast includes Griselda Siciliani as his wife, and newcomers Ximena Lamadrid and Iker Sanchez Solano, who play their teenage children.

Bardo, False Chronicle of a Handful of Truths is streaming on Netflix from 16 December.