FILM Ferrania says it will release a 120 version of its P30 black-and-white film later in 2020.
The news came in an announcement that the film producer was working on an alternative way to honour pledges from its original 2013 Kickstarter campaign, which had been intended to bring back production of the original Ferrania Chrome 100 colour slide film.
Despite film production returning to the old Ferrania factory, near Genoa in north-western Italy, the company has not yet been able to release the slide film.
P30, an 80-ISO black-and-white film based on a cinema film produced by Ferrania in the 1960s, was first released by FILM Ferrania in 35mm back 2017. A revised and updated version was then made available in November last year.
The P30 120 announcement, via FILM Ferrania’s original Kickstarter campaign page, read: “We are coating film right now (July 2020) that will become P30 in 120 format! This first batch of P30 120 will begin shipping in fall.
“By November, we expect to finish the installation and testing of our own 120 finishing machines and we will immediately begin making 120 rolls entirely in-house!”
FILM Ferrania also said it would begin work on colour film next year, though it did not state which emulsions it would be producing. Apart from its consumer slide films, the company was best known for its Solaris colour negative films.
The announcement also contained details of a new system to honour pledges made by the original backers, many of which are still waiting for the slide film seven years after the Kickstart campaign was successful.
The statement read: “Our Kickstarter campaign must evolve into something new that is able to honour the pledges and at the same time take into account the reality inside our factory.
“We have found a way forward that offers a reward to backers, and remains sustainable for us. This plan will take time to complete, so we have divided it into two phases.
“We must move all Backers from the Kickstarter platform to our shop database. This allows us to communicate directly with you in the future, and gives you control over your information. Once your account has been confirmed, we will contact you to make sure we have all of your Backer data correct in our system.
“Starting with Backer #1 and moving numerically through the list, we will assign a credit to your account. The credit you receive will equal the full amount of your original pledge(s). It will be usable for anything we sell in our shop and this credit will never expire.
“We will issue credits as fast as possible, based on our production capacity. We cannot say at this time how long it may take to issue all credits.”
The new FILM Ferrania production facility, which employs a number of technical staff who used to work for the original film producer, uses the old research production facility, which is a miniaturised version of a full-sized film production line.
I'm a New Zealander who has been living in London since the mid-1990s, shooting film seriously since the year 2000. Kosmo Foto was launched in 2012 and has since become a film brand, with the release of my first films Kosmo Foto Mono 35mm (2017) and Kosmo Foto Mono 120 (2019).
I’m doing everything I can to promote film photography in the 21st Century, and help it survive and thrive. If you want to write something for Kosmo Foto, please drop me a line at foto.dowling@gmail.com.
