Eastman Kodak has temporarily paused all film production in order to make improvements to the film production line at its factory in Rochester, New York.
The announcement came from Eastman Kodak’s CEO Jim Continenza during the Q3 2024 quarterly earnings call last week (13 November).
“Our film sales have increased on motion picture and in still film and other films. So on film, right, we’re doing a shutdown in November, total shutdown,” Continenza said. “We’ve continued to invest in our manufacturing process, while we need to shut down completely to bring light into the dark, right? Film is made in the dark.
“So in November, we will be modernising the plant, putting more investment within that, which has also caused us to use more cash in the quarter to build up inventories while we do this,” he said.
“But as we continue to see our commitment and our customer commitment to film, still in motion picture, we are going to continue to invest in that space and continue with that growth.”
Eastman Kodak, which produces both motion picture film and the stills film which is distributed by Kodak Alaris, is believed to have increased production in recent months to ensure there is enough stock during the pause.
Last year, the company said it was “committed” to producing film “as long as there is demand from the filmmakers and photographers worldwide“, according to Continenza.
In 2022, Eastman Kodak said it needed dozens of new film technicians to join the company as resurging interest in film showed no signs of dropping off.
“I was just up in Rochester, and we have a massive, large apprentice programme, four years of training and learning and dedication,” Cintinenza said in last week’s call. “And watching them graduate and come into our workforce full time and highly skilled, I’m so proud of them that made it through because it’s a… hard thing to do, right, as we continue to increase jobs.”
In 2020, Eastman Kodak said demand for film had doubled between 2015 and 2019, after a decade-long period of decline following the start of consumer digital photography.
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Nice to see a positive article about film production. It would be nice to see Fujifilm also show some public enthusiasm for film – colour film especially.
The cherry on top would be if they could somehow manage to bring prices back down a bit too.