Kodak Film celebrates film resurgence during awards season

This year nine movies, variously captured on Kodak 35mm and 16mm filmstocks, received 29 Academy Award nominations. Nine of the 14 Motion Picture Golden Globes were also captured on Kodak celluloid, and eight movies captured on film received no fewer than 34 BAFTA nominations. The titles included La La Land (DP Linus Sandgren FSF), Fences (DP Charlotte Bruus Christensen), Hidden Figures (DP Mandy Walker ACS), Jackie (DP Stéphane Fontaine AFC), Nocturnal Animals (DP Seamus McGarvey BSC ASC), Loving (DP Adam Stone ASC), Silence (Rodrigo Prieto AMC ASC), Suicide Squad (Roman Vasyanov) and Hail, Caesar! (DP Roger Deakins CBE BSC ASC).

The resurgence of film as a capture medium has also seen film festivals, such as Sundance and Cannes, flooded with movies shot on 35mm and 16mm film. Along with winning the 2017 BAFTA for Outstanding British Film, Ken Loach’s I Daniel Blake (DP Robbie Ryan BSC ISC) also picked up the prestigious 2016 Palme d’Or at Cannes.

Steve Bellamy, president of Kodak Motion Picture and Entertainment, said, “Movies captured on film are winning nominations and awards at a disproportionately high rate. The best artists are choosing film, but it goes beyond their choices. You don’t just see film, you feel it. There is an emotive dynamic with film that makes heartfelt moments more heartfelt, joyful moments more joyful, sad moments sadder. Film benefits from the world’s greatest motion picture artists using it, but the world’s greatest motion picture artists also make better movies because they use film.”

Having garnered two Golden Globes nominations, Loving director Jeff Nichols said, “There was no way I was going to make Loving unless we were going to shoot it on 35mm film. It was a love story that needed an emotive medium like celluloid. The story just would not have worked on a 2K or a 4K video camera.”