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Quentin Tarantino and Christopher Nolan Rescue Kodak

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A passel of leading Hollywood directors including JJ Abrams, Christopher Nolan, Quentin Tarantino and Judd Apatow have forged an agreement that ensures that films can still be recorded and viewed on traditional silver-halide film.

In an age of digital recording. it is common knowledge that Kodak, that one of America’s greatest companies, is struggling to survive. It is also the sole remaining manufacturer of 35mm film, an industry where profits have dropped 96 percent over the last decade and where even its vanquisher, FujiFilm, exited the film business in 2013.

In spite of its preference of several major film directors and producers, the tenuous status of 35mm film has raised fears that it may longer be profitable to record onto the old analog celluloid. However, Kodak recently stated that it would continue to manufacture film after reaching a new agreement with the studios:

After extensive discussions with film-makers, leading studios and others who recognize the unique artistic and archival qualities of film, we intend to continue production,” Kodak CEO Jeff Clarke told the Hollywood Reporter. “Kodak thanks these industry leaders for their support and ingenuity in finding a way to extend the life of film.”

Much like that of analog vinyl records versus digitally produced music, purists frequently state that analog provides a richer and warmer experience. Now that has carried over into the film world where film-director Quentin Tarantino recently expressed his displeasure with digital technology in comments at the Cannes film festival:

Why would an established film-maker shoot on digital? I have no … idea at all. Digital projection is death of cinema as I know it. It’s television in public.

While a majority of movie theaters have converted their projection systems to accommodate digital media, we hope that they have not yet scuttled their tried-and-true analog systems in order to accommodate this new old-world order. Finally, anything that helps our American-treasure Kodak is OK with us.