Whoever said that film is dead clearly does not keep an eye on fundraising platforms. Especially when it comes to film rolls. In this article, we delved more deeply into three truly successful stories involving the production of new film stocks: Film Ferrania, Cinestill, and Silberra. Fundraising platforms were born for stuff like this: ambitious, far-reaching projects that enthusiasts can directly support and are eager for their success.
FILM Ferrania - 100 More Years of Analog Film
We all know the historical company, once partnered by 3M, which supplied one of the best film stocks to date. Ferrania has been making both still and motion picture film since 1923 in the northwest Liguria region of Italy. Ferrania made very popular 35mm and 120 consumer films, as well as inexpensive cameras, that (at least in Italy) we all remember seeing at grandma's house. Mostly, Ferrania became popular because the great masters of Italian cinema until the 1960s shot on Ferrania stock - Fellini, Antonini, De Sica, etc.
FILM Ferrania reopened doors in 2013 with the ambitious goal of saving the old factory from demolition and put the old machinery into use. Of course, they needed help for that, and they sought it in the right place. On Kickstarter and Indiegogo, FILM Ferrania managed to raise $322,420 by 5582 backers, thus achieving their goal and restarting production of new film stocks, both motion and still. Although they started off with fairly high prices, they offered great, friendly communication to their backers and turned over a new exciting leaf for their company.
Ferrania P30
After just four years and a great turnout among camera enthusiasts, FILM Ferrania recently launched FERRANIA P30®, an 80 ISO panchromatic b/w motion picture film for still photography, and reintroduces the legendary P30 film produced by Ferrania during the 1960s. With its cinema pedigree, ultrafine grain, and very high silver content, FERRANIA P30® has no peers in the modern analog film market.
CineStill - Medium & Large Format Film
After a first try on Kickstarter in 2014, where they received unsuccessful funding, in 2016 CineStill received a better turnout on Indiegogo. As you may know, since it was founded in 2012, CineStill Film has been delivering advanced cinema film technology to 35mm still photographers and is highly regarded by film photographers around the world. Of course, soon enough people have started asking for a 120 format version of their beloved film roll, and this campaign was born just on time. Like Ferrania, one of the perks of CineStill is that it brings the fine grain and quality of motion picture film to still film.
CineStill 800T
CineStill 800T is the only film made for still photographers specifically designed for capturing beautiful color images in limited incandescent "tungsten" light. This 800 speed tungsten balanced color negative film is prepared from the same gold standard motion picture technology used by top cinematographers around the world. This film is designed for difficult low light tungsten situations and may be used in many different lighting situations to achieve a variety of looks. It has a rated ISO 200-2000, but guess what: it can be pushed over 3000!
Silberra B&W Photographic Films
Silberra started an Indiegogo campaign in 2015 with a nice friendly premise: let's build a small b&w film manufacture together and we will reward you with several new films. In 2009, when the company was opened, they started as the nerdy little brothers, started producing supplies in their own lab, relying on recipes they acquired from encyclopedias, chemistry books, photographic guidebooks and similar. They have been studying chemistry, reinventing the solutions, trying to bring back the variety of the developers and auxiliary solutions from the times when analog photography flourished. They had already produced a few films before opening the fundraising campaign, which was directed at the production of Silberra IC, a new isochromatic black and white film, and Silberra PANII, a new panchromatic emulsion.
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