In the later part of 2024, the Phoblographer received a tip about Kodak film that we sat on for a while and are releasing today. We worked to follow up with our source, but they went silent on emails. The source is one that we’ve used many times in the past and has always provided reliable information to us about the film world. Kodak film is getting more expensive yet again — as has been reported on by many sources. However, there’s a story that’s not being told. So today, we’re sharing a statement from one of our sources while also protecting their identity.
The following quote is a message from a source sent to the Phoblographer in the latter part of 2024. I purposely did not publish this because I was working to find a way to turn this into a larger story. Additionally, I was in the middle of eye surgery recovery.
This quote has been edited to protect their identity:
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“…Eastman Kodak is shutting down respoolers. They’re shutting down the industry from people being able to acquire motion picture film, like in a very, very hard and very fast way…a lot of respoolers in the industry that are panicking. We’ve already sustained pretty significant financial loss from some investments that we’ve made on this and everything so it’s going to be very ugly and messy story from the Kodak perspective and everything…”
For those who aren’t aware, respoolers are companies that use Kodak photographic film or movie film and repackage it for their own use. Lots of brands do it; even Fujifilm allegedly does it, too. However, this is for film made by both Eastman Kodak and Kodak Alaris. Eastman handles movie film while Alaris handles photographic film. It’s kind of a dirty secret — even though many people know about it. It’s similar to how nearly every digital camera brand uses sensors and processors made by Sony. So that could mean that without Eastman Kodak’s respooling industry, the world of film photography will potentially look a lot more sterile.
A source closer to what’s happening told us that the information published on MSN is incorrect. Allegedly, Eastman Kodak cut down on supply for respoolers because the demand was getting out of hand. Seemingly, it was done to protect their motion picture pricing for its core customers — the movie industry. If too many respoolers bought up the film, then Kodak would need to raise the price. Therefore, they wouldn’t be competitive with digital capture like Sony, RED, Arri, etc. This decision, however, didn’t come from Kodak Alaris — it came from Eastman Kodak.
“Some of these companies out in China were looking for loopholes like the student filmmaker discount program and abusing them by placing massive orders with big discounts,” a source told us.
With the price of photographic film going up in January of 2025, I’m not sure how sustainable of a choice this is for the film photography world. It ultimately means that less film will be around. The price of film and developing isn’t as low as it used to be — though we absolutely respect and value its authenticity. Film really started a major resurgence when millennials couldn’t afford digital cameras and wanted something different. Now that Gen Z is in the same position we were in, they’re reaching for vintage and retro digital cameras instead. The reason for that is because it’s in their price range.