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Topic: Petition for 16 mm copies in the UK
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Juergen Lossau
Expert Film Handler
Posts: 159
From: Hamburg, Germany
Registered: Mar 2005
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posted February 28, 2011 11:22 AM
Soho Film Lab is the last commercial lab to print 16mm film in the UK.
It has recently been taken over by the US Company Deluxe, who have decided, as part of their worldwide policy, that 16mm is no longer a commercial priority and therefore to stop printing it with immediate effect.
Soho Film Lab, now named Deluxe Soho, has been told to take no new orders.
This is devastating news for many artists and filmmakers who continue to work with 16mm print, and to the museums, distributors and institutions fighting to preserve and raise the already fragile visibility of the most significant art form of the 20th century.
16mm continues to be an important medium for artists and filmmakers in the UK and worldwide and is frequently on show in major museums, galleries and festivals here and abroad. Works on film are also an important part of many international collections. There has also been a huge revival of interest in 16mm within the visual arts in the last 10 years by a new generation of artists and this renewed use of 16mm continues to expand significantly.
There is a constant demand for 16mm prints in Soho Film Lab. Contrary to what is imagined, 16mm print is still a small but viable market.
There is a cultural separation between art and the cinema industry that runs the labs. Cinema sees only digital as the future, but within art, both are important.
The complete disappearance of 16mm print production facilities in the UK represents a scandalous cultural loss both in the UK and abroad.
If you are interested in signing the petition, please use this link:
http://www.gopetition.com/petition/43288.html
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Robert Lewis
Film Handler
Posts: 58
From: United Kingdom
Registered: Feb 2009
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posted March 03, 2011 09:03 AM
As merely an amateur cinephotographer using 16mm (as well as Super8) I have had all my 16mm colour negative film processed by Soho and a workprint produced by them.
I have to say that everybody I came into contact with at Soho were most friendly and helpful, and the work they did for me was excellent. They surely deserve better!
It is tragic that Deluxe have managed to take over Soho, and if they cease to print 35mm also, then one can only hope that the customers they have left at the end of it all will realise that no loyalty has been shown to the customers of the former Soho Lab and will question whether there is a long term future for any business relationship with Deluxe. If they have any sense perhaps they should look around for another lab who treat their customers and employees with more consideration, for no reasons other than the lack of consideration they have shown in this regard and the possibility they will be the next victim of management decisions.
If Deluxe had shown that 16mm film printing was loss making, or, if they are contemplating ending 35mm printing too, that that side of the business is unprofitable, one might have been able to see some sense behind their decision making, but significantly they have said nothing of the kind. Neither have they stated that they are short of customers. Indeed, there seems to have been no willingness on the part of the Company to comment on the material factors which have contributed to their to their decision making, and they should not, therefore, be surprised that so many question what they are doing.
It is interesting to note that the petition now has around 4000 signatures, from many parts of the world. I hope anybody who hasn't yet signed it will do so.
Deluxe might yet come to their senses and think more about what they are doing, and I hope they do. I am not holding my breath, however.
Whether Deluxe think that they can drive all of us into the digital world, I know not. What I do know is that many of us who prefer to work with film do so in exercise of the choice we have. In my view it is questionable as to whether Deluxe will gain more customers as a result of what they are doing, or whether they will lose a significant number. I think few of the customers they have taken over from Soho who preferred to work with film will respond by "going digital" and remain customers of Deluxe.
All in all I am happy that I am not a shareholder in Deluxe!
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