Since its foundation in 2012, the American brand CineStill Film has become a major player in the world of analogue photography. Founded by the Wright brothers in Los Angeles, the company’s mission is to fuel the ‘analogue renaissance’ by making cinema film material accessible for use in conventional cameras.
The special thing about CineStill films is a process they have developed in which the so-called ‘remjet’ layer is removed from Kodak cinema films. This black protective layer is necessary for cinema films to prevent static charge and scratches at high speed in the film camera. Its removal allows the films to be developed in the widely used C-41 colour negative process rather than the special ECN-2 process used for motion picture films.
A striking aesthetic feature created by the removal of the remjet layer is the so-called ‘halation effect’. This is a luminous, often reddish or yellowish glow around overexposed light sources in the image, which gives the photos a unique, cinematic look.
