Kodak faces financial trouble even as Gen Z drives a film resurgence

Claire Sapilewski has dozens of rolls of the camera film ready to use in her wardrobe all the time.

A photography head at American University, 21, said that he always holds his film to achieve the beauty that only the film camera can capture.

“This teaches you how to slow down, how to see things more carefully and how to choose your shots more wisely,” he said.

This is part of an ongoing trend as members of Generation Z have taken interest in film cameras. Sapilewski said that while his professors taught him the basics, he and his friends have used their film cameras to develop photographs that his iPhones cannot repeat much.

And in his college circle, the camera is the most popular brand for the film Eastman KodakA company that she calls a “domestic name”.

“Everybody uses Kodak films too much – the average film user, when they arrive for the film, are going to reach for Kodak,” Saplevsky said.

But on the other side of the lens, Kodak can sing a different tune.

133 year old photography company Stated In its second quarter Earning report On Monday that its finance “enhances enough doubts” in its ability to continue operations as a concern.

The company reported a net loss of $ 26 million to fall by 200% from a net income of $ 26 million for the second quarter of 2024. Kodak recorded a 12% decrease in gross profit with millions of people in debt obligations.

The company wrote, “Kodak is having a loan within 12 months and does not have a financing or available liquidity to meet such debt obligations, if they were due to being according to their current terms,” the company has written. , Regulator filing,

The company shares are more than 15% of the year-by-year.

Kodak has planned to abolish its retirement pension scheme and a company spokesperson told CNBC that the company aims to use the money that the company would receive from disposal to pay its loan.

The spokesperson said, “Kodak is confident that it will be able to pay a significant part of its term loan well, before it is payable, and amendment, expansion or refinance to our remaining loans and/or favorite stock obligations,”.

This is not the first time the company has faced conflicts.

In Rochester, New York, in In the late 1800sKodak rode a wave of photography with the goal of simplifying the process for consumers. But as the era of digital technology took over, the company faced growing conflicts as it was relevant as the cameras went beyond the film and the disposal.

In the 2000s, the company tried to live with a growing trend of digital cameras, but according to the Melius Research analyst Ben Ritzes, Kodak said that he was ignoring concerns about the developed macroelement at that time.

“Digital technology was not immediately ready to cut film sales – but general knowledge told us differently,” Retzes One March Note is written“At that time, the Kodak management told us that the film will come into co-existence with digital cameras and more photographs would be taken-and more will be printed by Kodak.”

Instead, Kodak filed for bankruptcy in 2012. it Re -done A year later in 2013 with four main professional components: prints, advanced materials and chemicals, motion paintings and consumers, including cameras and accessories.

In 2020, the then-General Manager Ed Hurley Told NBC News In 2015, it was made more than double the number of film roles in 2015.

And on the third quarter earnings call of last year, Kodak CEO Jim Continza said the company was experiencing such a high demand of the film that it needed to upgrade its Rochester factory.

“The sales of our film have increased,” said Containza at that time. “As we continue to look at our commitment and our customer commitment for film, still and motion picture, we continue to invest at that place and continue that development.”

As Fate trade insightThe size of the global cinema camera market is growing rapidly and is expected to reach $ 535 million by 2032. Global Wellness Institute Name “Analog Wellness”-its top trend for -2025 including pre-digital technology.

This development has been operated in large part by General Z, which has changed Old school aesthetics According to Alex Cook, editor -in -chief of Festoppers, a photography news site, what is “divorce” from hyperlism of digital photography.

“I think this is a rebellion against digital perfection, where the film feels real in such a hyper-cure Instagram and the Taketoc World, where images are filtered and infected and algorithm-protection,” Cook said.

For General Z members, who grew up in the smartphone era, Cook said that this type of photography brings “nostalgia” without any living experience, where younger people are romantic to a slow culture and breaking the immediate response loop.

The aesthetics of the film are also in the game, Cook coupled, a smartphone with unique colors and grains cannot do anything. The irony is that social media also feeds to increase the trend, he said.

According to Digital Camera World US Editor Hillary Grigonis, using film cameras and developing that film also plays in the gene z trend of digital minimalism.

As a professional photographer, Grigonis stated that she sees General Z in a sense of “disconnecting” when using the film, providing more tangible photography experience than the smartphone.

He said, “A part of the increase in film photography between General Z is likely to be the desire and yearning for that retro beauty,” he said, she was surprised at Kodak’s financial struggles, which was looking at the overall increase in demand.

For 25 -year -old Madison Stephenis, Kodak had an entry point in the camera world. A Jean Jade himself, Stephenis formed a 35 mm CO, a film camera company, aimed at especially the photography style to make the photography style easy and accessible to its generation.

Stephanis said that he had noticed that small people are bending in an emotional relationship with delay in waiting for the photo to develop, something that has become “lost in the digital age”.

Because she saw General Z viewing the revival of the film, Stephenis said she was “surprised” on Kodak’s declaration of concern.

“Jean Z is really craving something they can hold in their hands,” she said. “These days, at least for myself, most of my memories live either in my mind or in my phone, so I think there are real tangible, physical objects where we can store our keepers and those major moments seem really special for my generation.”