Let me be honest.
Every time someone says “Film is back!”, most people roll their eyes. It sounds like nostalgia. A vibe. A trend. A hipster phase that will pass. But spend enough time talking to cinematographers, lab technicians, festival programmers, and the people renting Arricams at 4AM — and you start to see the truth.
Film hasn’t returned as a memory.
Film has returned as a language.
A premium, intentional, artistic language. And the scale of this revival — across the US, Europe, Asia, and even India — is far bigger, deeper, and more meaningful than the headlines suggest. Let’s break it down.
WHAT’S BEEN HAPPENING GLOBALLY (2020–2025)
If you really want proof that cinema has entered a new celluloid era, look at the number of films shot on 35mm, 16mm, and large-format film over the past five years. These aren’t small arthouse footnotes. These are major studio films, Oscar winners, festival giants, and cultural moments.
2020
• A Quiet Place Part II
• F9: The Fast Saga (2021 release; filmed 2020–21)
• Let Him Go
• Malcolm & Marie (shot on B&W 35mm)
• Summer of 85
• The French Dispatch (released 2021)
• The Nest
• The Nowhere Inn
• Wonder Woman 1984 (35mm + 65mm)
• Zola
2021
• Bergman Island
• Censor
• Eternals
• Last Night in Soho
• Licorice Pizza
• No Time to Die (35mm + 65mm)
• Old
• Spencer
• The Velvet Underground
• West Side Story
2022
• Nope (shot primarily on 65mm + IMAX)
2023
• Killers of the Flower Moon (35mm)
• Maestro
• Oppenheimer (IMAX 65mm + 65mm)
• Poor Things
2024
• Anora (35mm)
• Challengers (35mm)
• I Saw the TV Glow
• Jugnuma: The Fable (shot entirely on 16mm)
• Nosferatu
• The Brutalist (35mm VistaVision)
• Twisters
2025
• Bugonia (35mm VistaVision)
• Die My Love (35mm Ektachrome + Vision3)
• Jurassic World Rebirth (35mm)
• One Battle After Another — Paul Thomas Anderson, VistaVision
• Sinners
• The Smashing Machine
• Wolf Man
India-Specific Films on Celluloid
• Chippa (2020) — shot on 35mm
• Vaghachipani (2025) — shot on 16mm, processed by Film Lab India, premiered at Berlinale
This list alone tells you one thing:
Film never died.
It just needed filmmakers brave enough to use it intentionally.
WHY THE WORLD IS SHOOTING ON FILM AGAIN
Studios, directors, actors — everyone has rediscovered something digital never truly mastered:
✔ Organic highlight roll-off
✔ Natural halation
✔ Gentle blooming
✔ Imperfect breathing
✔ Real grain (not simulated noise)
✔ A discipline on set that forces better performances
When you shoot film, the energy on set changes.
Actors know the camera isn’t rolling “forever.”
Every take matters.
Every frame has intention.
Digital shoots think more.
Film shoots feel more.
EUROPE — THE STRONGEST FILM REVIVAL IN THE WORLD
If Hollywood brought film back into the mainstream conversation, Europe kept it spiritually alive.
• The BFI and Film4 actively fund film-originated projects.
• Cinelab London is busier than it’s been in over a decade.
• France’s CNC continues to support 16mm and 35mm through dedicated grants.
• ARRI Munich still services 16mm, 35mm, and 65mm for top-tier cinema.
Directors like Céline Sciamma, Mia Hansen-Løve, and Jacques Audiard choose film not for nostalgia, but for philosophy. In much of Europe, cinema is still expected to feel handmade.
ASIA — THE QUIET, SERIOUS CELLULOID MOVEMENT
Asia’s film revival isn’t loud.
But it’s real — and deeply rooted.
Japan: The Heart of Asian Celluloid
Japan didn’t revive film.
Japan never let it die.
Recent examples include 16mm features premiering at Berlin and Busan, experimental works shot entirely on celluloid, and even luxury commercials publicly promoted as film-shot projects.
Japan treats film the way it treats ink in calligraphy — not obsolete, just sacred.
Southeast Asia
Hair, Paper, Water…, the 2025 Locarno winner, was shot on 16mm over three years. A modest documentary, but a massive symbolic statement.
Korea
Korea doesn’t label this a revival, but indie filmmakers still turn to 16mm for memory-driven narratives and psychological drama. Luxury advertising has also quietly returned to 35mm for texture and prestige.
China
While cinema adoption remains cautious, Fujifilm’s return to colour negative production signals a growing analogue ecosystem. When still photography strengthens, cinema usually follows.
INDIA — OUR OWN CELLULOID MOVEMENT
Small. Quiet. But real. India hasn’t returned to celluloid at an industrial level, but beneath the digital surface, a resistance exists.
• FTII Pune still processes 35mm and 16mm
• Harkat Studios’ 16mm Festival (with Kodak) provides cameras, stock, processing, and scans
• Kerala’s 16mm residencies offer hands-on analogue training for emerging filmmakers
This infrastructure matters. It keeps cinema grounded in chemistry, not just code.
JUGNUMA: THE FABLE — A MODERN INDIAN LANDMARK
One of the most important Indian examples of recent years is Jugnuma: The Fable (2024), shot entirely on 16mm. Director Raam Reddy and cinematographer Sunil Borkar chose ARRIFLEX 416 cameras and Kodak stock at a time when nearly every Indian production had fully embraced digital. The reasons were precise:
• The film is set in 1989 and required a lived-in image
• Grain and texture were emotional tools, not aesthetic decoration
• Imperfections became visual memory
“As the director said, the chemical reaction of film captures emotion better than pixels.”
This wasn’t a gimmick. It became the film’s soul — and a reminder that Indian cinema can still use celluloid as a living artistic language.
SO WHAT DOES ALL OF THIS MEAN?
It doesn’t mean cinema is going backwards. It means filmmakers are choosing their tools more deliberately.
Film is no longer the default. Film is the signature.
A format that quietly says: This moment mattered.
2025–2030 — WHAT’S COMING NEXT
• Mixed-format filmmaking will dominate high-end cinema
• Digital for control, film for emotion
• 16mm will continue thriving in indie and art cinema
• Asia and India will grow slowly — through festivals, labs, and conviction
Film’s revival isn’t loud. It doesn’t need to be. It exists wherever cinema is treated not as data — but as memory.
Read more articles by Vikas Joshi (an ace cinematographer and a regular contributor on POF, who has served as director of photography on several films).
