Fujifilm reportedly held a color film launch event in China where it announced it would restart the production of its C200 and C400 color negative film through production partner Yes!Star.
Update 6/24: After publication, Fujifilm confirmed the C200 and C400 film varieties will be produced in and for the Chinese market. Original story below.
As reported by Kosmofoto, the Independent Photographer, a Chinese media outlet, covered the launch and detailed the news in a post on Xiaohongshu — a Chinese social media platform that is similar to Instagram.
“On 21 June Fujifilm held a color film launch conference in Nanning, Guangxi with the theme of ‘Inheriting the Classics, Reigniting the Passion.’ At the conference, Fujifilm happily announced the resumption of production of two color negative films, Fujifilm C200 and C400, to meet the growing demand for film photography,” the post reads. “They will be produced by Guangxi Giant Star Medical Equipment Co Ltd, which previously produced medical films for Fujifilm and had experience in OEM of Fujifilm’s civilian high-gloss materials. This time, the film production line was reactivated.”
Yes!Star is already a dental and medical film production partner for Fujifilm in China.
While the resumption of film production would be welcomed by analog enthusiasts, a series of photos taken from other Chinese social media was shared on the Analog community of Reddit, which to many looked as though the company was just finishing the film and not coating the emulsion itself, leading to speculation that the C200 and C400 rolls are just a repackaging of Kodak films, given that the Fujifilm 400 film that is available in the United States is believed to be rebranded Ultramax 400.
Additionally, as Kosmofoto points out, the images show the same packaging that has been used for the Kodak-made Fujicolor films in the past.
“It’s looking increasingly likely that it’s just a small scale finishing facility where they cut and package Kodak master rolls for the Chinese domestic market to circumvent the finishing bottleneck in Rochester,” Reddit user Kalang-King — who shared the images of the facility on Reddit — writes.
Fujifilm has largely focused its analog efforts on Instax production as it has proven to be hugely popular and highly lucrative for the company. According to the most recent financial statements released by Fujifilm, Instax makes up 63% of Fujifilm’s entire imaging business.
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