This is topic FPC Inc. being closed down in forum Film Handlers' Forum at Film-Tech Forum ARCHIVE.


To visit this topic, use this URL:
https://ft-forum.com/ft/cgi-bin/ubb/ultimatebb.cgi?ubb=get_topic;f=1;t=011630

---

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 03-26-2014, 10:32 PM:
 
I've just heard from a reliable source (who has given me permission to pass this news on, but does not wish to be identified as the source) that FPC is to close down completely. Their facilities will continue to operate until mid-May.

Just in case anyone isn't aware, FPC is a Kodak subsidiary company which destroys used release prints and recycles the polyester, with facilities in Mountain City, TN and Milan (Italy). They offer a high level of security and elaborate anti-piracy measures at these facilities, and so most if not all of the major distributors send their end-of-life prints to them.

Presumably the studios are going to have to make alternative secure disposal arrangements for as long as any of them continue to do any 35mm releasing at all. I'm guessing that the volume of used prints needing recycling has now declined to the point at which these recycling plants are simply uneconomic to keep open.
 

---

Posted by Steve Matz (Member # 1890) on 03-26-2014, 11:10 PM:
 
One more nail in the Coffin of Eastman Kodak.Either a direct division of the company or a subsidiary closing their Doors regularly. I'm afraid this Iconic Pioneer is pretty much doomed.
Even if there are Independents still shooting on Film;it wouldn't be enough to be profitable in the Future. Kodak will be along side names like Oldsmobile,Pontiac,etc.Unless their absorbed by some company like Microsoft or other Deep Pocketed Company their just buying time
 

---

Posted by Mitchell Dvoskin (Member # 751) on 03-28-2014, 03:53 PM:
 
Isn't FPC also the division that manufactures molecular sieves for archival storage?
 

---

Posted by Joe Redifer (Member # 3) on 03-28-2014, 05:13 PM:
 
They will always be remembered for their PTR rollers. Such a wonderful invention. Screw Filmguard. PTRs were were it was at. They actually gave film that "film look" by making sure each and every frame was covered in dust and debris that people associate with film.
 

---

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 03-28-2014, 05:50 PM:
 
Somebody should come out with a "Digital Film" add-on that adds dust specks to digital images. (And then later, improved version 2.0 would add changeover cues and make it look like a splice went through every 15 minutes.)
 

---

Posted by Leo Enticknap (Member # 534) on 03-28-2014, 08:43 PM:
 
You can already get plug-ins for FCP and Adobe Premiere that simulate the "old movie" look by adding digital scratches and dirt. Ironic, isn't it - archivists use state of the art software to remove visual artefacts from the films in their care, and then TV program makers and other footage licensors then use state of the art software to put them back again!

Mitchell - good point - FPC certainly sold molecular sieves, though I'm not sure if they actually manufacture(d) them or if they're badging a product made elsewhere. A quick Google search gives the impression (though I can't find anything definitive) that they were made at Kodak Park, at least at one point. I must confess that this angle on the FPC closure hadn't occurred to me - that the supply of sieves might now be an issue. I'll ask a couple of archive contacts - watch this space.
 

---

Posted by Mike Blakesley (Member # 26) on 03-28-2014, 09:29 PM:
 

quote: Leo Enticknap

---

You can already get plug-ins for FCP and Adobe Premiere that simulate the "old movie" look by adding digital scratches and dirt.

---