National Film Institute - Filmlab

🏆 Congratulations to Brady Corbet for winning the Silver Lion for Best Director at the Venice Film Festival for his spectacular film, The Brutalist! We’re proud to have been part of this three-and-a-half-hour epic, starring Adrien Brody and Felicity Jones. The project involved processing 87,039 meters of 35mm color film in the unique Vista Vision format, which doubles the resolution of traditional 35mm film, allowing for high-resolution 70mm copies. Our dedicated team handled the full negative processing, digitization, and special procedures like push/pull processing, ensuring that every frame met the highest standard of quality. Congratulations again to the entire team of The Brutalist for this remarkable achievement! 👏  Click the link to read the article !👇 https://lnkd.in/djbEdfRC #FilmIndustry #TheBrutalist #PostProduction #AnalogFilm #DigitalFilm #FilmProcessing #NFIFilmlab #Cinema #VeniceFilmFestival #SilverLion

We are deeply honored and proud that NFI Filmlab was invited to participate in a prestigious roundtable discussion at the Venice International Film Festival. 🎬 This event, organized by Screen International, brought together leading international experts. The discussion, which centered on the importance of film heritage preservation and the latest technical innovations, was an exceptional opportunity for us to demonstrate our expertise and strong commitment to safeguarding film heritage. We also had the privilege of sharing our professional restoration solutions with the global film community. Interested in the future of film heritage? Click the link to read the article about the roundtable discussion! 👇 https://lnkd.in/dxWYqi9R #NFI #Filmlab #VeniceFilmFestival #FilmRestoration #CulturalHeritage

New Film Processing Machines and Facility at NFI Filmlab 🎥 Despite the rise of digital technology in filmmaking, many of the world's top directors continue to favor analogue film. Steven Spielberg, Christopher Nolan, Wes Anderson, and Yorgos Lanthimos are all devoted to the magic of analogue film. NFI Filmlab, which has been serving the professional film industry for decades, holds a prominent position among labs working with analogue technology. The film processing for Yorgos Lanthimos's latest film, Poor Things, which won 4 Oscars in 2024, as well as Pablo Larraín's Maria, starring Angelina Jolie and debuting at the Venice Film Festival, was done at NFI Filmlab. Additionally, the analogue post-production for the 2024 films of renowned Hungarian directors László Nemes-Jeles and Ildikó Enyedi is also taking place in our lab. Starting in 2023, NFI Filmlab has taken a significant step toward preserving analogue technology: we have established a new, fully high-tech film processing facility and installed three new Photomec film processors. These machines are capable of processing 16 mm and 35 mm color negative, color positive, and black-and-white negative/positive film. They are more advanced, compact, and energy-efficient than their predecessors and fully comply with Kodak's technical standards, the same ones used at the Kodak Film Lab in London’s Pinewood Studios. The new film processors and the completely modernized chemical supply system ensure that NFI Filmlab continues to provide the high-quality film processing services that our clients expect, while also meeting today's sustainability and environmental standards. This investment not only meets the market needs of new film productions but is also essential for the production of popular slide films and the long-term archiving of restored films. #NFI #Filmlab #filmprocessing

Transforming Imagination into Reality at NFI Filmlabor's VFX Studio We are pleased to present our latest live-action VFX demo video, highlighting our commitment to delivering exceptional visual effects that bring stories to life with precision and clarity. Our team offers a comprehensive range of VFX services to ensure your creative vision is flawlessly executed. From on-set supervision to final compositing, visual design, and animation, we cover every aspect to make your project a visual masterpiece. 🎥 On-Set Supervision: Providing expert consultation during filming to meet VFX needs efficiently and creatively. ✨ Compositing: Seamlessly integrating multiple layers for a cohesive and stunning final image. 🌟 Visual Design: Creating visually captivating elements that enhance the cinematic experience. 🎨 Animation: Developing fluid and realistic animations to support storytelling. We invite you to watch our demo video and explore our dedication to excellence in visual effects. #VFX #Filmmaking #VisualEffects #Animation #Compositing #VisualDesign #NFI #CreativeVision

NFI Filmlab’s Participation in the Bologna Cinema Ritrovato Festival From June 22nd to 30th, the 38th Il Cinema Ritrovato festival will be held in Bologna, the most prestigious European showcase for classic films. This year, three Hungarian films have been invited to the program, two of which were restored at the NFI Filmlab: ⁃ The 1924 silent film version of The Paul Street Boys, which will be screened at the festival from an analog copy. ⁃ Miklós Jancsó’s classic The Round-Up, whose 4K digital restoration was completed at the NFI Filmlab in 2021 to mark the 100th anniversary of the director’s birth. ⁃ Additionally, Michael Curtiz's 1917 film, The Last Dawn, made by the later director of Casablanca. Two incomplete copies of the previously thought-to-be-lost film were found at the EYE Film Museum in the Netherlands and the Austrian Film Archive. The reconstruction was based on a detailed plot description from a contemporary Hungarian journal. The most complete version to date, made using both copies, underwent an extremely complex digital restoration at the NFI Filmlab in 2023. Since its inception in 1986, Il Cinema Ritrovato festival has grown into one of Europe’s most important events for classic film enthusiasts. The festival aims to showcase rare and forgotten gems of film history as well as current film restoration projects. The event is centered in Bologna’s historic downtown, where visitors can enjoy outdoor screenings and various professional programs.

Hand-Painted Past: Coloring Nitrate Films Did you know that filmmakers tried to capture the true colors of the world around us even in the early days of filmmaking, when only black-and-white films were possible? Starting from the turn of the century, before the invention of color films, black-and-white films were hand-painted or stenciled. The creators used aniline dyes synthesized from coal tar, which were both inexpensive and colorfast. The first hand-colored images were often dance, fairy tale, and trick films, which were based on 19th-century stage traditions. On stage, dancers were bathed in colored lights, and early filmmakers tried to recreate this colorful flood of light in their films. But it wasn't just films of stage performances that were colored: Georges Méliès' famous film, A Trip to the Moon, was also made using this technique. Using contemporary technology—let’s take, for example, a short, one-and-a-half-minute film made at the then-standard speed of 12 frames per second—approximately 1080 frames had to be colored, and as many times as the number of different colors they wanted to apply. Films were mostly painted by women, and creating a few-minute spectacle painted with up to twenty different colors required the work of hundreds of diligent hands. Hand coloring worked well for shorter films, the method became unsustainable as the length and complexity of films increased. As a result, Pathé Frères developed the pochoir, or stencil printing technique, which accelerated the coloring process. This coloring technique used a template made from a transparent celluloid film or a positive copy. These templates were placed on the film to be colored, and the desired colors were applied with a brush. At NFI Filmlab, we highly value early analogue techniques, which are crucial elements of our film restoration projects. In-depth knowledge of past techniques allows us to preserve and bring to new life the hidden treasures of film history.

📢 We are immensely proud to share that Viktória Traub's short artistic animated film "Shoes and Hooves" participated at the prestigious Annecy International Animation Film Festival! 🎉 The opportunity to participate and showcase our work on such a significant platform was an immense honor. The film's post-production was completed at the NFI Filmlab, where our expert team contributed to the production's success with precision and dedication. Lajos Polecsák, head of NFI Filmlab’s VFX Studio, served as compositor and editor of the film, ensuring visual quality. Congratulations to the entire team, especially to director Viktória Traub and producer Polett Dus! We are very proud to have been part of this internationally acclaimed project. 👏 #NFIFilmlabor #Animation #Film #AnnecyFestival #ShoesAndHooves #HungarianSuccess #ViktóriaTraub #VFX #Competition #ProudMoment 

Filming in Hungary 🎬 On a panel during the Festival de Cannes at the Marche du Film, film commissioner Csaba Kael, as well as producers Ildikó Kemeny, Robert Lantos and Mike Goodridge, spoke about the experiences of filming in Hungary – highlighting the role of NFI Filmlab. 📰 Read the The Hollywood Reporter article to find out the details! #NFIFilmLab #hungarianfilmlab #CannesFilmFestival #PostProduction #AnalogFilm https://lnkd.in/gS5cRqgW

Poor Things cinematographer Robbie Ryan on working with NFI Filmlab: “There are very few laboratories in the world that can process this film stock.” More about the international works of NFI Filmlab in Screen Daily 📽 👇 Festival de Cannes #NFI_Filmlab

NFI Filmlab's Animation Legacy This year marks the 110th anniversary of Hungarian animation, commemorating the debut of the first Hungarian trick film Zsírb Ödön. NFI Filmlab proudly continues its central role in producing Hungarian animated films since the 1950s, with classics such as Cat City and Son of the White Mare to its credit. For this milestone year, the NFI's digital restoration program is dedicated to animated productions, featuring the restoration of György Kovásznai's masterpiece, Bubble Bath. These film restoration projects are conducted in close collaboration with the NFI Film Archive. Beyond restoring old classics, NFI Filmlab also engages in the creative production of new works. Currently, our lab provides comprehensive solutions for all facets of animation filmmaking, including innovative effects, VFX, compositing, lighting, and complete post-production services. The final visuals for many Hungarian and international animated shorts and feature films are crafted and finalized here. Recent projects include Ruben Brandt, Collector and Shoes and Hooves, which are soon to be featured at the Annecy Festival. NFI is committed to preserving and enriching Hungary’s animated film heritage and promoting Hungarian animation globally. The video was created by the NFI Film Archive.