Danish film director bagged the world's first film recorded simultaneously on all Kodak film formats

The Danish film director bagged the world's first film photographed simultaneously on all Kodak film formats. Most Danes know 70mm film from the cinema, where directors such as Christopher Nolan use the format for some of the most spectacular images in film history. The 70mm on screen is actually recorded on 65mm film - one of the world's largest and most exclusive film formats. At the opposite end of the spectrum is Super 8, the small handheld format that has captured private moments and home movies for decades. In the Danish-produced dance film "CUT" meets these extremes - and everything in between - in the same performance, where all four classic Kodak film formats are photographed side by side - for the first time ever.

Behind the project is Danish film director Jesper Tønnes, who created an unusual film experiment: a short dance film shot simultaneously in all four classic Kodak film formats – Super 8, Super 16, 35mm and 65mm. The film follows flamenco dancer Selene Muñoz, who walks into a film studio surrounded by cameras, lights and people. In the middle of the room, she has to dance through flashes, expectations and the space which try to hold her down.

• Go to "CUT" with ARRI 765. A Unique Analogue Workshop Event
• Go to Jesper Tønnes: The Formats are also part of the Storytelling

The result is not only the first Danish film production ever recorded on 65mm film, but also the first film production in the world, where all four Kodak film formats are photographed simultaneously during the same performance.

Behind the cameras is a team of Danish cinematographers: Manuel Claro ("Melancholia", "The House That Jack Built"), Camilla Hjelm ("Under sandet", "Lille soldat"), Anders Lindved ("Vindmøllernes Sus", "Intet Vover") and chief cinetographer Kristoffer Engholm Aabo, who in 2024 had the experimental film work "TELOS I" taken to both Cannes and the Venice Film Festival.

The project was realized in collaboration with a number of players from the Danish film industry, including FilmGear and Kameraudlejningen, as well as international partners such as Kodak Motion Picture Film and ARRI Rental. Kodak supplied analog raw film for the filming, while ARRI Rental made available a rare ARRIFLEX 765 camera – a camera so large and sought-after that director Jesper Tønnes and producer Jacob Jayantha themselves traveled to Munich in Germany to collect it. The filming took place over three days (August 2023) in the studio at FilmGear, where more than 60 film people participated in the production, driven by a common passion for analog film.

"I actually find that the Danish film audience is far more knowledgeable about film than the industry sometimes gives them credit for. That's why it's also a pleasure to make a film that takes the medium seriously - both as a story and as a craft. "CUT" is actually an attempt to start a dialogue: not only about film formats, but about how we make films today - and what quality of film we want in the future," says director Jesper Tønnes.

Since its completion, "CUT" has been shown at a number of international festivals, including Odense International Film Festival, San Francisco Dance Film Festival, Dance Camera West and InShadow Festival, each of which have created interest in the creative possibilities of analog film today. The film is now released online, where the public can both see the dance film itself, but also the film about the filming, and especially the side-by-side version, where all four film formats play simultaneously and make the experiment visible in real time.
 

"CUT" Facts