Go Behind the Scenes of Making a 35MM 'Anora' Print

I absolutely love movies so much. I love watching them and collecting them, and I love learning all the facts and minutiae behind them. One of the things that has fascinated me about the filmmaking process is making prints. It's shooting your movie and then taking it to get 35MM prints so it can be projected for an audience. Well, Sean Baker, writer, director, editor, and producer behind Anora, took Letterboxd behind the scenes of them making Anora into a print. It's a cool process everyone should check out. Let's dive in. How Does a Movie Become a 35MM Print? At the top of the clip, Baker is at FotoKem in Burbank to check a 35mm print of Anora. He explains that select theaters will screen the film using this print for a roadshow they're doing where the movie's print will be shown. Of course, Baker expresses his preference for audiences to experience the film in this format. To make this print, they had to take the digital negative of the movie and then create contact prints of it. These prints were developed like real film. Technicians work in a dark room to process and cut the film in complete darkness to create one big reel to show. There are also a few adjustments to make along the way. They brought daylight scenes up by one point and darker scenes, like those inside the club, increased by two points to enhance the film's pop while retaining its specific quality. After printing, the film is processed in a dark room before being sent to theaters. The film runs through different chemical levels and an elevator system allows for continuous machine operation during roll changes. For his filmmaking needs, Baker says he prefers shooting on film, particularly 35MM anamorphic when the budget allows. Of course, he's made a few great movies on digital. But even when that happens, he likes to transfer the footage to celluloid for prints or filmouts, as he did with nighttime scenes in The Florida Project. This was a really cool look at the behind-the-scenes of making one of these prints. It makes me excited for whatever Baker shoots next, especially if he gets to play with large format or even shoots in IMAX. Let me know what you think in the comments.

Mar 14, 2025 - 23:07

Go Behind the Scenes of Making a 35MM 'Anora' Print

I absolutely love movies so much. I love watching them and collecting them, and I love learning all the facts and minutiae behind them.

One of the things that has fascinated me about the filmmaking process is making prints. It's shooting your movie and then taking it to get 35MM prints so it can be projected for an audience.

Well, Sean Baker, writer, director, editor, and producer behind Anora, took Letterboxd behind the scenes of them making Anora into a print.

It's a cool process everyone should check out.

Let's dive in.

How Does a Movie Become a 35MM Print?

At the top of the clip, Baker is at FotoKem in Burbank to check a 35mm print of Anora. He explains that select theaters will screen the film using this print for a roadshow they're doing where the movie's print will be shown.

Of course, Baker expresses his preference for audiences to experience the film in this format.

To make this print, they had to take the digital negative of the movie and then create contact prints of it. These prints were developed like real film. Technicians work in a dark room to process and cut the film in complete darkness to create one big reel to show.

There are also a few adjustments to make along the way. They brought daylight scenes up by one point and darker scenes, like those inside the club, increased by two points to enhance the film's pop while retaining its specific quality.

After printing, the film is processed in a dark room before being sent to theaters. The film runs through different chemical levels and an elevator system allows for continuous machine operation during roll changes.

For his filmmaking needs, Baker says he prefers shooting on film, particularly 35MM anamorphic when the budget allows. Of course, he's made a few great movies on digital.

But even when that happens, he likes to transfer the footage to celluloid for prints or filmouts, as he did with nighttime scenes in The Florida Project.

This was a really cool look at the behind-the-scenes of making one of these prints. It makes me excited for whatever Baker shoots next, especially if he gets to play with large format or even shoots in IMAX.

Let me know what you think in the comments.