Despite steady progressions in digital technology, film cameras have had a resurgence in recent years. For example, three out of five of the 2025 Academy Award-nominated movies for Best Cinematography were shot on film, with the winner, “The Brutalist,” being shot on 35mm film, primarily in VistaVision format. This filming style is being adopted mainly by younger, independent artists, but it is even in big blockbuster films like M. Night Shyamalan’s “Trap” and the 2024 “Twister” sequel, “Twisters.”
Sarah Sampedro, an art professor and photographer at the University of Minnesota, told Mn Artists that it is believed that this older technology is favored by younger generations as it resists the constant change of digital technology. In our modern day, technology is evolving so quickly that an expensive, good quality digital camera will be out of date in only five years or less.
However, film cameras, a technology that has been around for a century, still consistently work great, and are better for archival purposes. Digital files stored on hard drives run the risk of becoming out of date and thus unreadable several years down the line, but physical rolls of films avoid the worry of this aging technology.
Shooting on film is much more costly than shooting on digital and resources are more limited as filmmakers only have a specific amount of film to shoot on each day; however, these limitations actually transform the entire on-set experience while filming. Since it is important not to waste film, people on set tend to be much more focused and intentional, which makes the filming process faster, and the post-production process easier as there is much less footage to sort through.
People also tend to gravitate toward film as they claim it feels more tangible and human. With film, there is an actual product, a film roll, rather than an intangible digital file. Film also captures all the imperfections while filming, like dust, dirt and bugs, which adds a layer of humanity to the shot. The coloration and grain of film is also something that, while the effect can be replicated digitally to some extent, can’t really be produced by anything other than the film itself.
Personally, I was drawn to film myself for this very reason; any time I watch a movie shot on film or see pictures taken on film, I feel the humanity and imperfect beauty of them. So, as I started getting into photography, I decided I also wanted to try shooting on film. I remember my parents were shocked by this because they lived in a time where all they had were film cameras, and now with the digital advancements of cameras that make them “better,” they couldn’t understand why I would want to essentially “downgrade” my photography. But after getting my first roll developed, it cemented my love for shooting on film as the pictures did indeed have certain imperfect but warm and real qualities that I wouldn’t have been able to create with my iPhone or the top DSLR model.
While film may be more expensive and more work than shooting on digital, this time and effort is exactly what gives the final product a higher level of humanity. People resonate with film’s imperfections and it gives the medium such a distinctive beauty.
