Swiss film lab's existence threatened
Egli Film is expected to have to close its production facility in Bern by the end of 2011. The order situation in the development and production of 35mm film prints has steadily deteriorated in recent months due to the digitization of audiovisual production and distribution media. It is likely that this trend will lead to the closure of Switzerland’s last film lab in the coming years.
This threatens not only a significant reduction in jobs in the film industry, but also a loss of photochemical infrastructure and the disappearance of know-how in the preservation and restoration of Swiss films. As Egli Film writes in a press release, its order volume has fallen in recent years due to the digitization of cinemas and the use of digital production formats. The management is therefore forced to close its Bern site, probably at the end of 2011.
In January 2011, the Federal Department of Home Affairs decided to financially support the digitization of cinemas with around CHF 1 to 2 million per year. It can be assumed that with this government support, the technical revolution will gain considerable momentum in the coming months and that 35mm film prints for cinema screenings are in danger of disappearing completely, as the press release from Egli Film goes on to say.
Of the original 5 Swiss film copying plants, 3 film labs had to cease operations in the 1990s. Increasing price pressure and the high investment costs involved in maintaining a modern service operation meant that the long-established Schwarz Film had to give up operations in Bern in 2009. Egli Film subsequently took over the copying plant and has since continued to run it with a reduced workforce. Egli Film has been operating a film copying plant in Zurich for 40 years At present, around 30 specialists are still working at both sites, including around 7 people with many years of photochemical experience.
If the digitization of the film industry continues at this pace, Egli Film assumes that it will have to cease operations in the next few years, based on economic criteria. Closing the company would not only mean laying off employees, it would also mean losing know-how, particularly in the area of restoring historical archive material.
