How Directors of Indie Movies Like Venice’s ‘The Brutalist’ Have Been Helped to Shoot on Film (2024)

Viktória Sovák, the new head of post-production house NFI Filmlab in Hungary, whose credits include Venice competition titles “The Brutalist” and “Maria” and upcoming films by Ildiko Enyedi, the director of Oscar nominee “On Body and Soul,” and Laszlo Nemes, the director of Oscar winner “Son of Saul,” has spoken to Variety about its work, which stretches back more than 60 years.

Sovák, who became managing director of NFI Filmlab in February, has worked at leading European film laboratories such as Laboratoires Éclair in France, L’immagine Ritrovata in Italy, and Hiventy/Transperfect in France.

“From the full analog era until the appearance of born-digital movies, I took it as my responsibility to know all workflows, machines and software,” she says. “I have solid experience in almost every area of film post-production from film processing and negative editing, through analog color grading to digitization and digital deliveries.”

Sovák has also played a part in the development of film digitization and restoration. In the past four years, she was involved in the French ECPAD’s PSNA project for the digitization and analog preservation of about 4,500 nitrate films. As a project manager, she took care of the preparation of the project and development of the work processes, supervising the technical works and also training technicians for the project’s needs in different departments.

According to Sovák, NFI Filmlab is “the most complete and most experienced film laboratory in Central Europe.” It provides analog and also a full range of digital film post-production services.

NFI Filmlab is one of the few film laboratories in Europe that provides complete analog post-production services such as traditional negative editing, and both black and white and color film processing.

Sovák says: “When a production requires analog film lab services, it can check the official site of Kodak that lists all analog labs and their services by country. There are very few analog labs available today, and even fewer film labs like NFI Filmlab that offer a full range of services in the field of analog post-production. Then, analog services must be completed by the subsequent digital post-production services – scanning, mastering – in cutting-edge quality.”

It is often the case that a producer who was satisfied with the lab’s work recommends it to others.

“Maria” and “The Brutalist” were brought to Hungary by the Hungarian production service companies Pioneer and Proton, which recommended NFI Filmlab based on their previous successful collaborations. Processing the negatives of four-time Oscar winner “Poor Things” was also a strong calling card.

“Maria’s” film processing figures were as follows: 5,889 meters 16mm color, 5,095 meters 35mm black and white, and 55,160 meters 35mm color. Full negative processing, two months preparatory work, tests, 42 shooting days, with the participation of 10 NFI Filmlab professionals.

“The Brutalist’s” film processing figures were: 87,039 meters, 35mm color. Full negative processing and digitization of the analog material, two months preparatory work, tests, 34 shooting days, with the participation of 10 NFI Filmlab professionals.

“The Brutalist” was shot in Vista Vision format, which uses 35mm film, but the image is “rotated,” so the resolution is twice as high as on the traditional 35mm film, allowing high-resolution 70mm copies to be produced. NFI Filmlab provides all these formats and films stocks (16mm, 35mm, black and white and color), and also special negative processing procedures such as bleach bypass and push/pull processing.

Sovák comments: “Directors like combining these for their different looking effects. For example, 16mm is used to give more grain and looks a bit ‘older,’ while the bleach bypass results in a much darker image. The greatest challenge is to handle these at the same time, using different processing methods.”

Last year, NFI Filmlab started the modernization of the analog lab. “We created a new, high-tech processing hall and started using three new processing machines manufactured by Photomec U.K., the world’s leading company,” Sovák says. “The new processing machines are suitable for developing color as well as black and white, 16 and 35mm negatives. The new machines are more modern, more ecological and more effective than the previous ones and they fully comply with Kodak’s technical specifications: such machines are used at the Kodak Film Lab at Pinewood Studios in London.

“With our latest investment we serve not only the market needs of new productions shooting on film but the new processing machines are also essential for developing slide films, which are seeing their renaissance these days as well as for enabling the long-term restorations for archive films.

“With the commissioning of the new processing machines, the entire chemical supply was also modernized. The equipment of the new mixing room for chemicals and the new technology fulfil today’s sustainability and environmental protection requirements. Thus, we will also be able to reduce our costs, while guaranteeing the same excellent quality in film processing.

“The new machines offer more precise adjustment possibilities, their capacity reaches 900 meters negatives and 1,300 meters positives color film processing per hour.”

Many filmmakers continue to shoot on 35mm and 70mm film, and analog is experiencing a renaissance with big studio productions like Christopher Nolan’s “Oppenheimer” and Yorgos Lanthimos’ “Poor Things.” But it is also an option for independent films like “The Brutalist” by Brady Corbet.

In a recent interview, Corbet told Variety: “[35mm film stock] feels grander and more accurate to the color that a director and colorist and all the engineers are working to achieve. It’s the most accurate representation of the film as a final product. You have better definition and color separation between the foreground and the background — it almost creates the impression of an image that is leaping out of the frame.”

Sovák says: “We believe that we have to perpetuate analog technology. The challenge is, first of all, that analog machines are becoming obsolete and it’s more and more difficult to repair them.

“But we are also conscious that the new machines won’t do the job alone: we also have to perpetuate the knowledge. NFI Filmlab is continuously training its staff and also transmits their knowledge to the younger generation of professionals.”

NFI Filmlab, together with the NFI Film Archive, is about to start an analog film preservation program: a huge digitization program of the archive’s films, especially the nitrate ones. Followed by analog film recording for those films whose originals are already in a deteriorated condition. It is also going to record restored films on 35mm film, which will preserve the films for future generations.