A History of Ferrania

Ferrania, originally the Italian company Società Italiana Prodotti Esplodenti (SIPE), began in 1882 as a factory that produced nitrocellulose-based explosive powders. When demand for this powder decreased following the “Red Terror” in Soviet Russia, the factory turned toward producing celluloid, the strong and flexible material that was the original base for photographic film. Renaming the company Fabbrica Italiana Lamine Milano (FILM), they collaborated with the legendary French Pathé Brothers, who were known for producing photosensitive materials. 

In 1924, FILM Ferrania began to thrive as celluloid-based film overtook glass plates in popularity, becoming a mass-produced global commodity. They started manufacturing x-ray film, 16mm film for cinema, and eventually different roll film formats such as 35mm and 120mm. The company also began producing cameras as FILM Cappelli-Ferrania in 1932 and their reputation as a manufacturer of both film and cameras would grow steadily in the years that followed, even after their connection with Cappelli disbanded and they were renamed Ferrania in 1938. 

Under Mussolini’s fascist regime of the 30s and 40s, Italian photographers and directors were virtually required to use Ferrania’s still and motion picture film for their creative projects. After World War II, however, some of Italy’s greatest directors – such as Federico Fellini and Vittorio De Sica – embraced Ferrania film on their own terms, contributing to its growing prestige in cinema. While Ferrania would release their first color emulsion in 1952, their most popular film stock of the time was the P30 black and white film, which was used in such celebrated works as Pier Paolo Pasolini‘s The Gospel According to St. Matthew (1964). By the mid-1960s, Ferrania’s reputation as a legendary film manufacturer was firmly cemented and their products were used widely by professionals and amateurs alike.

Ferrania’s history continued into the post-war period as a story of globalization: the company was bought by the American 3M Corporation in 1964. As Ferrania-3M, the company focused especially on research and development, which culminated in major innovations in x-ray film technology. However, because 3M did not see the value in using Ferrania as a brand name for selling film in the US, the corporation’s Scotch brand largely replaced Ferrania. Eventually, the only remnant of Ferrania’s part in the manufacturing of their film products was a small “Made in Italy” note printed on the film rolls. 

In 1999, 3M’s connection with Ferrania dissolved. At this point, film sales had already begun to decline as a result of digital photography, but Ferrania continued to sell their products to brands such as Polaroid and Konica, which would then package them as their own. After the first iPhone’s release in 2005, film sales fell drastically worldwide, and Ferrania restructured into Ferrania Technologies and Ferrania Solaris the following year, focusing on pharmaceutical products and solar panel manufacturing, respectively.

Although the larger Italian factory closed in the early 2000s as analog film seemed to become obsolete, today a Kickstarter-backed start-up has begun producing P30 again in Ferrania’s old research lab. That film – along with expired color film made before production ceased in 2008 – is the material that supports our project.

References

Film Ferrania. “A Brief History of Ferrania.” Accessed August 4. 2023. https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5dfe609b059d3c3bfc902f3f/t/5ed024c4d97d7907c68f3e89/1590699217611/A_Brief_History_of_Ferrania.pdf.