In February 2016, Fujifilm announced the discontinuation of FP-100C and it sent a shockwave through a reviving film community. A Change.org petition was started that accumulated nearly thirty thousand signatures. Two weeks after the petition launched, IMPOSSIBLE Project founder, Florian ‘Doc’ Kaps traveled to Japan to meet with Fujifilm executives to save packfilm. However, it was far too late. The machinery in the factory was already stripped apart and scrapped.
It seemed it was the end for peel-apart-film and many land cameras have been placed on the shelves to serve as a wall decoration. Companies like New55 have attempted to recreate a manufacturing process to make their own peel-apart-film, ultimately leading to shut its doors earlier this year.
However, that is all about to change. On July 11, 2018, a blog post by Doc Kaps announces he is making one last effort to save packfilm. He is assembling a league of ‘ packfilm superheroes’ to engineer a solution for packfilm and intends to launch a Kickstarter on September 20, 2018, 8PM Vienna time.
Skeptics have stated that Doc Kaps efforts will be a New55, version 2.0, and will fail to deliver on a product. However, in a recent interview with YouTube channel ‘Analog Things,’ Doc Kaps and Uwe Schneider discuss the history of peel-apart-film since the discontinuation and outlines his plans prior to the kickstarter launch (11:30).
Kaps notes that he is ensuring the delivery by learning from the hardships from launching the IMPOSSIBLE Project. Collaborating with Uwe, they are selling one of the largest and best preserved caches of FP-100c to fund the initial steps of the project. Leading up to the Kickstarter, Doc Kaps explains they intend to have a demonstrable product, finalized agreements with suppliers, and calculated amounts of materials needed for the orders.
To keep up with the latest on the developments with Doc Kaps and his path to bringing back packfilm, you can go to the Save Packfilm section on the SuperSense website and follow the blog.
Bill Manning
Host and Executive Producer for Studio C-41
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