Film print and 35mm

Digital did not merely replace prints; it removed the surrounding craft. Running 35mm today needs three things that are all getting scarcer: a working projector with available parts, a projectionist who can build up, thread, focus and change over a print, and a rights holder willing to ship one.

Prints are also physical objects that degrade. A print that has been through a hundred screenings is scratched, spliced and colour-shifted, and archives are increasingly reluctant to lend the good ones.

Against all of that, a minority of cinemas maintain the capability on purpose — because a 35mm presentation is genuinely different to watch, and because it is something a multiplex down the road cannot offer at any price.

For a repertory venue this is a strong differentiator rather than nostalgia. "On 35mm" is a reason to travel, it justifies a higher ticket price, and it attracts exactly the audience that will buy a membership.

It is an operating cost, not a saving: maintenance, parts, insurance, shipping and a skilled operator. Price the screenings accordingly and programme them as events rather than as ordinary performances, or the economics do not work.