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Since the very start of cinema history, physical film has been at the heart of it all. The key to making movies, film has developed overtime to meet artists needs and desires over the years. From the industry standard of 35mm, to it's growth into giant projections such as 70mm for IMAX screens – to amateur home movies recorded on 8mm – film has long been at the center of creating memories and nostalgia.
For years, film served as the dominate tool in filmmaking, offering, at the time, the only physical way to record and edit productions. But towards the late 1990's and early 2000's, the introduction of digital cameras and films began to change this, with the industry favoring the more convenient and cost effective methods of digital over physical film.
Eventually, cinemas began to reflect this switch, alternating from physical film projections towards digital projection. Now, the once common method to see a movie was replaced with cutting edge visuals and performances – leaving film as an artifact of the past.
But, in recent years, film has made a comeback not just in major motion pictures, but in arthouses around the country thriving on the physicality and nostalgia of film projection.
Last year held two examples of this film craze wrapping around the world: Ryan Coogler's southern vampire flick Sinners, and Paul Thomas Anderson's political dramedy One Battle After Another. Two of the most critically praised films of 2025, both movies made a spectacle of it's use of physical film in their productions: with Sinners relaying on a groundbreaking use of multiple ratios and films – using 65 mm film, while also combining IMAX's 70mm film format with Ultra Panavision 70, to create expansive shots and aspects that utilized the whole IMAX screen to further it's visual story; and One Battle After Another bringing to life the long shelved VistaVision – which shoots industry standard 35mm film horizontally to create larger images.
Both films were an excitement not only for the film community, but also the general moviegoing audience, with viewers indulging in blockbusters filled with grain and rigidness not captured on digital films. Both directors made a point for audiences to see their films in their intended format, with Coogler releasing a Kodak partnered video explaining the basics of physical film and aspect ratios, offering audiences the chance to pick which format they preferred to see the film in, and which theaters offered certain projections (such as 70mm); while Anderson created a personal Instagram account to celebrate the release of his film, and similarly offered audiences multiple formats to view the film in certain theaters around the world.
With both directors offering such passion for the physical film format – and persuading audiences to share that passion – it became a goose chase to view both films in their individual formats, since both blockbusters offered new experiences with each new theater attended by a moviegoer. Where one IMAX screen offered one showing, a local theater lucky enough to have a select print of that same film offered a whole new look at the film as a whole.
But even before these two titans brought audiences into theaters with film, local independent theaters were already ahead in offering moviegoers the chance to view their favorite movies projected physically.
"The Vista Theater" in Los Angeles, is one such example. Owned by director Quentin Tarantino, the theater is a staple of a nostalgic movie going experience, transporting audiences to a time filled with simple snacks, seats on a first come first serve basis, and cartoons projected before each viewing. The Vista is also committed to projecting classic films, as well as international and more obscure films for film-buffs: all movies projected on 35mm or 7omm.
The Vista is just one example of the growing popularity in these vintage movie theaters, who prioritize projecting films audiences love and want to see, presented in ways that feels timeless and passionate. There are multiple theaters around the world like this, with areas like New York, London, and other locations offering multiple independent arthouses that bring physical film back into the market for audiences.
When it comes to physical film, it seems like folks are eagerly ditching the fast moving digitalized world they have grown fatigued with, and are searching for something much more human. By stepping into an independent theater – or watching a film projection – audiences are almost transported to a simpler and slower time: enjoying the grain and rigidness that makes art inherently human – full of mistakes and human hands so to say – and not constant perfection as digital has made audiences accustomed to. Even without having experienced the era of physical film formats, one is still offered the feeling of nostalgia for the images and worlds of the past and present: a time not lived in, but experienced.
With the growing use of physical film in filmmaking, as well as the growing interest in independent theaters, the once old fashioned style of making and experiencing films seems to be rising from the dead in the 21st century. ("Anora," Sean Bakers 2024 Best Picture Oscar and Palm d'Or winner was shot on 35mm, bringing film to the international stage and award circuit.)
Whether it be for nostalgia or a new experience, film looks to stay in the heart of cinema for years to come; as Anderson stated on his Instagram post celebrating the films release and use of VistaVision: "[Viewers] don't need reminding, but it always bears repeating that seeing Film on Film is the way Nature intended. So don't go agaisnt Nature and seek out your local theater that projects film."
