The Demise and Rise of Polaroid Film

Pam Pfiffner

Back in August, in a Best of the Blogs” column, I wrote about a video that showed Polaroid film being made”. What I didn’t say was the back-story to the 5-minute documentary, one that is as fascinating as the video itself.
The factory that produces the Polaroid film is owned and run by The Impossible Project, a group of film enthusiasts who refused to accept the demise of instant Polaroid film. Led by Dr. Florian Kaps, a group consisting of analog film enthusiasts and former Polaroid employees banded together to purchase a shuttered Polaroid factory in Enschede, Netherlands, in 2008. By 2009, the machines that produce the film were up and running, and in 2010, the first Impossible film hit the market.
The Impossible Project now produces new Polaroid film that works in old cameras, those that accept what’s known as “integral” film — the film in which images develop before your eyes. Stores that sell Polaroid cameras most likely sell The Impossible Project’s film with it.
In part due to The Impossible Project’s refusing to let instant film die, Polaroid photography is enjoying a renaissance. Not only are long-standing Polaroid users enjoying the film’s rebirth, but also a generation raised on digital photography is discovering analog cameras and instant film.
Now a movie that covers both the death and rebirth of instant photography has been produced. Called “Time Zero”, the movie is the work of Grant Hamilton, a photographer enamored with Polaroids (the name of his website sxseventy.com pays homage to a legendary Polaroid camera model). The movie focuses on photographers who love instant film and the on the efforts to save it, especially the work of The Impossible Project.
The film debuts on Saturday, April 28, in Somerville, Massachusetts, about three miles away from Polaroid’s former headquarters. Passes to the Independent Film Festival BostonTickets went on sale April 1; individual tickets to the movie go on sale April 11.
Here’s a two-minute trailer for the film.

To learn more about the history of Polaroid instant cameras read the see the 1972 Life magazine story about the Polaroid SX-70.
Thanks to Time Techland for the tip.