Business
Kodak faces financial struggles even as Gen Z sparks a film resurgence
Rolls of Kodak Gold film hang on a shelf at the Precision Camera & Video store on August 12, 2025 in Austin, Texas.
Brandon Bell | Getty Images
Clair Sapilewski has dozens of rolls of camera film ready to use in her cupboard at all times.
A photography major at American University, the 21-year-old said she always keeps her film stocked to achieve that aesthetic that only film cameras can capture.
“It teaches you how to slow down, how to look at things more carefully and how to choose your shots more wisely,” she said.
It’s part of an ongoing trend as members of Generation Z have taken an interest in film cameras. Sapilewski said while her professors taught her the basics, she and her friends have used their film cameras to develop photos that their iPhones can’t quite replicate.
And in her college circle, the most popular brand for camera film is Eastman Kodak, a company she calls a “household name.”
“Pretty much everybody uses Kodak films — the average film user, when they reach for film, is going to reach for Kodak,” Sapilewski said.
But on the other side of the lens, Kodak may be singing a different tune.
The 133-year-old photography company indicated in its second-quarter earnings report on Monday that its finances “raise substantial doubt” in its ability to continue operations as a going concern.
The company reported a net loss of $26 million, down 200% from net income of $26 million for the second quarter of 2024. Kodak also posted a 12% decrease in gross profit with millions in debt obligations.
“Kodak has debt coming due within 12 months and does not have committed financing or available liquidity to meet such debt obligations if they were to become due in accordance with their current terms,” the company wrote in a regulatory filing.
Shares of the company are down more than 15% year to date.
Kodak plans to terminate its retirement pension plan and a company spokesperson told CNBC that Kodak aims to use money that it will receive from the settlement to pay off its debts.
“Kodak is confident it will be able to pay off a significant portion of its term loan well before it becomes due, and amend, extend or refinance our remaining debt and/or preferred stock obligations,” the spokesperson said.
This isn’t the first time the company has faced struggles.
Founded in Rochester, New York, in the late 1800s, Kodak rode the wave of photography with a goal of simplifying the process for consumers. But as the era of digital technology took over, the company faced increasing struggles with staying relevant as cameras moved beyond film and disposables.
In the 2000s, the company tried to keep up with the growing trend of digital cameras but struggled, according to Melius Research analyst Ben Reitzes, who said Kodak was ignoring concerns at the time about the evolving macroenvironment.
“Digital technology wasn’t ready right away to cut sales of film — but common sense told us differently,” Reitzes wrote in a March note. “At the time, Kodak management told us that film would co-exist with digital cameras and more photos would be taken — and more would need to be printed by Kodak.”
Instead, Kodak filed for bankruptcy in 2012. It reemerged a year later in 2013 with four main business components: print, advanced materials and chemicals, motion picture, and consumer, which includes cameras and accessories.
A ‘rebellion against digital perfection’
In recent years, however, the retro camera trend has been seeing a resurgence.
In 2020, then-General Manager Ed Hurley told NBC News that Kodak made more than twice the number of film rolls in 2019 than it made in 2015.
And on last year’s third-quarter earnings call, Kodak CEO Jim Continenza said the company was experiencing such high demand for film that it needed to upgrade its Rochester factory.
“Our film sales have increased,” Continenza said at the time. “As we continue to see our commitment and our customer commitment to film, still and motion picture, we are going to continue to invest in that space and continue with that growth.”
According to Fortune Business Insights, the global cinema camera market size is fast growing and estimated to reach $535 million by 2032. The Global Wellness Institute named “analog wellness” — including pre-digital technology — its top trend for 2025.
That growth has been driven in large part by Gen Z, which has turned to old-school aesthetics in what’s been a “divorce” from the hyperrealism of digital photography, according to Alex Cooke, the editor-in-chief of Fstoppers, a photography news site.
“I think there’s this rebellion against digital perfection where film feels real in this kind of hyper-curated Instagram and TikTok world, where images are filtered and Facetuned and algorithm-tested,” Cooke said.
For members of Gen Z, who grew up in the smartphone age, Cooke said this type of photography brings a “nostalgia without lived experience,” where younger people are romanticizing a slower culture and breaking the instant feedback loop.
The aesthetics of film are also at play, Cooke added, with the unique colors and grains capturing something a smartphone could not. Ironically, social media even feeds into amplifying the trend, he said.
Using film cameras and developing that film also plays into a Gen Z trend of digital minimalism, according to Digital Camera World U.S. Editor Hillary Grigonis.
As a professional photographer, Grigonis said she’s seen Gen Z lean into the feeling of “disconnecting” when using film, which provides a more tangible photography experience than smartphones.
“Part of the rise in film photography among Gen Z is likely from that desire to disconnect and the craving for that retro aesthetic,” Grigonis said, adding that she was surprised at Kodak’s financial struggles given the overall rise in demand.
For 25-year-old Madison Stefanis, Kodak was her entry point into the camera world. A Gen Z herself, Stefanis created 35mm Co, a film camera company specifically aimed at making the photography style easy and accessible for her generation.
Stefanis said she’s seen that younger people are leaning into the emotional connection created by the delayed gratification of waiting for photos to be developed, something that’s become “lost in the digital age.”
Because she’s seen Gen Z driving the resurgence of film, Stefanis said she was “shocked” at Kodak’s declaration about its ability to continue as a going concern.
“Gen Z are really craving something they can hold in their hands,” she said. “These days, at least for myself, most of my memories live either in my mind or in my phone, so I think having actual tangible, physical objects where we can store our keepsakes and those key moments feels really special to my generation.”
One of Britain’s most prolific rail fare dodgers could face jail after admitting dozens of travel offences.
Charles Brohiri, 29, pleaded guilty to travelling without buying a ticket a total of 112 times over a two-year period, Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard.
He could be ordered to pay more than £18,000 in unpaid fares and legal costs, the court was told.
He will be sentenced next month.
District Judge Nina Tempia warned Brohiri “could face a custodial sentence because of the number of offences he has committed”.
He pleaded guilty to 76 offences on Thursday.
It came after he was convicted in his absence of 36 charges at a previous hearing.
During Thursday’s hearing, Judge Tempia dismissed a bid by Brohiri’s lawyers to have the 36 convictions overturned.
They had argued the prosecutions were unlawful because they had not been brought by a qualified legal professional.
But Judge Tempia rejected the argument, saying there had been “no abuse of this court’s process”.
JSW Jetour T2 Launch: JSW Motors Limited, the passenger vehicle arm of the JSW Group, is reportedly preparing to enter the Indian car market this year. It has partnered with Jetour, a China-based automotive brand owned by Chery Automobile, and the Jetour T2 SUV could be the company’s first product, according to the reports.
Media reports suggest that the launch will happen independently and not under the JSW MG Motor India joint venture. The SUV will wear a JSW badge and name, instead of the Jetour branding. The upcoming SUV will be assembled at JSW’s upcoming greenfield manufacturing facility in Chhatrapati Sambhaji Nagar, Maharashtra.
According to the reports, the company plans to have the vehicle on sale by the third quarter of this year. With this move, JSW aims to establish itself as a standalone carmaker in India.
Expected Powertrain
The SUV is likely to arrive with a 1.5-litre plug-in hybrid setup. Internationally, this hybrid powertrain is offered with both front-wheel drive and all-wheel drive options. It is still unclear which version will be introduced in India.
Design
In terms of design, the T2 is a large and rugged-looking SUV. It has a boxy and upright stance, similar to vehicles like the Land Rover Defender. Despite its tough appearance, it uses a monocoque chassis instead of a ladder-frame construction.
Size
The SUV measures around 4.7 metres in length and nearly 2 metres in width. This makes it larger than the Tata Safari, even though it is a five-seater. A longer 7-seat version is also sold in some markets.
Price
Pricing details for India are yet to be announced. For reference, the front-wheel-drive five-seat T2 i-DM is priced at AED 1,44,000 (around Rs 35 lakh) in the UAE.
Jetour
Jetour is a brand owned by Chinese automaker Chery. Launched in 2018, it focuses mainly on SUVs and is present in markets across China, the Middle East, Africa, Southeast Asia and Latin America.
John Swinney has been pressed over whether this week’s Scottish Budget gives some workers the “smallest tax cut in history” – with Tory leader Russell Findlay branding the reduction “miserly” and “insulting”.
The Scottish Conservative leader challenged the First Minister after Tuesday’s Holyrood Budget effectively cut taxes for lower earners, by increasing the threshold for the basic and intermediate bands of income tax.
But Mr Findlay said that would leave workers at most £31.75 a year better off – saying this amounts to a saving of just £61p a week
“That wouldn’t even buy you a bag of peanuts,” the Scottish Tory leader said.
“John Swinney’s Budget might even have broken a world record, because a Scottish Government tax adviser says it ‘maybe the smallest tax cut in history’.”
Raising the “miserly cut” at First Minister’s Questions in the Scottish Parliament, Mr Findlay demanded to know if the SNP leader believed his “insulting tax cut will actually help Scotland’s struggling households”.
The attack came as the Tory accused the SNP government of increasing taxes on higher earners, with its freeze on higher income tax thresholds, which will pull more Scots into these brackets.
This is needed to pay for the “SNP’s out of control, unaffordable benefits bill”, the Conservative added.
Mr Findlay said: “The Scottish Conservatives will not back and cannot back a Budget that does nothing to help Scotland’s workers and businesses.
“It hammers people with higher taxes to fund a bloated benefits system.”
Hitting out at Labour – whose leader Anas Sarwar has already declared they will not block the government’s Budget – Mr Findlay said: “It is absolutely mind-blowing that Labour and other so-called opposition parties will let this SNP boorach of a budget pass.
“Don’t the people of Scotland deserve lower taxes, fairer benefits and a government focused on economic growth?”
Mr Swinney said the Budget “delivers on the priorities of the people of Scotland” by “strengthening our National Health Service and supporting people and businesses with the challenges of the cost of living”.
He insisted income tax decisions in the Budget would mean that in 2026-27 “55% of Scottish taxpayers are now expected to pay less income tax than if they lived in England”.
The First Minister went on to say that showed “the people of Scotland have a Government that is on their side”.
Referring to polls putting his party on course to win the Holyrood elections in May, the SNP leader added that “all the current indications show the people of Scotland want to have this Government here for the long term”.
Benefits funding is “keeping children out of poverty”, he told MSPs, adding the Budget contained a “range of measures” that would build on existing support.
The First Minister said: “What that is a demonstration of is a Government that is on the side of the people of Scotland and I am proud of the measures we set out in the Budget on Tuesday.”
Meanwhile he said the Tories wanted to make tax cuts that would cost £1 billion, with “not a scrap of detail about how that would be delivered”.
With the weekly leaders’ question time clash coming less than 48 hours after the draft 2026-27 Budget was unveiled, the First Minister also faced questions from Scottish Labour’s Anas Sarwar, who insisted that the proposals “lacks ambition for Scotland”.
Pressing his SNP rival, the Scottish Labour leader said: “While he brags about his £6 a year tax cut for the lowest paid, one million Scots including nurses, teachers and police officers face being forced to pay more.
“Even his own tax adviser says this is a political stunt. So why does John Swinney believe that someone earning £33,500 has the broadest shoulders and therefore should pay more tax in Scotland?”
Mr Swinney, however, said that many public sector workers would be better off in Scotland.
He told the Scottish Labour leader: “A band six nurse at the bottom of the scale will take home an additional £1,994 after tax compared to the same band in England.
“A qualified teacher at the bottom of the band will take home £6,365 more after tax in Scotland than the equivalent in England. There are the facts for Mr Sarwar.”
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