Baltic Analog Lab invites you to a rare opportunity to learn the art of making handmade light-sensitive film emulsions with the outstanding filmmaker Esther Urlus from Rotterdam.The art of creating a light sensitive emulsion, in the tradition of the pioneers, by mixing a salt (potassium bromide) with silver (nitrate) and coating this emulsion on a clear 16mm film strip to generate an image through an exposure in a 16mm camera. And creating a positive of a camera negative through contact printing.

The process of making your own silver-gelatin film emulsion is one that offers the filmmaker an unprecedented degree of creative intervention and expressiveness that simply cannot be accomplished with commercial film stocks. Although not a replacement for commercially produced film stocks, hand crafting and coating silver gelatine emulsions can lead to new and creative ways of forming cinematic images.

The starting point is home brewing a photosensitive emulsion that covers the 16mm film strips. A black-and-white emulsion is easily made with some silver nitrate, potassium bromide, gelatin and water. It’s actually similar to making mayonnaise. The biggest challenge is to evenly coat the emulsion on the thin strip of clear 16mm film and make it in a way that is possible to run it through a printer or a film camera.

Esther Urlus makes films, performances and installations on 16mm, 35mm and Super-8. The DIY method is always present in her work. Urlus is co-founder and chairman of the artist-run Filmwerkplaats lab in Rotterdam. Her films have been screened at festivals worldwide, including 25FPS Festival Zagreb, Ann Arbor Film Festival, Oberhausen International Short Film Festival, Sonic Acts and International Film Festival Rotterdam.

Day 1

• Introduction to photochemical film, the history of photographic and cinema pioneers, and the fundamentals of silver-gelatin emulsions.

• Presentation of Esther Urlus' artistic research and contemporary examples of handmade film emulsions.

• Learning the basics of film chemistry.

• Introduction to coating techniques (including airbrush) and preparation of 16mm clear film.

• Mixing a light-sensitive silver-gelatin emulsion and hand-coating 16mm film in the darkroom.

• Films are left to dry overnight in complete darkness.

Day 2

• Splicing and loading the handmade film into a 16mm Bolex camera.

• Introduction to camera operation, exposure, and light metering.

• Shooting a collaborative portrait film on handmade emulsion.

• Developing the exposed negatives in Lomo tanks.

• Introduction to contact printing and creating positive prints using a DIY contact printer.

• Developing the positive prints and screening the finished films on a 16mm projector.

Participation fee: 70 EUR
Participation is limited to 10 participants.
Registration by email: balticanaloglab@gmail.com
The workshop will be conducted in English.

Supported by Latvian State Culture Capital Foundation and Riga City Council