Helsinki A rare treat was offered at the Biorex cinema in Lasipalats on Saturday evening: Christopher Nolan’s prize Oppenheimer was shown in Finland for the first time as a rare film copy.
An exceptionally wide, 70 millimeter film copy has been made of Oppenheimer, which director Nolan considers the film as the best form of presentation. The copy that toured Europe is now received in Finland and Lasipalat’s Biorex will perform it for five shows.
70 millimeter film is brighter, more detailed and more vivid than standard 35 millimeter film or the digital version, Biorex promises on their website.
Today, cinemas use digital projectors, and film projectors are mostly seen in film archives, festivals and special screenings.
Fransberg carries one of Oppenheimer’s four rolls of film. The film is three hours long, so there is enough tape.
in Finland there are only two such projectors in permanent use, in the Glass Palace and in the Kino Regina of Helsinki’s Oodi library. Operators who know how to handle 70 millimeter film are also rare.
Axel Fransberg is one of them, and has been enlisted to curate all five Oppenheimer specials at the Glass Palace. Most recently, Fransberg operated 70 millimeter film Interstellar(2014) in a special screening in 2018. Interstellar is also a Nolan film.
Lasipalatsi is one of two cinemas in Finland with a traditional film projector.
Fransberg is one of the few machine operators in Finland with experience in handling 70 mm films. The couple is already retired, he says.
70-millimeter Oppenheimer a roll of film weighs more than a hundred kilos in total, but it is divided into four parts, so twenty kilo rolls can handle it, so it’s like lifting. A regular film shot on 35 millimeters usually weighs less than 30 kilograms, says Fransberg.
Preparing the projector for 70-millimeter film requires, among other things, changing the lens, adjusting the lamps and widening the film reel. Ticket buyers have been warned that the screening will not have subtitles, as it is not technically possible with the special film.
The lobby of Lasipalatsi’s Biorex filled up moments before the screening.
Married couple Ville-Veikko and Neea Hanström were fascinated by the film format favored by director Nolan.
Special screening has attracted crowds of people: 389 tickets were sold for the Saturday night show. Some of them have already seen it once Oppenheimerbut want to experience it again in 70 milliliters.
Married couple Nope and Ville-Veikko Hanström can see Oppenheimer now for the first time. They were already interested in the movie that came out last summer, but they just didn’t have the time to see it.
When Neea saw a magazine story about the special screening, her curiosity was piqued. Neither he nor Ville-Veikko have seen a 70mm film on the big screen before.
“We probably wouldn’t have gone to a normal show. I thought that when the film is shot on this film, something will be left out if you watch it in another format.”
“Maybe the film has such an edge that it wouldn’t look as smooth as digital,” Ville-Veikko Hanström hopes.
After the show starts, Fransberg checks that the image is and remains sharp.
A 70mm film replica of Oppenheimer has been circulating in Europe. It was brought to Finland by air freight.
Oppenheimer tells the story of physicist J. Robert Oppenheimer and the Manhattan Project that led to the development of the atomic bomb.
Machine operator Fransberg squeezes between the projector and carefully places the film rolls on the reels. He presses the button on the side of the machine and the reel starts spinning accompanied by a nostalgic hum.
When the movie starts, he checks the sharpness of the image and refines it further when the projector lens warms up.
Oscar-winning for his leading role Cillian Murphy’s the serious face is reflected on the canvas in sharp sharpness, down to the skin pores.
Oppenheimer 70mm Biorex at Lasipalatsi 19.5., 25.5., 26.5. and 1.6.
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