Operators shift from selling connectivity to selling experience

Streaming Media

article here

The global mobile industry may be the “nervous system” of the digital world but its perennial moan to regulators, governments and policy makers is that network operators are never sufficiently valued.

At Mobile World Congress, Barcelona, industry leaders are now exploring greater connectivity by linking cell phones with satellite systems and by hoping to finally earn revenue from 5G.

In the opening keynote, Vivek Badrinath, Director General of mobile industry lobby group GSMA said, “Over the last 20 years the mobile industry has seen incredible growth. We have become the essential nervous system of the digital world. To maintain this trajectory we must complete the 5G rollout.”

5G, he added, is the modernisation of society itself. “In a future where cities think for themselves, where factories run autonomously, where robots are part of daily life investing in 5G Standalone is essential. Countries that hesitate will fall behind.”

Despite what some see as the remarkable technological progress with 5G, the challenge of turning that innovation into sustainable revenue is becoming increasingly urgent.

“We're at the tipping point for 5G in the U.S.,” said John Stankey, Chairman and CEO, AT&T in a keynote. “One of the things that’s often brushed over is what 5G did in the consumer space to make more effective use of spectral efficiency and [therefore] opening up new markets. For just simple things like fixed broadband that has driven an awful lot of innovation for consumer and business customers.

He said 5G Standalone had started to emerge and become more prevalent. “We're seeing hybrid public and private networks (where the private network is sliced for exclusivity).

“Whether it be film studio lots or at a sporting venue where they are able to connect video cameras and actively get on a network and move data without restraint. I think we're over the hump on those types of things now, and so innovation can start taking people to greater levels.”

Stankey views the telco industry and AT&T’s business as being fixed and mobile. “From a customer's perspective, there's only one internet,” he said. “They don't want to buy it multiple times. They'd like one relationship to get on the internet and if you're going to meet that expectation with a customer, you've got to be really good at running multiple access technologies off that fiber infrastructure. I think that's the next play, at least in the United States.”

Mobile operators are beginning to move from selling basic connectivity to offering performance-based services, but the transition is still in its early stages, according to executives speaking during a policy and technology session hosted by the GSMA.

Ericsson’s November 2025 mobility research has evidence that the shift is already underway with around 65 differentiated connectivity services in the market.

Despite this, Verizon’s William Johnson (SVP & Deputy GC of Regulatory Affairs & International Public Policy), said that fixed wireless access (FWA) remains the most proven 5G monetisation model to date.

“A few years ago, this business didn’t exist for us. Now we have about 5.7 million customers, and it’s a multi-billion-dollar revenue stream every year,” Johnson said. “It’s not just about adding new customers — it also helps with convergence. Customers who take both mobile and home broadband are more satisfied and less likely to churn.”

The introduction of standalone 5G cores and network slicing is also changing how fixed wireless can be used.

“In the past, businesses often saw fixed wireless as a backup connection,” he said.
“With slicing and service-level agreements, it can now be a primary service, even for enterprises.”

Mani Manimohan, Head of Digital Infrastructure Policy and Regulation at the GSMA, noted, “There is already talk about 6G, but we still need to make 5G work. The shift from selling connectivity to selling experience has started, but it will take time. The real challenge now is proving that differentiated connectivity can create lasting value for operators, businesses and consumers.”

Space: the next mobile frontier

Despite the growth of terrestrial networks, nearly one-third of the world’s population remains unconnected or underserved.

Gwynne Shotwell, President and COO of SpaceX, speaking at MWC2026, said: “Satellite connectivity is no longer a niche capability. It is becoming a core layer of global communications infrastructure.”

The company’s satellite communications division, Starlink, began by delivering broadband to homes and businesses and is now expanding to direct mobile connectivity. The goal Shotwell said, was to make global communication available everywhere, on any device.

“Connectivity is not only about entertainment,” she said. “Access to reliable internet enables banking, education, healthcare, emergency response, and economic development, particularly in remote or disaster-affected regions.”

Since the first launches in 2020 the company now operates thousands of satellites in low-Earth-orbit (LEO) capable of delivering broadband connectivity almost anywhere on the planet.

Starlink Mobile, the company’s direct-to-cell satellite service, launched 18 months ago. Itr allows unmodified smartphones to connect directly to satellites when terrestrial coverage is unavailable.

“When we started the direct-to-cell program, about 20% of land area in the United States and about 90% of Earth’s surface had no terrestrial mobile coverage,” explained Michael Nicolls, SVP of Starlink. “Starlink Mobile fills those gaps.

“The first generation of the global constellation includes about 150 satellites, and we are now operating across five continents. By geographic coverage, we are the largest 4G provider in the world. We have 10 million active users every month and expect that number to exceed 25 million by the end of 2026.”

Starlink Mobile works by linking through lasers to the broader Starlink constellation. The satellites fly at about 350 km above the earth, to optimize the link between the satellite and the user device.

While the current system supports text messaging, basic data services, voice, and video calls, the next phase of the program, due to go live in mid-2027, is designed to deliver “true broadband performance” directly to smartphones.

“The new satellites will include larger phased-array antennas, higher bandwidth, and advanced 5G non-terrestrial network standards,” said Nicolls. “In optimal conditions, the system is expected to deliver speeds comparable to terrestrial mobile broadband, potentially exceeding 100 Mbps.”

To deploy the constellation at scale, SpaceX will use Starship, its reusable heavy-lift launch vehicle. Once launches begin, global coverage could be established within months, he said, with additional satellites added to increase capacity over time. The constellation will also extend coverage to polar regions, one of the least connected parts of the world.

“The long-term vision is a hybrid network combining terrestrial infrastructure with satellite systems,” said Shotwell. “Terrestrial networks will remain essential for high-density urban coverage, but satellites can provide reach, resilience, and flexibility. They can connect remote regions, restore service during disasters, and supply additional capacity during major events or network congestion.”

Starlink was not the only company talking about filling in the gaps in the mobile network. Vodafone Group struck a deal with Amazon’s LEO constellation to extend 4G and 5G coverage in remote parts of Europe and Africa. Vodafone also joined with AST SpaceMobile’s joint venture Satellite Connectivity Europe to launch an open access direct-to-device satellite broadband provider for European operators.  Orange and Telefónica have also joined the initiative.

“There is a new frontier in the sky,” said Margherita Della Valle, CEO, Vodafone Group who was joined on stage by former ISS astronaut Tim Peake.

She urged for international regulations to guarantee safety and security in space.

“It is hard making anything in space work. The real issue though is that our new frontier is stuck in a wild west state. With new tensions across power blocks we do not know how to deal with the sky which is a vast expanse across borders. If we want to make the most of what technology has to offer we need to join forces across operators, manufacturers and regulators.”

Paramount Skydance and Warner Bros. Discovery Reshape Streaming’s Power Balance

Streaming Media

article here

The proposed merger of Skydance, Paramount Global with Warner Bros. Discovery is being framed through the usual lenses — debt loads, political sensitivities, and regulatory scrutiny in the U.S. and Europe. But the real story is simpler and more strategic: this is a scale play built around intellectual property.

 

If approved, the $111 billion deal would unite two major Hollywood studios and one of the deepest content libraries in the industry.

 

“For all the regulatory noise, this deal ultimately comes back to the fundamentals of the entertainment business,” says Ed Barton, Research Director at Caretta Research. “Control of premium IP, global distribution, maximise engagement and build scale that compounds.”

 

Paramount’s franchises (Star Trek, Mission: Impossible, Transformers, and SpongeBob SquarePants among them) combined with HBO’s premium positioning create a formidable global streaming proposition.

 

“A supercharged Max platform (bolstered by Paramount IP) would immediately become a more credible challenger to Netflix — not necessarily in raw scale on day one, but in depth and variety of monetizable franchises,” says Barton. “And while Netflix loses access to Warner Bros. IP in this scenario, it is far from vulnerable. It remains the most effective company in the market at monetising IP at global scale.”

 

Media analyst Paolo Pescatore agrees that Netflix is no loser. “The practical outcome is Paramount becomes the clear front-runner, while Netflix takes the termination economics and keeps its powder dry. Netflix is prioritising capital discipline over scale at any price. On this basis, it's a really smart move.”

 

Paramount hasn’t yet clarified whether it plans to run HBO as a separate entity or integrate it into Paramount+. There are existing distribution and licensing deals in place, so consumers likely won’t see immediate changes.

 

Guy Petty, the Founder of Fulcrum Media and a former Paramount executive says Paramount will need time to figure out exactly what it wants to do with assets like HBO.

 

“I believe they’ll keep both major brands alive. HBO is an extremely strong brand, and Paramount is as well. Paramount has made solid progress with its streaming services, so it probably makes sense to maintain both platforms rather than consolidate them too quickly,” he told BBC Radio 4.

 

A combined HBO/HBO+ (120m global subs) and Paramount Plus (78m) would leapfrog Disney+ (132m) but fall short of Netflix 325m global base. WBD said this week it expected to amass 160m streaming subs by end of the year. But it is engagement, not subscribers, that is the new battleground.

 

“The streaming growth story has shifted,” Barton says. “In most developed markets, subscriber growth is flattening. The new strategic focus is engagement: How do you increase time spent? How do you deepen franchise attachment? How do you maximise lifetime value per user?”

 

A reinforced HBO/Paramount competing with Netflix at global scale raises uncomfortable questions for Disney, Amazon and NBCUniversal (Comcast). Disney+ may dominate with younger audiences but a combined HBO/Paramount library is would beat it in volume and diversity.

 

“These companies will be asking themselves: are we comfortable sitting in third, fourth, or fifth place while Netflix’s scale advantage grows even larger?” says Barton. “There may soon be a significant gap between the top two and the rest and we’re likely past the stage where companies can close that gap through organic growth alone. To catch up, you may have to acquire something meaningful. If you own attractive U.S.-facing IP, someone is almost certainly running the numbers on you.”

 

Not good news for Hollywood

 

While there may be fewer qualms among theater owners (or filmmakers like James Cameron who has been vocal in his concern) that the deal with two legendary studios will be disastrous” for cinema the merger could negatively impact the movie production ecosystem on the West Coast.

 

“There’s significant overlap, and to make this work efficiently in the American film industry, there will almost certainly be job losses,” Barton believes. “There will be ripple effects, and they’ll take time to play out. Ultimately, though, what the market needs is competition — particularly competition between scaled entities capable of investing heavily in great content.

That’s where the real story lies.”

 

Barton thinks the streaming wars are entering a new phase — one defined less by land-grab subscriber growth and more by scaled competition between a smaller number of deeply capitalised entertainment platforms.

 

“In that environment, size and library depth matter more than ever,” he says. “Let’s be clear: bringing together overlapping studio operations in the U.S. will mean rationalisation. To make the numbers work, duplication across production, marketing, distribution and corporate functions will have to be addressed. In other words, there will be job losses.”

 

Cable biz still delivers

 

The bid is for all of WBD including its cable assets. Netflix may not have wanted to get into that business but Paramount with its legacy TV distribution should be able to keep revenue in the black.

 

“Don’t write off legacy TV just yet,” Barton says. “Linear television is in structural decline particularly among under-45s in the U.S but the story isn’t uniform.

 

“Local broadcast, especially regional news and community programming, remains resilient. It delivers something that streamers like Netflix, YouTube, or TikTok cannot: trusted, community-focused connection. Broadcasters are still investing in live production technology. That aligns with advertisers’ growing interest in targeting local audiences through trusted regional brands.”

 

One credible strategy, he suggests, would be spinning off U.S. broadcast networks into a separate entity— “grouping high-growth assets together while managing slower-growth businesses independently.

 

“These are still large, revenue-generating businesses producing hundreds of millions of dollars annually. Given some of the trends in local broadcasting, there may be a slightly more optimistic outlook than people assume.”

 

Concern for U.S news gathering

 

One of the biggest questions in the U.S is where this leave CNN. Petty believes there will be possibly significant consolidation. “CBS has a substantial global news-gathering operation so there could be redundancies between CBS News and CNN. That said, CNN performs reasonably well on its own, even though cable news audiences overall are relatively small compared to other media categories.”

 

The bigger issue may be political direction. CNN is often perceived — particularly by the current White House — as strongly anti–Donald Trump. Meanwhile, CBS has recently been viewed by some critics as shifting its political tone closer to the administration. The question is whether CNN’s editorial independence can be maintained within the new corporate structure.

 

“There’s always a commercial imperative in these situations, and ultimately, business considerations tend to prevail,” said Petty who added that it’s “more a matter of hope than guarantees” about CNN’s  future editorial  independence. “That uncertainty may not be reassuring for many within CNN,” he said.

 

Each regulatory authority including those in the United States will review the merger on its own merits. They’ll assess any competition or market concerns specific to their jurisdictions.

In some countries, there may be overlapping assets that raise issues. The process will likely resemble what happened when Disney acquired 20th Century Fox where regulators examined the deal country by country and required adjustments where necessary.

 

That’s the short-term industrial logic of consolidation in a maturing streaming market. The longer-term strategic question is whether Paramount Skydance leadership can turn that scale into advantage.

 

“If it’s managed competently, there’s enormous potential,” Barton says. “A strong management team could make all the consumer touchpoints truly hum with an IP library of this scale. Once regulatory uncertainty clears, you would hope leadership focuses on what really matters: distribution expansion, audience satisfaction, growing the appeal of key franchises, and doing the hard work of building a great entertainment business.”

 

He added, “There’s no doubt this could become an absolutely fantastic entertainment company.”

 

Gulf States land in Hollywood

 

The Paramount Skydance offer is being underwritten by state funding from Saudi Arabia and finance Abu Dhabi and the Qatar Investment Authority brokered through Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners.

Reported first by Streamingmedia the funding was confirmed in December when congressional Democrats warned of a national security threat.

In a filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission, Paramount said the three Middle Eastern funds as well as Kushner’s firm have “agreed to forgo any governance rights — including board representation — associated with their non-voting equity investments.”

The Gulf states and KSA in particular are seeking to engage beyond their borders with soft power. Last September, US games giant Electronic Arts was sold to Saudi Arabia’s sovereign-wealth fund PIF and Kushner’s Affinity Partners for $55bn.

After pouring substantial investment into building a domestic content production base spanning esports, video games, film and TV, KSA can now command a bigger stake in global sports and entertainment.

Sundance: Representation matters, today more than ever

IBC

Two new films screened at Sundance offer powerful takes on Latino American and Chicano culture as minority communities face attack in the U.S.

article here

First IBC365 goes behind the scenes on autobiographical animation TheyDream then talks to the editor of American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez.

Every film is personal to greater or lesser degree for its principal filmmakers but few dare to open up their family’s love and grief so intimately as William David Caballero.

His feature TheyDream builds on 20 years of documenting his family and makes creative use of animation styles to bring scenes of his late father back to life. 

Lauded for “fully exploring multiple filmmaking techniques blending craft and emotion” and for its “brutal honesty” TheyDream won a Special Jury Award for Creative Expression at Sundance earlier this year.

“I grew up in a trailer in my grandmother’s backyard in rural North Carolina,” Caballero explains. “My family is Puerto Rican, and I was born in New York City, where there’s a much larger Latino presence. Growing up, I always felt a sense of alienation, disconnected from American society, and especially from media.”

While studying fine art and cinema at the Pratt Institute then New York University he made autobiographical feature American Dreams Deferred which set the tone for a singular visual language rooted in tactile set-building and intergenerational storytelling.

“I didn’t see many authentic representations of people of colour, or at least ones portrayed in a positive light. I realised that I wasn’t seeing stories that reflected people like me, and I felt that I could be a missing link — a role model for a quirky, diverse younger generation of filmmakers.”

That feeling really crystallised in college, when a professor told Caballero that no one would ever be interested in a documentary about his family. “In a way, that was the final ‘no; I was going to accept. I decided to take matters into my own hands.”

In the 15 years since Caballero has been telling stories about his family and about myself. “For me, it was a way to stay creative when I went home. I’m someone who always needs to be working on a project. My first feature was almost like a student project about my family, very cinéma vérité. I was holding the camera and recording constantly.”

In 2015 he created Gran'Pa Knows Best using 3D-printed miniature recreations of his grandfather and “hilarious, hysterical voicemail messages” from his grandfather that his nephew had saved. It ran for two seasons on HBO.

“That was when I realised: I should just keep recording and capturing these moments. Sometimes I’d have deeper conversations with my parents about their lives; other times I’d just collect quirky, mundane audio and transform it into something magical.”

The short Victor & Isolina, documented his grandparents’ separation through recorded dialogue and screened at the 2017 Sundance Film Festival and at the Museum of Modern Art (Documentary Fortnight). A follow-up short Chilly and Milly, explored the impact of his father’s kidney failure on his parents.

TheyDream which he began in 2020 builds on this work and gave him more time to tell a story that unfolds over different periods in his family history.

A Creative Capital award of $50,000 in 2021 enabled him to start production. “Originally, I wanted everything to be 3D printed (all the figures as physical objects) but the cost of modelling, printing, and painting just wasn’t feasible yet. Instead, I hired animators with very specific styles and gave them a lot of creative freedom, while I still storyboarded everything.”

The film’s animation styles ranges from 2D cartoon to graphic-novel–style illustrations, 3D felt animation, and rotoscoping.  The one consistent element throughout is miniature.

“We created miniature sets for the characters to inhabit, and that became a central visual theme,” he says. “I wanted to combine 3D and 2D with more tactile miniature filmmaking, because I think the miniature work makes people pick up the couch or pick up the characters. It makes the characters feel alive.”

In the early stages, when he didn't have the money to hire a miniaturist, he AI-generated dollhouse backgrounds.  Once they received more funding from public media like ITVS and Latino Public Broadcasting Cabellero he removed them all.

“Instead, I showed the backgrounds to my miniaturist as references and said, ‘I want this made real, and I want it to look even better.’ I also continued to use AI in other ways such as summarising notes, so I could focus more on creativity. But the heart of the film really comes from a wide range of human collaborators.

Many of the animators were Puerto Rican or Latino, he says. “Some were queer, and more than half were women or female-identifying. Each animator brought something brilliant and personal to their scenes.”

He used Adobe tools almost exclusively: Photoshop for image creation, After Effects throughout the project, and Premiere for editing.  3D animators used Blender and Unreal. EbSynth was used for rotoscoping.

“I was the main compositor, though a couple of people helped with specific scenes. I was also the sole editor until the very end, when I brought in an assistant editor to help clean things up.

“Near the end of the process, I used Adobe’s AI features to generate a few extra seconds of footage when animations ended too abruptly. It was very minimal, maybe three times total, but those extra two seconds of padding really helped smooth things out.

“I tend to approach projects with a kind of ‘rule of thirds.’ One third of the work uses techniques I already know well. Another third involves things that are more challenging but achievable with the right collaborators. And the final third is stuff I have no idea how to do — things that scare me in a good way, because I know I’ll learn from them. And because this film is very meta and self-referential, it doesn’t have to be perfect. It also captures the creative process itself.”

Caballero’s mother Milly appears in the film through rotoscoped performances despite having no prior filmmaking experience.

“There’s a moment in the film where I ask her if she wants to help rotoscope animations based on my grandmother’s voicemails. I genuinely didn’t know how she’d react. I was prepared for her to say ‘no’, and to document that, because in documentaries you never know what will happen next. But she completely embraced it. She embodied my grandmother perfectly, even though she’d never acted before.”

Beyond that, we see them in the film working together on other crafts and homages. “Her involvement wasn’t about learning technical skills,” says Caballero. “It was about transformation — turning someone from a passive consumer of media into a creator. It became a way for her to process grief, move beyond it, and heal. Ultimately, that’s what I hope the film does for viewers as well.”

Art is a powerful form of resistance

While TheyDream offers a personal account of Latino American heritage, Mexican American culture is celebrated in a new documentary chronicling the life and career of Chicano playwright and film director Luis Valdez.

His name may be unfamiliar but American Pachuco: The Legend of Luis Valdez argues that his artistic reputation has been buried over the years by a prejudicial media. 

“Even in the United States he’s not as well-known as he should be,” says editor Daniel Chávez Ontiveros. “One of the main reasons we made this film was to highlight how important he is as the godfather of Chicano theatre and Chicano filmmaking.”

Valdez is perhaps best known for directing 1987 musical biopic La Bamba starring Lou Diamond Phillips which remains the most successful Latino movie of all time.

Yet aside from a TV movie a decade later, Valdez never directed in Hollywood again.
“It wasn’t that he lacked the drive. He continued writing scripts and directing theatre. It wasn’t a lack of vision or ambition. It was a lack of access,” says Chávez.

“The doors in Hollywood weren’t open for filmmakers of colour in the same way at that time — and to some extent, that’s still true today. It’s sad, because he could have told so many more Mexican-American stories on a larger scale.”

Director David Alvarado is Mexican-American and Mexico City born Chávez has lived in the U.S for a decade and became a U.S. citizen a couple of years ago. He says he hasn’t experienced discrimination directly, but feels the fear that can come with being a minority in another country.

“My five-year-old son was born here. One of my biggest motivations for working on this film was not wanting my son to grow up feeling like a second-class citizen. We are here. We’ve been here for centuries. We deserve to be valued and respected.”

The production drew on over 200 hours of archival footage including 80,000 feet of Valdez’ work sitting undeveloped in film cans. Without the financial support of the University of California in developing and scanning much of that history could have been lost.

“We structured the film around two threads: the archival material telling the historical story, and contemporary interviews with Luis, his friends, and his family reflecting on it.”

Director Taylor Hackford who produced La Bamba and actor Lou Diamond Phillips are among those interviewed. The film is narrated by veteran actor Edward James Olmos (Blade Runner) who gained his break thanks to Valdez. 

Chávez cuts all his films in Adobe Premiere and for this project relied on the software’s Productions feature to organise the material into smaller sub-projects.

“When you’re dealing with huge amounts of media, rendering and saving can take time — and when you’re on deadline, minutes matter. I was in the Bay Area, David was in Brooklyn, and our assistant editor, Claudia Ramírez, was in Los Angeles. Using Productions, we could work remotely and see each other’s changes almost instantly. It allowed for a very collaborative and creative process.”

Chávez himself met Valdez, now 85, on several occasions during the interview process, a rough cut screening and at the Sundance premiere. A former union activist, Valdez greatest legacy is likely the founding of El Teatro Campesino in the mid-1960s in California producing protest plays in support of local farmers.

“What Luis often said during our Q&As is that art is a powerful form of resistance,” Chávez says. “That art builds bridges and breaks walls. That’s especially important at a time when arts funding is being reduced and some organisations are being shut down. This film aims to speak not only to Mexican-American communities but also to people who may not know that experience. Whether someone is Mexican-American, born here, or an immigrant who recently arrived, representation matters.”

Crafting the Contenders: Kostas Theodosiou

 Interview and words for Sohonet

article here

For more than four decades, Kostas Theodosiou has been shaping the final image of major motion pictures from his grading suite at FotoKem. From the days of film timers and Hazeltine color analyzers to modern HDR workflows and large-format IMAX film-outs, his career spans the full evolution of motion picture finishing. Yet his philosophy remains rooted in the discipline of traditional film timing: red, green, blue, and density.

“We’re here to make sure that the vision of the director and cinematographer is delivered to screen,” he says simply. “That’s the job.”

On over 500 titles, spanning photochemical and digital eras, Theodosiou has collaborated with some of the film industry’s most talented filmmakers including Steven Spielberg, Christopher Nolan, Paul Thomas Anderson and Ryan Coogler along with cinematographers Hoyte van Hoytema, ASC, Autumn Durald Arkapaw ASC and Wally Pfister ASC. His many credits include Oppenheimer, The Dark Knight, Sinners and Jonathan Nolan’s streaming series Fallout. His remastering titles include such classics as Patton, the 1930’s All Quiet on The Western Front, and Steven Spielberg’s first four Indiana Jones movies, Saving Private Ryan, The Color Purple and Empire of the Sun.

This accumulated knowledge stems from an early passion for photography. But when he arrived in America in the 1980s he didn’t know how to channel this into a career.

Finding the craft

“Fortunately, an opportunity at FotoKem opened up,” he reflects. “I started at the very bottom — assembling film, cleaning negative, putting on leaders.” In the lab at FotoKem, the trainee found himself surrounded by the photochemical process.

“I spent as much time as I could watching the film timers work. You had to understand the stock, the filters, and how the negative would translate through the full chain from negative to interpositive, interpositive to internegative, and then to print. Every time film goes through a photochemical generation, light and density change. You had to anticipate that.”

‍Film timing to telecine

Theodosiou remembers when FotoKem took possession of its first telecine - a Rank Cintel Mark II. While these giant, expensive machines were hugely limited relative to today’s systems, Theodosiou was fascinated by the idea of seeing results instantly rather than waiting for film processing.

“You had joysticks for RGB correction, very little power, and everything was transferred directly from negative. If you tried to grade from an interpositive or print, the telecine simply didn’t have enough dynamic range to produce a strong image. Nonetheless the fundamentals were identical. You could see how electronic color correction translated from traditional film timing principles.”

That core philosophy holds for every iteration of color technology since. Even on current projects, Theodosiou starts with primaries - just like printer lights.

“In the early digital days, you’d do primary correction in telecine and then send the material to a separate system like a Quantel or Flame for visual effects. The grading systems didn’t have the power to do much more.

“With the arrival of software-based systems everything opened up. Suddenly, there was no begging for an extra power window or defocus board. You could layer corrections, build mattes, refine highlights, and integrate effects in a single environment.”

‍Respect the negative

One of the most impressive aspects of modern software grading, he explains, is the ability to fine-tune color responses to match historical print stocks.

“When restoring films from the 1960s, ’70s, or ’80s, you often don’t have a reference. You’re working from logarithmic scans of the negative and you have to build a proper lookup table (LUT) that emulates the print stock used at the time to approximate what was originally seen in theaters. Understanding how vintage stocks behaved - their contrast curves, color biases, and density roll-offs — is essential to achieving authenticity.”

Christopher Nolan’s workflow presents a different kind of rigor. The colorist first worked with the director on Memento then Insomnia, Inception, The Dark Knight, The Dark Knight Rises and Oppenheimer.

Theodosiou notes “Film is the Bible,” for Nolan. “He cuts original negative and the digital grade must match the photochemical result precisely.”

Theodosiou uses a 70mm projector to run a film print alongside the digital image in a butterfly split-screen comparison. First, he performs a full printer-light pass. Then the film print is projected and matched shot-for-shot in digital. Finally, trims are applied.

For Oppenheimer, he also created both black-and-white and color imagery that matched seamlessly across different stocks and formats.

“It’s a heavy workflow. But I want the director to know that what they see digitally will look the same in IMAX. The pipeline is built to match the exact elements.”

‍Instinctual collaboration

While technical knowledge runs deep, the reputation of a colorist and their ability to score repeat business, depends equally on interpersonal skill.

Over the years, Theodosiou has built long-standing relationships with DPs and directors — some from independent films like Nolan who went on to create major studio features.

“I’ve worked with many cinematographers at the start of their careers on indie films, music videos, and commercials. That builds an understanding and later, when they come into the room, I often already understand their visual language,” he shares.

“My role is to reproduce their vision and to offer ideas that push beyond what they may have thought possible. At all times, I protect the image from going too far. The goal is always to create something unique without breaking the integrity of what was captured.”

‍The complex workflow for Sinners

Among his latest collaborations is the multi-award winning and record-setting Oscar nominated Sinners. Written and directed by Ryan Coogler and lensed by Autumn Durald Arkapaw ASC the workflow for the Warner Bros. picture was particularly complex.

Sinners used dual formats — 65mm 5-perf and 15-perf IMAX — with deliverables that included IMAX film prints, digital cinema, and Dolby Vision HDR.

“We had to think about the end from the beginning,” Theodosiou explains. “When I know a film is going back out to film, I stay as true as possible to traditional film timing. The majority of the correction is printer lights.”

He had previously worked with Durald Arkapaw on The Last Showgirl (directed by Gia Coppola) which was shot on 16mm. Now, working with FotoKem color scientist Joseph Slomka, Theodosiou developed a custom LUT during camera tests. After reviewing the first dailies, they refined it further in the DI.

“Our goal was naturalism. Ryan and Autumn wanted to preserve the warm interior lighting and maintain smoke and atmospheric depth. I took care to avoid excessive contrast or unnecessary secondary keys.”

Because the two formats had to be combined — including sequences that expanded vertically in IMAX — the final master was recorded out to a new negative. This required precise testing: digital grade to film-out, projected and reviewed, then trimmed again to ensure seamless translation.

“Autumn wanted to be brave with darkness and underexposure. The quality of the black level was important to her, as were the various skin tones of the diverse cast, which she wanted to look radiant and have depth.”

‍Recognition of the craft

Despite being the final stop in the image pipeline, colorists have historically received little public recognition.

“For years, there wasn’t even a colorist category on IMDb. We were listed under editorial or visual effects.”

There is a groundswell of belief that the craft deserves awards recognition comparable to sound mixing, VFX or cinematography.“ We’re the last stop before the film goes out into the world. We’re the ones massaging the image, making sure it’s seamless from beginning to end.

“Every project is custom,” Theodosiou says. “That includes episodic television or a three-hour movie shot in multiple formats or with multiple cameras. Especially with digital, when every camera under the sun can do different things, it is up to the colorist to devise a recipe that will unify them all. We may be using two Kodak color stocks as we did on Sinners but they are different stock and they have to match.”

Back in the era of telecine, the profession was tiny, with maybe 3,000 color graders worldwide. Today, software tools have democratized the process and there are many online tutorials available to demystify the craft but mastery remains rare.

After forty years at FotoKem, from cleaning negative to grading major studio features, Kostas Theodosiou remains — at heart — a film timer. Only now, his printer lights exist inside a far more powerful box.