Following a spectacular night at the 98th Academy Awards, FotoKem is happy to celebrate both the films and our pivotal role in bringing a few of this year’s biggest Oscar winners to the screen. Warner Bros.’ One Battle After Another (Best Picture, Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor, Best Film Editing, and Best Casting) and the epic Sinners (Best Cinematography, Best Original Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Original Score) dominated the ceremony, taking home a combined ten Academy Awards, including the Best Cinematography award for Autumn Durald Arkapaw, the fourth woman in the Academy’s history to be nominated for Best Cinematography and the first ever to win.

Behind the breathtaking visuals of both great films is FotoKem’s legendary and unparalleled expertise in large-format film processing, scanning, and color grading, as we worked closely with directors Paul Thomas Anderson and Ryan Coogler and cinematographer Autumn Durald Arkapaw to push the boundaries of analog filmmaking.

For Paul Thomas Anderson’s One Battle After Another, lensed by cinematographer Michael Bauman, FotoKem navigated the complex workflow required for the legacy 35mm VistaVision format, handling everything from daily high-resolution scanning and traditional color timing to executing complex optical blow-ups and crafting analog release prints in both 35mm and 70mm formats.

Shooting Sinners on 5-perf 65mm Ultra Panavision and 15-perf IMAX, Coogler and Durald Arkapaw relied on FotoKem’s comprehensive lab and color services from end to end. From early large-format test screenings to processing massive negatives and striking pristine 70mm theatrical prints, FotoKem’s partnership with these visionary filmmakers highlights our ongoing dedication to the beauty and spectacle of celluloid.

And last but definitely not least, FotoKem’s Margarita Mix is incredibly proud to have provided top-tier recording services for Sony Pictures Animation and Netflix’s smash hit, K-Pop Demon Hunters. The genre-bending musical fantasy took home the Oscars for both Best Animated Feature and Best Original Song for the chart-topping anthem, “Golden.” Bringing the dual lives of the demon-hunting K-pop group HUNTR/X to the screen required world-class audio, and the Margarita Mix team was thrilled to help capture the film’s dynamic vocal performances. It was a true honor to partner with visionary directors Maggie Kang and Chris Appelhans and to see their groundbreaking, culturally rich story recognized on Hollywood’s biggest stage!

Topping the list of Academy Award nominations January 22 were two films FotoKem collaborated with most prodigiously: Ryan Coogler’s Sinners (with a record 16 nominations) and PT Anderson’s One Battle After Another (an impressive 13 nominations). For Sinners, FotoKem provided the 65mm processing, dailies, color / DI, and 70mm film prints, and for Battle, we provided processing, dailies, color timing, optical conversions and multiple formats of theatrical prints. Both pictures also received noms for Best Cinematography, along with Frankenstein, Marty Supreme, and Train Dreams — three great titles for which FotoKem also created film beautiful release prints. Other Oscar-nominated titles the FotoKem team worked on include The Smashing Machine, Bugonia, Arco, and KPop Demon Hunters. Congrats to all the creatives involved in all these fantastic motion pictures.

FotoKem’s Media Services division just wrapped up a record-breaking month. Not only did the team handle an increase in projects from Lionsgate, they also juggled large orders from AMC and A24 and other content publishers. Not to mention Media Services delivered over 2,800 titles to platforms including Netflix, Amazon, HBOMax, Apple iTunes and Pluto. Thanks to our entire team, including the Account Managers, Localization & Metadata for all their hard work!

Four new FotoKem episodic color suites are almost ready for prime time. With the completion of the new episodic space, the first floor will now house our two main DCI theaters and four large living-room-style finishing suites adjacent to our Cafe / Lounge. All of which is adding to our three DI theaters, Lodge DI theater, screening environments for 16mm, 35mm, VistaVision, and 70mm, and six additional monitor-based grading suites on the second floor. Stay tuned for the reveal of all the new rooms very soon!

Nominations for the 73rd Annual Motion Picture Sound Editors (MPSE) Golden Reel Awards were announced on January 12. FotoKem teams were nominated in the category “Outstanding Achievement in Sound Editing – Broadcast Animation.” For Rick and Morty, “The Summer of All Fears” from Cartoon Network, Supervising Sound Editor and Sound Design Hunter Curra MPSE, Sound Effects Editor Corbin Bumeter, and Dialogue Editor James A. Moore from Margarita Mix were all recognized. For Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld, “Friends” from Disney+, Dialogue Editors Chris Cirino, Bobby Garza, Kevin Hart, and Carlos Sotolongo from LA Studios were all recognized. Congratulations on all the hard work and the recognition! The MPSE Golden Reel Awards will be held on March 8 at the Ebell Theatre in Los Angeles.

FotoKem is proud to be nominated for the Saturn Award for Best Classic Film Home Media Release for our remastering and restoration work on Frailty from Lionsgate Home Video. Other Saturn Award nominees FotoKem contributed to include Alien: Earth (ADR), Bugonia (dailies & film prints), Eden (ADR), FrankensteinI (film prints), Invincible (ADR), It: Welcome to Derry (nextLAB and color finishing), KPop Demon HuntersI (ADR), Lilo & Stitch (ADR), Marty Supreme (film processing & prints), Marvel Zombies (ADR), Now You See Me: Now You Don’t (NLS), One Battle After Another (film processing, dailies & film prints), Pluribus (end-to-end services), Sinners (end-to-end services), Star Wars: Skeleton Crew (end-to-end services), Star Wars: Tales of the Underworld (ADR), The Conjuring: Last Rites (color finishing), The Last Of Us (ADR), Thunderbolts* (dailies), and Wake Up Dead Man (end-to-end services).

Nominees for American Cinema Editors (ACE) Eddie Awards include Bob’s Burgers (online editorial and ADR), Love, Death + Robots (ADR), KPop Demon Hunters, Bugonia, Death By Lightning (ADR), Dying For Sex (ADR), Marty Supreme, Mountainhead (ADR), One Battle After Another, Pluribus, Sinners, and Wake Up Dead Man. Visual Effects Society (VES) Awards nominees include Death By Lightning,In Your Dreams (ADR), It: Welcome to Derry, KPop Demon Hunters, Lilo & Stitch, Mickey 17 (trailers), Sinners, The Last of Us, Warfare (commentary record and mix), . BAFTA Film Awards nominees include Arco (ADR), Bugonia, Frankenstein, Lilo & Stitch, Marty Supreme, One Battle After Another, Sinners, and Train Dreams (film prints). For the British Society of Cinematographers (BSC) Awards nominees include Frankenstein, Marty Supreme, One Battle After Another, and Sinners.

FotoKem helped out with two films that are premiering at Slamdance 2026: Ten Will, a FotoKem Lodge project directed by Max DeFalco, follows a recently released convict desperately trying to meet a very important deadline.  And Under The Rainbow: The Curious Crimes Of The Ruby Slippers, a mystery that unfolds when the original Ruby Slippers from The Wizard of Oz are stolen from a museum, directed by Seth Gordon and Nikki Calabrese which features audio and video finishing by Margarita Mix. 

Independent movie fans and filmmakers will descend upon the 2026 Sundance Film Festival from January 23-February 1. This marks the last time the event will be held in Utah since its inception as festival moves to Boulder, Colorado next year. FotoKem Creative Services handled dailies and color finishing on The Only Living Pickpocket in New York, directed by Noah Segan and lensed by Sam Levy. FotoKem’s Margarita Mix recorded ADR for Chasing Summer starring Iliza Schlesinger and directed by Josephine Decker, The Invite directed by Olivia Wilde, and The Gallerist directed by Cathy Yan. This year’s event will also honor the legacy of its late founder, Robert Redford. Not to mention SXSW will be featuring a few great films FotoKem helped finish as well: Sender (Color Finishing in the FotoKem Lodge), directed by Russell Goldman, Mike & Nick & Nick & Alice with (Final color collaboration between FotoKem and Goldcrest, NY), They Will Kill You (Final Color), directed by Kirill Sokolov, and Never After Dark (Color Finishing in the FotoKem Lodge), directed by Dave Boyle. 

Don’t miss the upcoming George Stevens Lecture on Directing, featuring the premiere screening of the 4K restoration of The Greatest Story Ever Told (1965). The event will be held at the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in the David Geffen Theater on Saturday, January 17, 2026, at 2pm PT, accompanied by special guest filmmaker Guillermo del Toro.

The FotoKem Creative Services team has meticulously restored the film, utilizing 8K scans from the original 65mm Ultra Panavision Technicolor negative to preserve its artistic integrity. The film marks Max von Sydow’s U.S. debut and garnered five Oscar nominations, including a nod for Cinematographers William Mellor and Loyal Griggs.

Tickets and further details are available here.