Camera geeks flocked to Brooklyn’s Industry City March 10 and 11 for the first New York-area Cine Gear Expo in several years. Attendance spiked over 2,000 for an event that included panels, presentations, and displays of the latest in visual technology.
“Our last event in New York was 2015,” Juliane Grosso, co-founder and CEO of Cine Gear Expo, said. “We had planned to return in 2020 until Covid hit. Now we’re back in the first of three shows we’re hosting this year, including Los Angeles in June and Atlanta in October.”
Grosso praised the Industry City site, calling it a comfortable place to network, with the opportunity to expand. Vendor space was sold out, and presentations, seminars, and panels were completely booked.
“Our participating vendors cover the full range of film and television technology, from lighting and filters to cameras and lenses,” she said. “We have Arriflex, Panasonic, Canon, Sony, as well as Cooke, Zeiss, Astera, and many others.”
The Los Angeles Cine Gear, held at Paramount Studios, features some 300 vendors. Grosso hopes next year’s New York event will grow in size.
Asked what attracts vendors to the expo, she replied, “They want the Cine Gear community. We have a worldwide reach. We provide a comfortable, professional social networking environment, a way to see old friends and meet new ones. It’s a great opportunity for vendors to introduce new services and technologies to the right people.”
“Cine Gear is paramount for Rosco,” said New York sales rep Marttise Hill. “We’re a legacy brand known in the film and TV industry as a gel manufacturer. We’ve been making lights for over a decade now, and Cine Gear is a great platform for us to showcase our lighting technology plus some of our new gel technology.”
Hill pointed to a Blackout gel panel over at the Rosco booth. “It’s classic gel material with the ability to cut light. It’s another way we can help cinematographers and gaffers get the tools they need to tell their stories.”
Nick Hoffman, sales rep for Flanders Scientific, was surprised by the attendance. “The turnout’s been quite impressive, especially for a Friday. A lot of heavy traffic.”
Zeiss rep Tony Wisniewski felt that the Industry City location posed a bit of a challenge at first. “Not anymore, however. They’ve brought in a lot of makers, a lot of Brooklyn artisans. Industry City has become a destination. There are a lot of filmmakers around here now, and it’s become a kind of home base for them.”
Zeiss is a longtime supporter of Cine Gear, and Wisniewski was enthusiastic about the growth of the expo over the years.
“Especially in Atlanta, it started out small and student-focused,” he said. “It’s grown along with the Atlanta market where there are a lot of professionals now. The focus has changed to really high-end production, which is reflected in the Cine Gear environment.”
Zeiss had its new 15mm Supreme Prime lens on display, as well as a full complement of Radiance lenses. “The 15mm prime is very wide and rectilinear,” Wisniewski said. “Our Radiance lenses give you a bit of flare as well.”
Seminars included a roundtable on working with LUMIX and a how-to on Astera shortcuts. The Virtual Production Center Panel featured programmers, VFX supervisors, and VR producers talking about new possibilities open to filmmakers. Joseph White, founder of Carstage, drew gasps from attendees with his demo reel.
“This is an important place for camera nerds,” said Tinx Chan, a Cinematographer whose first feature, Our Father the Devil, was just picked up for distribution. “We get to see what’s up and running with new tech.”
Chan’s Cine Gear connections helped him assemble the equipment for Our Father, the Devil, which he shot in France during the height of the pandemic. The film’s success means that writer and director Ellie Foumbi is now negotiating with larger studios.
“Since she started with small films, studios want her to hire more experienced cinematographers,” Chan said. “But the relationships you form are so important, which means Ellie will fight to keep her own team.”
The next Cine Gear Expo takes place in Los Angeles from June 1–4. As for Industry City, Grosso hopes next year’s event will be even larger.
Look for more coverage of Cine Gear New York 2023 very soon.
