Arriflex

Arnold & Richter Cine Technik (A&R)

Type	Private
Industry	Motion picture equipment
Founded	1917; 100 years ago (1917)
Headquarters	Munich, Germany
Key people	August Arnold, Robert Richter, founders
Products	Motion picture cameras Cine lenses Lighting equipment Archive technologies Digital surgical microscope
Revenue	€300 million EUR (2014)
Number of employees	1,200 (2014)
Website	www.arri.com

The Arri Group is a global supplier of motion picture film equipment. Based in Munich, the company was founded in 1917. It produces professional motion picture cameras, lenses, lighting and postproduction equipment. Hermann Simon mentioned this company in his book Hidden Champions of the 21st Century as an example of a "Hidden Champion". The Arri Alexa camera system was used to film Academy Award winners for Best Cinematography including "Hugo", "Life of Pi", "Gravity", "Birdman" and "The Revenant".

Arri was founded in Munich, Germany as Arnold & Richter Cine Technik in 1917, named after founders August Arnold and Robert Richter.

In 1924, Arnold and Richter developed their first film camera, the small and portable Kinarri 35. In 1937, Arri introduced the world's first reflex mirror shutter in the Arriflex 35 camera, an invention of longtime engineer Erich Kästner. This technology employs a rotating mirror that allows a continuous motor to operate the camera while providing parallax-free reflex viewing to the operator, and the ability to focus the image by eye through the viewfinder, much like an SLR camera for still photography. The reflex design was subsequently used in almost every professional motion picture film camera and is still used in the Arri Alexa Studio digital camera. The first Hollywood film to employ an Arriflex was the 1947 Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall film Dark Passage in 1947. Over the years, more than 17,000 Arriflex 35s were built. The design was recognized with two Scientific and Technical Academy Awards in 1966 and 1982.

In 1952, Arri introduced the Arriflex 16ST, the first professional 16mm camera with a reflex viewing system. In 1965, a self-blimped 16mm camera was released: the Arriflex 16BL. The Arriflex 35BL followed in 1972 as a lightweight, quiet alternative to the rather heavy and cumbersome blimped cameras of the time. Also in 1972, Arri pioneered the development of daylight luminaires with the Arrisonne 2000 W. The Arriflex 16SR, launched in 1975, featured a redesigned viewfinder with a through-the-lens light meter. The Arriflex 765, a 65mm camera, was released in 1989, partly in response to the growing industry demand for 70mm release prints.