International. Exactly one hundred years and one day after the creation of ARRI, the film technology company held an exclusive celebration of its hundred years for select guests in the Isaforum of the famous Deutsches Museum in Munich.
ARRI's Executive Board and members of the Stahl family – the owners of the company – welcomed nearly 100 guests on September 12, 2017, including long-standing customers, representatives and colleagues from the global film industry.
"With this very special anniversary celebration we want to thank everyone for the many years of intense and excellent collaboration we have enjoyed together and for what, we are sure, will be a continuous and successful future together," Franz Kraus, the Executive Board member responsible for technology at the ARRI Group, said in his welcome address.
Today ARRI is active all over the planet but still considers Bavaria as its home. This long-standing company has successfully confronted and mastered digitalization, which will ensure ARRI's permanence as a trusted and important representative for the film and television industry in the future."
The speeches of the invited personalities were followed by an entertaining, varied and enjoyable evening, which was hosted by the charming Nina Eichinger. Among the performers was artist Natalya Netselya, who portrayed milestones of ARRI's memorable arena journey, including the founding of the company by the two enthusiastic film-loving teenagers August Arnold and Robert Richter on September 12, 1917 in a former shoemaker's workshop on Munich's Tuerkenstrasse.
Anecdotes were shared with the guests. Film director Edgar Reitz, for example, told the story of how, as a student, "old" Mr. Arnold had him dismantle an ARRI camera and then assemble it again while telling him that when he could he would allow him to use the camera for free for his film. Reitz, son of a watchmaker, succeeded... and was rewarded. The director Joseph Vilsmaier, also present, has a very special bond with ARRI because he did his apprenticeship in the company in the 50s.
These and many other chapters of ARRI's rich history were featured at the centennial event in the film sequence The Filmmaker's View. As a gift to all film lovers around the world, an ARRI team shot more than 250 video interviews over a period of a year and a half with filmmakers and other industry professionals around the globe. In this series of interviews renowned filmmakers such as Ang Lee, Francis Ford Coppola, Judith Kaufmann, Wim Wenders and Tom Tykwer tell us how technology has changed their artistic work. The interviews can be seen in 100.arri.com/filmmakersview and a book entitled The Filmmaker's View has also been published for the occasion.
ARRI's centenary celebrations began in July with two major anniversary parties at venues for representatives, customers and employees from around the world. More events will take place from September in Amsterdam, Los Angeles, Hong Kong, Mumbai and London.
