Industry briefings: November/December 2025
Posted on Nov 12, 2025 by Admin
A look at major product news, filmmaker support programmes, festival highlights and the latest policy conversations influencing the UK’s creative industries
Fujifilm unveils eagerly awaited GFX ETERNA 55
After much anticipation, the GFX ETERNA 55 finally arrived at IBC in September, attracting a lot of buzz to the Fujifilm booth. The camera is an exciting addition to Fujifilm’s range, translating the brand’s rich film heritage into a digital camera, and featuring a large format GFX 102MP CMOS II HS sensor that’s approximately 1.7 times larger than a 35mm sensor. This makes it the world’s tallest large format sensor designed for filmmaking cameras, surpassing full-frame and Super 35 formats.
Filmmakers can take advantage of the sensor, which roughly measures 55mm diagonally, using the 4:3 Open Gate GF format. They can choose from five different cinema formats, including Premista, 35mm, anamorphic (35mm) and Super 35. Plus, with the PL Mount Adapter, a wide range of professional cinema lenses can be used, giving a great level of flexibility.
Similar to Fujifilm’s X Series range, GFX ETERNA 55 features 20 Film Simulation modes. Filmmakers can access ten expertly crafted Film Simulation LUTs that replicate Fujifilm’s iconic film stocks in the digital format, including Velvia, ASTIA, CLASSIC CHROME and ETERNA. The camera also supports three Apple ProRes codecs: 422 HQ, 422 and 422 LT.
Additionally, the new high-speed image processing engine X-Processor 5 quickly delivers exceptional image quality, letting filmmakers capture outstanding visuals. Refined over more than 90 years and combined with Fujifilm’s renowned colour science, the GFX ETERNA 55 opens up even more exciting possibilities for rich, cinematic storytelling. Designed for professional filmmakers, the GFX ETERNA 55 is set to be an affordable option for film shoots and will be available from October.
Sugar Studios launches Made Sweeter initiative
In light of the industry’s recent struggles, Sugar Studios has started Made Sweeter, an initiative that aids underrepresented creatives struggling to get a project over the line or experiencing financial hardships. It offers flexible pricing packages, production support, dedicated studio time, as well as space for passion projects, early-stage work and community events. It gets content creators discounts on catering and in-house production materials, plus partnership opportunities for those seeking mentorship or collaborative resources. In a nutshell, the team hope to make filmmaking ‘more compassionate, accessible and sustainable for everyone’.
Housed in an old sugar refinery on the Greenwich Peninsula, Sugar Studios offers four film and photography studios, including a U-shaped green screen, large infinity cove and space for two LED stages. It’s served a varied client base, with customers from the worlds of film, theatre, music, advertising, sports, fashion and art.
“We want to give storytellers every chance to make their projects possible,” said Jo Wallace, studio director. “Made Sweeter is about fostering opportunity, building trust and nurturing long-term creative relationships. We believe every creator has something valuable to contribute and that, by supporting them, we can help shape and sustain a vibrant, inclusive creative community where ideas can flourish and collaborations can grow beyond a single brief.”
International Motor Film Awards announces winners
The International Motor Film Awards hit London in October, marking their 12th year celebrating excellence in automotive storytelling. Showcasing everything from Hollywood epics to student projects and adverts, it was – unsurprisingly – F1, Joseph Kosinski’s high-octane racing feature, that stormed into pole position for best feature film. 2DIE4 took home best documentary feature and Lancia: The Legend of Rally won best documentary episode, while Ford Bronco Wild Blood clinched best indie and Reuben Wu’s luminous work for Lexus, A New Perspective, earned best cinematography.
You can check out the rest of the winners at motorfilmawards.com/2025
Media Cymru makes case for investment in Wales’ creative industries
Fuelling the Future, a new campaign from Media Cymru, calls for long-term R&D investment in Wales’ creative industries, worth $5bn to the country’s economy. Highlighting Wales’ position as one of the UK’s creative hotspots in terms of output, second only to London and Manchester, the campaign asserts that the sector in Wales is buoyant but vulnerable. It points to success stories the region has seen due to investment in research, development and innovation (RD&I), such as leading VP facility fivefold studios, and BBC Cymru Wales.
Professor Sara Pepper, deputy director of Media Cymru, argues ongoing support is essential to maintain momentum in turning the Cardiff Capital Region into a global hub for media innovation. “We’ve seen creative businesses weather a wide range of challenges over the past five years. From the impacts of the global pandemic and industrial action in the US to ongoing digital disruption, economic uncertainties and changes in audience preferences and behaviour, the sector has shown resilience. While some businesses feel uncertain about the future, the industry as a whole maintains its adaptability, creativity and ability to navigate challenges. We’re seeing the emergence of a creative cluster in the Cardiff Capital Region that understands and is benefitting from RD&I activity, where investment of this kind is directly linked to growth and productivity. But to sustain this, we need policy frameworks and funding structures that recognise and reinforce the value of targeted innovation activity for the needs of this complex sector.”
Short takes
Bradford Young is 2025 FilmLight Colour Awards jury president
Bradford Young, ASC (When They See Us, Arrival) will lead the jury for this year’s FilmLight Colour Awards, a celebration of colourists with a prizegiving at CAMERIMAGE. “Colourists are the hidden jewels of our art form,” he says. “They complete our creative utterances and are foundational to the life of a moving image.”
Submissions open for SXSW London 2026
SXSW festival will return to east London between 1 and 6 June 2026, with submissions now open to filmmakers, speakers, technologists and musicians. The debut SXSW London showed 114 film and TV screenings, and next year’s event will again combine a curated programme with public voting. Submissions for screen entries close on 31 December.
Mnemonica welcomes Daniele Vilardi as its first sales director
As it expands internationally, the cloud-based content hub Mnemonica has named Daniele Vilardi as its first-ever sales director. Vilardi brings experience from his tenure at Media Fenix, where he helped develop solutions across production, post-production and distribution.
RAF base turned film studio gets go-ahead in Tattersett
After pollution concerns, North Norfolk District Council approved plans for a film studio at Tattersett Business Park, a former RAF base near Fakenham. With five sound stages, it’ll be a key part of the east of England’s studio landscape.
Want to hear about more news from this year? Read last month’s industry briefings.
This article appears in the November/December 2025 issue of Definition
