Time to offer our congratulations to NZCS Platinum sponsor ARRI who have reached the amazing 100-year milestone.    

2017 marks 100 years since August Arnold and Robert Richter rented a small former shoemaker’s store in Munich and set up shop as a film technology firm. The two young friends started with just one product: a copying machine they built on a lathe Richter had received as a Christmas present from his parents. Taking the first two letters of their surnames, they christened their new enterprise ARRI.

In Sydney, Australian GM Brett Smith (pictured) who joined ARRI last year says the company has just celebrated a record year in camera and lighting. 

"That success has not been achieved by chance," he says. 

When the company was founded the partners were teenagers too young to to sign the incorporation documents. Executive board member Dr Jorg Pohlman says first and foremost the pair were film enthusiasts, driven by a love for visual storytelling and technology. 

"If you walk around ARRI today you’ll see that same enthusiasm and passion – it defines who we are and what we do.” 

Full release