Arri

Arri Group (/ˈæri/) (stylized as "ARRI") is a German manufacturer of motion picture film equipment. Based in Munich, the company was founded in 1917. It produces professional motion picture cameras, lenses, lighting and post-production equipment. It is cited by Hermann Simon as an example of a "hidden champion". The Arri Alexa camera system was used to shoot several films that won the Academy Award for Best Cinematography, including Hugo (2011), Life of Pi (2012), Gravity (2013), Birdman (2014), The Revenant (2015) and 1917 (2019).

Arri was founded in Munich, Germany on 12 September 1917 by August Arnold and Robert Richter as Arnold & Richter Cine Technik. The acronym Arri was derived from the initial two letters of the founders' surnames, Arnold and 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 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 its early years, ARRI grew steadily: by 1927, the company had 20 employees, and five years later, it had already doubled that number.

When August Arnold and Robert Richter were not using their technology to produce films or segments for the newsreel (Wochenschau), they rented out their equipment to other film producers for a fee. This idea of renting equipment would later lead to the founding of ARRI Rental, now a major branch of ARRI's global business.

In 1928, the company developed the KINARRI 16, the first 16mm camera—a hand-cranked amateur model soon replaced by an improved version with a spring mechanism. In 1934, ARRI released a mobile sound camera, but due to patent issues, it was only used for the production of two films.

From 1927 onward, the company filmed the Reichsparteitage of the NSDAP, and after the party took power in Germany, ARRI ingratiated itself by sending letters presenting the firm as a longtime supporter. Richter and Arnold both joined the NSDAP in 1933. They hoped to gain protection, commissions, and recommendations for the renewed production of feature films under party-affiliated organizations. The company hired committed Nazis as directors and screenwriters, but after only three films in 1934–35, ARRI's brief return to feature film production ended. In 1938, ARRI was commissioned to shoot a film documenting the destruction of the Old Main Synagogue in Munich.

In 1937, ARRI presented the ARRIFLEX 35 at the Leipzig Spring Fair, the first mass-produced reflex film camera. Engineer Erich Kästner played a decisive role, bringing the rotating mirror shutter to production readiness in motion picture cameras. For the first time, the ARRIFLEX 35 allowed users to view the precise frame and focus distribution through the viewfinder without parallax error.