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ORWO
ORWO (for ORiginal WOlfen) is a registered trademark of the company ORWO Net GmbH, based in Wolfen and is also traditionally known for black and white film products, made in Germany and sold under the ORWO brand.
ORWO was established in East Germany in 1964 as a brand for photographic film and magnetic tape, mainly produced at the former VEB Filmfabrik Wolfen (now Chemical Park Bitterfeld-Wolfen). The Wolfen factory was founded by AGFA (Aktien-Gesellschaft für Anilin-Fabrikation) in 1910, and in 1936 developed Agfacolor Neu, the first modern colour film which incorporated dye couplers.
The division of Germany after World War II saw AGFA divided, into Agfa AG, Leverkusen in West Germany, and VEB Film- und Chemiefaserwerk Agfa Wolfen in East Germany, which eventually rebranded as ORWO. The company was privatised in 1990 as ORWO AG, but film production ceased at Wolfen in 1994 following the liquidation of the company, with its constituent parts closed or sold off. The Industry and Film Museum Wolfen now occupies part of the original factory.
One of the successor companies, FilmoTec GmbH was founded in 1998 to produce high quality black and white cinema and technical films, based in Wolfen under the ORWO brand (license rights are held by the ORWO Net GmbH). Currently, the ORWO film range incorporates negative film for motion picture production (UN 54 and N 75), duplicating film, print film, sound recording film, and film leaders for the processing and distribution business.
In 2020 FilmoTec was brought under common ownership under Seal 1818 GmbH with part of the film coating company InovisCoat GmbH, also based in Germany and with shared Agfa heritage, to offer films for the film industry under the traditional brand “ORWO”. Subsequently these were branded "Original Wolfen".
A dye factory was established at the Rummelsburger See near Berlin in 1867. Its name was changed to AGFA (Actien-Gesellschaft für Anilin-Fabrikation) in 1873. The Wolfen factory was established by AGFA in 1910 and its original Leverkusen works (near Cologne) around the same time. In 1911, the first casting plant at Wolfen for polymer films (nitrocellulose) was built by AGFA. By 1925, with AGFA now part of the industrial conglomerate I.G. Farben, Wolfen was specialising in film production and Leverkusen photographic paper. In 1932, the process of making Triacetate Cellulose (TAC) film was patented at the Wolfen facility
The Agfa Wolfen plant developed Agfacolor Neu, the first modern colour film incorporating dye couplers, in 1936. It was simpler to process than its contemporary, Kodak Kodachrome from 1935.
On 20 April 1945, following the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, the Wolfen plant was taken over by US forces, and important patents and other documents regarding the Agfacolor process were confiscated and handed over to Western competitors, such as Kodak and Ilford. As the plant was located in what was to become the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, the US forces then handed it over to the Soviet military administration, which dismantled large parts of the plant and moved it, with key German staff, to Svema in Shostka, Ukraine, where it formed the basis for the Soviet colour film industry.
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ORWO
ORWO (for ORiginal WOlfen) is a registered trademark of the company ORWO Net GmbH, based in Wolfen and is also traditionally known for black and white film products, made in Germany and sold under the ORWO brand.
ORWO was established in East Germany in 1964 as a brand for photographic film and magnetic tape, mainly produced at the former VEB Filmfabrik Wolfen (now Chemical Park Bitterfeld-Wolfen). The Wolfen factory was founded by AGFA (Aktien-Gesellschaft für Anilin-Fabrikation) in 1910, and in 1936 developed Agfacolor Neu, the first modern colour film which incorporated dye couplers.
The division of Germany after World War II saw AGFA divided, into Agfa AG, Leverkusen in West Germany, and VEB Film- und Chemiefaserwerk Agfa Wolfen in East Germany, which eventually rebranded as ORWO. The company was privatised in 1990 as ORWO AG, but film production ceased at Wolfen in 1994 following the liquidation of the company, with its constituent parts closed or sold off. The Industry and Film Museum Wolfen now occupies part of the original factory.
One of the successor companies, FilmoTec GmbH was founded in 1998 to produce high quality black and white cinema and technical films, based in Wolfen under the ORWO brand (license rights are held by the ORWO Net GmbH). Currently, the ORWO film range incorporates negative film for motion picture production (UN 54 and N 75), duplicating film, print film, sound recording film, and film leaders for the processing and distribution business.
In 2020 FilmoTec was brought under common ownership under Seal 1818 GmbH with part of the film coating company InovisCoat GmbH, also based in Germany and with shared Agfa heritage, to offer films for the film industry under the traditional brand “ORWO”. Subsequently these were branded "Original Wolfen".
A dye factory was established at the Rummelsburger See near Berlin in 1867. Its name was changed to AGFA (Actien-Gesellschaft für Anilin-Fabrikation) in 1873. The Wolfen factory was established by AGFA in 1910 and its original Leverkusen works (near Cologne) around the same time. In 1911, the first casting plant at Wolfen for polymer films (nitrocellulose) was built by AGFA. By 1925, with AGFA now part of the industrial conglomerate I.G. Farben, Wolfen was specialising in film production and Leverkusen photographic paper. In 1932, the process of making Triacetate Cellulose (TAC) film was patented at the Wolfen facility
The Agfa Wolfen plant developed Agfacolor Neu, the first modern colour film incorporating dye couplers, in 1936. It was simpler to process than its contemporary, Kodak Kodachrome from 1935.
On 20 April 1945, following the defeat of Nazi Germany in World War II, the Wolfen plant was taken over by US forces, and important patents and other documents regarding the Agfacolor process were confiscated and handed over to Western competitors, such as Kodak and Ilford. As the plant was located in what was to become the Soviet zone of occupied Germany, the US forces then handed it over to the Soviet military administration, which dismantled large parts of the plant and moved it, with key German staff, to Svema in Shostka, Ukraine, where it formed the basis for the Soviet colour film industry.
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