Fujifilm is now having a Chinese company make some of their film stocks, and now Kodak Alaris, the firm that came about when Kodak divested its pension fund to employees, and which makes the current Kodak film stocks, has now been sold. The buyer is Kingswood Capital Management, a small LA-based equity fund started in 2013.
It's unclear to me whether film sales are truly sustainable or not. The last serious film camera left the market over a decade ago, meaning that at least for still photography, it is closet and used cameras that drive any further sales of 35mm film stock. I have to believe that to be truly sustainable, we need at least one or two serious and modern cameras in the mix. And no, the Pentax 17 doesn't really count.
People point to the record business (LPs) as the model for on-going film use. The difference there is that you can still buy record players new, so that market can grow over time, even if only modestly, as people discover those players. As camera stores continue to close, the presence of even used film cameras you can easily acquire diminishes over time.
Note that Kodak Alaris isn't just in the business of "making film." It's also a strong player in the scanner business. What isn't said in the press release or statements made by the seller or acquirer is how committed the new entity will be to both sides of their business (document scanning and film production), though both groups are mentioned in the press releases.
