Why Steven Spielberg and Janusz Kamiński Chose 35mm to Ground ‘Disclosure Day’ in Alternate Realities

If there's one thing you can always count on for Steven Spielberg, it's the fact that he loves to shoot on film. His new movie, Disclosure Day, is no exception. They shot on 35mm.

While the premise is deeply rooted in extraordinary, cosmic stakes, the approach behind the camera is old-school and feels like a real event movie.

In a newly released featurette by Kodak, Spielberg and his legendary cinematographer, Janusz Kamiński, broke down why they used 35mm to give this modern alien epic a grounded weight that helps out the story.

Let's dive in.

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The Secret Language of Spielberg and Kamiński

Spielberg and Kamiński have one of the most prolific director-DP relationships in cinema history.

They began together on Schindler’s List, and then made even bigger moviesl ike Saving Private Ryan and Minority Report.

This collaboration has stayed strong for over thirty years, and you can tell they love working together.

What I love is that they both have this passion for visual language and formats that mirror thematic content. If they want ot make the audience feel something, they use both the story and aspect ratios and lens types to do it.

"Every time I get a script from Steven, I know we are in good hands," Kamiński says in the featurette. "My first reaction was that we're back into making a classical Steven Spielberg movie... and that involves action, very large scope, and a very emotional core."

For Disclosure Day, that meant pushing past conventional digital workflows to achieve an organic look that blends massive visual effects with the real world we recognize.

VFX and Celluloid

One of the greatest challenges of modern science fiction is preventing heavily digitized environments from feeling like they're missing the soul of what's practical.

Disclosure Day relies on extensive practical photography combined with digital mastery in order to take the audience on a big adventure.

In the featurette, we hear about a train sequence in the film that required blending intense practical stunts with seamless VFX, and 35mm film acted as the ultimate visual glue.

"The film was shot on 35mm," Kamiński explains. "Steven is very encouraging for me to not be afraid to go less conventional, and certainly in this movie, we did go less conventional."

By opting for 35mm over standard digital sensors, the filmmakers introduced a natural texture, depth, and grain structure so that the movie had some texture.

If you are a director weighing your options, understanding how different film gauges change the scope and grain of your imagery is crucial to picking how you want to shoot your movie.

For Spielberg and Kamiński, 35mm sits perfectly at the intersection of high fidelity and classic cinematic texture.

Kamiński used Panavision Panaflex Millennium XL2 cameras paired with anamorphic lenses for a wide 2.39:1 presentation to capture this scope, and then switched to the digital Sony VENICE 2 only for specific handheld, low-light setups.

You can read more about that here.

Jumping Through Media Eras

The plot of Disclosure Day hinges on a vast trove of historical government archives spanning decades of secrecy that come out into the public eye. Because the film handles media meant to replicate the 1940s through the modern day, the format had to shift natively.

"That gave me the opportunity to play with different formats and different looks to create this sense of reality," says Kamiński. "Everything had to be authentic to the technology we had in the ’40s, ’50s, ’60s, ’70s, and on through to today."

The camera team was able to manipulate exposure, night lighting, and organic imperfections to effortlessly evoke these historical eras.

The stuff felt like a real showcase of all the ways you could shoot film.

When you shoot on film, the lack of instant playback on set demands a rigorous commitment to blocking, lighting, and trusting your visual instinct.

You need a crew you can trust, and you need to hope you get it right, but when you do, the images are stunning and can lure people in to see a new sense of reality.

For Spielberg and Kamiński, that trust is a language they've spoken for over thirty years.

Disclosure Day hits IMAX theaters on June 12, 2026.

Let me know what you think in the comments.