Aaton Closes Its Doors

Aaton has been placed into receivership and has closed its doors, probably permanently. Gotham Sound has posted the 3m 45s video below to YouTube, with the following Description:

After the 2013 IBC show, Gotham's Peter Schneider and Christina Z. Wittich were invited to Grenoble, France to meet with Aaton's engineers to learn about and give input to the development of the Cantar X3. They spent an afternoon with Aaton's founder Jean-Pierre Beauviala talking to him about his contributions to motion picture cinematography, working with Jean Luc Godard, and the future of Aaton. This short film is a very condensed version of those conversations.

Wikipedia on Aaton: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaton_Digital

Beauviala mentions Blackmagic briefly during the discussion. Because the video isn't about Gotham as a business, it's unlisted, but Peter Schneider is encouraging people to watch it. I'd like to see the entire interview.

A Day with Jean-Pierre Beauviala

This is indeed sad news.

I feel like the walls are closing in.

https://www.aaton.com/


"Nous avons la tristesse de vous annoncer que l’aventure de Aaton-Digital s’est arrêtée le 15 Février 2024 par un jugement du Tribunal.

Trois années de covid-19 suivies d’une longue grève des métiers du cinéma ont profondément affecté nos ventes. Devant l’absence de perspectives l’entreprise a été liquidée.

Nous remercions tous nos utilisateurs et partenaires pour leur engagement et leur passion pendant les dix années que nous avons traversées ensemble.

We are sad to announce that the Aaton-Digital adventure ended on February 15, 2024 by a court judgment.

Three years of covid-19 followed by a long strike by cinema professionals have profoundly affected our sales. Faced with no prospects, the company was liquidated.

We thank all our users and partners for their commitment and passion during the ten years we have gone through together."

"cat on the operator’s shoulder."

"Where the cat’s cultural significance becomes relevant for this column is in the marketing campaign that Jean-Pierre Beauviala began with the introduction of his first Aaton 16mm camera, which he likened to a cat on the operator’s shoulder. This came at a time when shoulder designs for film cameras were nonexistent."

https://www.afcinema.com/The-Nine-Lives ... onexistent.