How Kodak is trying to turn around its business after teetering on bankruptcy

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On Jim Continenza’s first day on the job as Eastman Kodak

executive chairman in 2019, he got a call from a star Hollywood filmmaker telling him the company was making a big mistake.

The photography technology company was in the process of shutting down its acetate factory, which makes one of the key ingredients used in film. Christopher Nolan, the director behind major movies like “Inception” and “Oppenheimer,” urged Continenza to stop the process.

“He goes, ‘Do not turn this off. Please take a look.’ And I did,” Continenza, now CEO, told CNBC. “He was right. I started looking at it because I shoot 35 millimeter [film], and I’m like, ‘Why would one of the greatest directors of all time even have this conversation?’”