Kino Flo
In 1987 while working as a Gaffer, Frieder Hochheim together with his Best Boy, Gary Swink, was asked by a DP to get creative in a small set space. Working off the back of a truck, they put together fluorescent lamps in a hollowed-out foam block and stuck it to the ceiling. This was the humble beginnings of Kino Flo. Through experience on sets and tremendous support from cinematographers, they improved their design.
The first film that really showed how Kino Flos were a problem solver was Barfly. While shooting Barfly, the notion of creating a company called Kino Flo was born. (“Kino” means film in German and “Flo” is short for fluorescent.) Kino Flos were soon welcomed by cinematographers and are now considered a staple of a standard motion picture lighting package.
For over 25 years, Kino Flo Lighting Systems has been a manufacturer of high quality soft lighting equipment for use in motion picture lighting, television, video and photography. They are well known for their innovative color-correct True Match® lamps and compact fixtures with high frequency, flicker-free ballasts. In 1995 Kino Flo received a technical achievement award from the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences for the development of color-correct lamps for film.
Located in Burbank, CA, Kino Flo has expanded its operations and designs and manufactures a wide range of soft lighting systems. Worldwide distribution provides support for local studios or productions shooting on location.
Kino Flo continues to be a leader in the industry introducing new developments and constantly improving the efficiencies and formulations of its lamp technology. Incorporating new technology into its product line, Kino Flo recently introduced a new line of LED’s with dimming and “dial-in” color temperature control with soft, cool, high color rendering features (CRI 95), the same high quality of light Kino Flos are known for.
It has always been Kino Flo’s mission to work with lighting professionals who meet daily production challenges on location or in the studio, to design and improve our line of soft lights. We have been blessed to have a group of dedicated designers, engineers, fabricators, managers and sales people all contributing to producing the quality products the world has come to know as Kino Flos.