Arri 1917

Arri was founded as Arnold and Richter Cine Technik in 1917 in Munich, Germany. The company was named after its founders, August Arnold and Robert Richter. Arri is the largest manufacturer of professional motion picture equipment, film cameras (16, 35, and 65/70 mm) and cinematic lighting equipment in the world.

Arri produced their first film camera in 1924, the Kinarri 35. Then in 1937, the Arri Group introduced the world's first reflex mirror shutter in the Arriflex 35 camera, an invention of their longtime engineer Erich Kaestner. This reflex design went on to be used in almost every professional motion picture film camera and was recognised with two Scientific and Technical Academy Awards in 1966 and 1982.

Arri also specialised in manufacturing light-weight and portable cameras for both news and war photography, as well as feature film production in the 1960's which saw an increase in shooting on location rather than in a studio.

In the 1990s, Arri partnered with Carl Zeiss AG to develop and manufacture advanced lenses. In 2010, they took this further and began a partnership with Zeiss and Fujinon to develop lenses that incorporated enhanced electronic lens data transfer to simplify visual effects workflows in postproduction.

Today, the company has subsidiaries in 16 countries and produces digital cameras, lenses, camera accessories, archive technologies, lamp heads, and lighting accessories.