“By accident, that’s how I got into this business,” says Manuela Hung, with a wide smile. The personable General Manager of Filmworkers/Astro Lab in Chicago and Sanitary Lab in Dallas, never saw herself as a technical person until she started working in film labs.

Early on, Manuela had a studio and tried to make it as a photographer while she worked at a still photography lab. “I shot everything to make money,” she says, “including weddings on the weekends!” A guy she knew went to work for Allied Films, and eventually offered her a job.

“Allied had just completed all this renovation, so he asked me, ‘how would you like to work at a brand new motion picture lab?’” Manuela says she didn’t know anything about motion pictures, but she interviewed anyway. They offered her the job for more than she was making, but there was a hitch. They wanted a five year commitment. She couldn’t do that, but she promised them one year.

Manuela’s career in film has spanned a variety of lab departments and labs on the Chicago scene, including Gamma Photo Labs, Allied Films, Sanitary Lab and Filmworkers/Astro Lab. The commonality that colors all of her experiences is her laser focus on quality. She is passionate about solving quality issues and improving quality at the lab.

When Allied lost its chemist, Manuela didn’t want to know anything about chemistry, but the lab needed someone to do analysis. She started looking at the instruction manuals and finally called the senior quality controller at the main lab in Detroit for help. “I found it was kind of like cooking,” she explains. With guidance, she got involved in analysis and eventually became the senior quality controller.

In the early 80s she moved to the video department at Allied and turned her attention to online editing. That lasted for over a decade.

In the early 90s, Editel talent Reid Brody opened his company, Filmworkers Club, and started killing the competition with one telecine. Manuela says he was like a kid in the candy store when he showed her the processor in his basement that someone in New York had built for him. “The guy took him to the cleaners,” she remembers. “It was a mess. I said oh my god, have you ever been to a lab? He said no, but I want to do it right.” He convinced Manuela to join Filmworkers and set up Sanitary Lab.

“When we opened the lab, we had all kinds of problems, but I got the right experts together and nine months later, we had a beautiful lab, a little lab!” Her response to issues with the scrubbers was to design one that worked, have it built and installed. She thrived in her new environment with the freedom to learn, create and build a good lab and an expert team. “It was really fun because I worked for people who really trusted me and as a result of that trust, I felt I couldn’t let them down. So I really did my homework!”

Allied Films closed and Sanitary Lab acquired Astro Labs. Today it is known as Filmworkers/Astro Lab with business that includes high end commercials, independent and student films and feature films. They have two Spirits, high def boards, their own software people and the ability to offer streaming dailies.

One of Manuela’s favorite stories is the work the lab did on “Proof”, a Miramax film that had an 11-day shoot in Chicago last fall. Three days before the shoot started, they got the specs. The film editing was in England and they wanted work prints of select takes, edited mags and screening of dailies in London. The turnaround demands were challenging for the small lab and they had never edited mags before. Manuela found equipment at Columbia College and did a crash training course. “It was a very tough job and I thought I was going to die. But, by the time it started, we had it all put together and it was very satisfying.”

For Manuela, membership in the ACVL is essential. “In Chicago, we are very isolated because we’re the only lab. The economy has changed and it’s a relatively small market, so ACVL gives me the opportunity to meet with other people in the industry and discuss technical issues. “ She says the ACVL is doing a great job, particularly with looking ahead, preserving film and providing information about developing ideas.

“I love film. I love every kind of film,” says Manuela with a sparkle in her eye. So she must, as her original one year commitment is still going strong!