GummyChicken

i wanted to add my "witness". Prologue: i am university student in Italy in "Scienze del Patrimonio Audiovisivo e dei Nuovi Media" (Sciences of the AudioVisual Heritage and New Media) and the main subject is Preservation of the Cinema (as fisical film and the movie itself). Even if the statal funds are limited like the budget of "Chosen, well of souls", preserving the movie is an important dilemma because it is considered Cultural Heritage in pretty much every state even around the world (from what i know, many states from Asia asked support to these "experts of preservation" to save their movie heritage). One of the first topics you learn is how movies were produced... and disposed from the beginning of the Cinema to almost the 1960's. When a film was printed and showed in the theaters, it was ok. When such film was replaced by a different movie, it was forcefully sent back to the producer's study and literally CHOPPED WITH AN AXE so that nobody could ever use that film again. Why? 1) it wasn't profitable anymore; 2) the film could be recycled. Only with the advent of Television and then Home Formats it was noted that "hey, these old movies may actually still have some value!" At the end, of the Silent Era today we have LESS than 5% of the whole heritage since the rest has been destroyed by time, natural catastrophies, wars, fires, but mostly by the hands of producers. does it sound familiar?