Fan Preservationists Are Outpacing Studios at Saving Cinema's History
Pirating the Pirates
Home video releases of classic films are often marred by revisionist restorations, remixed audio, and altered aspect ratios. While boutique labels like Arrow and Kino do their best, legal and budgetary constraints limit them. Amateur preservationists, operating outside copyright law, have created superior versions of films like The Good, the Bad and the Ugly and Star Wars, offering historically accurate cuts that studios won't. Their work fills a critical gap, but it comes with legal risk under the DMCA.
People who alter or destroy works of art and our cultural heritage for profit or as an exercise of power are barbarians, and if the laws of the United States continue to condone this behavior, history will surely classify us as a barbaric society.