This historical documentary heritage will be lost; as great as it is invaluable since it was not based on the need to produce, but on live shooting, mirroring actual living conditions. Note that many performances, created by famous artists and pioneers in the electronic arts such as Nam June Paik, Andy Warhol, etc., were mentioned in art papers and also became subjects worthy of study at university as important milestones in contemporary art. They cannot be seen in the major American and European museums where they are located, because the video recorder technique used has been forgotten.

The polymers housing the binder between the magnetic particles and the polycarbonates on the back of the tape support, used to make it run better, have aged over the years. Between the coils of the old reels friction has formed by sedimentation and this stops the rotating head drums from turning properly – thus synchronization track reading is no longer regular. Consequently images and sounds cannot be played back.

Large amounts of financial backing for restoring films using digital technology, has lately become available, achieving a great deal of success when scanners, computers and film recorders worked together. The same kind of attention has not been paid to diagnostics and the damage caused over the years has only been partly understood and dealt with. Films, produced and documented by independent teams with a strong bent towards anthropology and politics, would provide an entirely different viewpoint compared to what the mass media have given us.