A MOVIE VANISHES

Those of us old enough to remember going to our local video-rental shop have fond memories of picking out that evening’s entertainment, perusing wall-to-ceiling shelves lined with brightly covered cases offering every conceivable genre of cinema. Well, now things are very different – the rental shop has long since disappeared and many movie lovers have rejected physical media altogether, decluttering their homes and relying on streaming services and digital downloads for at-home viewing. It may seem the whole world of movies is just a few clicks away, that more films are accessible than ever, but in fact the opposite is true.

When Netflix existed as a physical media company, posting DVDs to its customers, it reportedly had more than 100,000 films available, significantly more than all the current streaming services combined. By 2014 this had dropped to 6,494 and today Netflix is estimated to contain fewer than 3,900 titles.

So, where have all these films gone? Award-winning director Mary Harron is best known for and , but her first film, , is now “missing”. The story of radical feminist Valerie Solanas’ attempted assassination of Warhol, the 1996 film shocked and delighted the crowds at Cannes and won Best Actress for Lili Taylor at Sundance. As Harron tells , “There are different categories of missing movies. My case is common for filmmakers is now entangled in a web of bureaucracy and uncertain ownership, which means that even Harron herself isn’t able to screen the film. “Criterion has been writing to me for years asking to show my film, and it’s been very frustrating to keep writing back and say, ‘I’m sorry, I still can’t get it.’”