"When you see the films of certain young directors, you get the impression that film history begins for them around 1980. " -- Jacques Rivette

Film I think this got rather less coverage than it deserves. The UK Government are donating £25 million to the UK Film Council to help preserve films being held in archives throughout the country, although mostly at the BFI. This is amazing news, since by a strange co-incidence it's almost the amount quoted during this BBC Four discussion from the summer as to how much funding would be required to save the archives -- or at least keep it in a state of grace. Many of the oldest films are on nitrate film stock which has a very limited shelf life (because when they were created it wasn't thought they would have a shelf life) and even newer material degrades. Now there's a chance it won't be lost -- which means we'll still have this window into the past in the future.