Due to the ever increasing powers given to the entertainment industry under the various provisions contained in numerous recent Copyright Acts which have been enacted and ratified throughout the world, and the draconian methods that parts of the industry are now using to coerce, frighten, fine and imprison those persons who now fall within the scope of these Laws, it has been decided that ReelStreets will no longer be able to offer redundant films, either on VHS or on DVD, for sale.

It is to be regretted that ordinary people, the free viewers of this site, as well as hundreds of people who have used some pop music as background to a home video of a child's birthday party should become subject to this new legislation and face criminal charges for their unauthorised use of copyright material.

Therefore to avoid the possibility of conflict regarding our "sale" of single, redundant copies of our films that appear, or are due to appear on site, we have now decided to give them all away, free, and, what is more we are prepared to copy and give away any more films for which we receive requests.

The Empire Strikes Back! But in my case it was only the Wood Green Empire!

The snag here is that we can only do this, unhappily, not to the public at large, but only to those persons who have a genuine interest in film research. We would argue that anyone wishing to view a film would indicate a "genuine" interest, but apparently this is not the case. Therefore we need to enrol everyone who requires a copy of any, or all, of the several hundred films that we have in stock, as Associate Research Assistants, or some such fancy title. And if you don't like this title I'm sure, within reason, that you can invent your own.

So, those who want to enrol should complete the application form below to register as an ARA. Contributors, those kind people who send in "now" pics or "then" grabs, see the blog of 25th Jan, will be automatically enrolled once they have submitted the required number of entries, and will enjoy all the privileges of established research assistants.

John Tunstill