It has been 10 years since the UNESCO resolution establishing that the moving image is an integral part of the cultural heritage of a nation, and little is underway for a variety of reasons: the lack of expertise, the rooted prejudice that the cinema is a commercial product, and the shortage of funds. Recently several proposals have been put forward. First and foremost a catalogue is to be established listing all the material in circulation, organized according to nonselective criteria, made up of short files taking into account variations, derivations, and copies distribution data. An inventory of the philosophical notions, whether formal or operative would be equally useful. Given that conservation methodology has always been to respect the philological integrity of any form of heritage, direct control on the negative, the free access to original screenplay material, as well as the various versions and <i>pentimenti</i> should have been guaranteed. Then there is the all important question of funding that poses the problem of just what to preserve, as well as introducing the concept of conservation as an intellectual approach to maintaining the circulation of information and the relationship between awareness and knowledge delineating fields of competence and boundaries. Film scholars have in recent years insisted on conserving only the negatives, considering them the true original version of the film. Film maintenance and restoration, the reasons for the physical deterioration of film material and proposals for avoiding it are considered.