Classic Hollywood features are only the most visible part of our motion picture heritage. Over the last century American filmmakers—professional and amateur alike—have also created documentaries, "silent" movies, newsreels, ethnic films, avant-garde works, home movies, animation, anthropological footage, industrial films, and other independent works.

These are not Hollywood sound features belonging to the major motion picture studios, but "orphans" that fall outside the scope of commercial preservation programs. Orphan films often exist as one-of-a-kind copies. Because they document subjects and view points not captured in the mainstream media of their period, the works can take on special historical and cultural value today.

Hundreds of film archives in American museums, universities, historical societies, and libraries have taken responsibility for caring for "orphaned" moving images that document our culture and history. These works, many made by Americans who took part in the events they documented, are unlikely to survive without public support. To preserve these motion pictures, cultural institutions need our help.

Unfortunately, the institutions that house and make orphan films available for research may not have the clear legal right to exhibit or distribute the works. In many cases, particularly for fragments and unpublished films, it can be virtually impossible to identify the copyright owner or to confirm with 100% certainty that the works are in the public domain. Copyright law distinguishes between the ownership of the copyright and the ownership of the physical material in which the work is embodied. Thus the archive owning a film may not have the right to exploit it. (See Chapter 8 of The Film Preservation Guide.) Copyrights questions discourage many cultural institutions from publicly screening orphan films or releasing them on DVD.