Steven Spielberg led a movement for filmpreservation in the 1980s and 1990s after viewing the original master of his film Jaws and finding that it had deteriorated badly only 15 years after filming.
On 27 October 1980, the General Conference adopted the "Recommendation for the safeguarding and preservation of moving images", the first international instrument to declare the cultural and historical importance of film and television recordings, and calling for decisive steps to ensure their preservation.