A revealing report in the Independent sheds light on a bizarre facility operated in virtual secrecy by the British Film Institute- all with government grants financing the project. While many Americans decry government financing of virtually anything (until they need it themselves, that is), the British public isn't griping about a £22.5m expenditure to help preserve the core of the nation's film heritage. Over 400,000 canisters of rare movies, many of them from the silent era,  are stored in a remote, dreary, super-secure facility that has been likened to a Bond villain's HQ. However, there is no megalomaniac planning to take over the world on the premises. The facility preserves the nation's rarest films, which we shot on nitrate stock- a highly combustible substance that is considered so dangerous to project that only one theater in the UK is approved to do so. One ill-fated attempt to project a rare Fred Astaire reel resulted in a potentially disastrous fire breaking out in the projection booth. In addition to feature films, the facility also preserves incredibly rare historical footage ranging from arctic expeditions to Queen Victoria's funeral. The BFIU is painstakingly working to transfer and preserve each of these films into safer mediums. For more click here