NFSA field officer Michael Cordell poses with film cans and a poster promoting The Last Film Search, a project designed to rescue lost nitrate films from decomposition and obscurity. It’s an initiative that is core to the NFSA’s identity and culture.

NFSA Curator Emeritus Ray Edmondson adds, ‘The Australian newspaper did a front page story on 26 March [1982] headlined "Archivist in race against silver nitrate time bomb: Raider of the lost art scours the countryside for old film".’ That raider was Michael Cordell, and this image of him captures the spirit of the project and symbolises the race against time to preserve cinematic history.