Wire report
‘I’m asking people to do a lot, but that’s what it means to be a human’: why one man made the first straight-to-video movie in 20 years
Robert dos Santos decided to make his first film after being held at gunpoint once too often. The resulting drama, only available on VHS, is a broadside against AI: ‘Someone once said that if your mum can do it, it doesn’t have value’ The new film This Is How the World Ends is a fine piece of work; the story of two siblings finding each other at a party held at humanity’s end, it is basically On the Beach set at Burning Man. However, what is really remarkable about it is its method of release, as the first straight to VHS film in 20 years. In the early 2000s it was estimated 90% of British households owned a VCR – the last halcyon days of the format, before it was replaced by DVDs, and then Blu-ray, then streaming. In 2016, the world’s last VCR manufacturer Funai Electric ceased production. To release a film straight to video, in other words, is to make watching your film as difficult as
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Robert dos Santos decided to make his first film after being held at gunpoint once too often. The resulting drama, only available on VHS, is a broadside against AI: ‘Someone once said that if your mum can do it, it doesn’t have value’ The new film This Is How the World Ends is a fine piece of work; the story of two siblings finding each other at a party held at humanity’s end, it is basically On the Beach set at Burning Man. However, what is really remarkable about it is its method of release, as the first straight to VHS film in 20 years. In the early 2000s it was estimated 90% of British households owned a VCR – the last halcyon days of the format, before it was replaced by DVDs, and then Blu-ray, then streaming. In 2016, the world’s last VCR manufacturer Funai Electric ceased production. To release a film straight to video, in other words, is to make watching your film as difficult as
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According to The Guardian’s linked item, ‘I’m asking people to do a lot, but that’s what it means to be a human’: why one man made the first straight-to-video movie in 20 years, Robert dos Santos decided to make his first film after being held at gunpoint once too often. The resulting drama, only available on VHS, is a broadside against AI: ‘Someone once said that if your mum can do it, it doesn’t have value’ The new film This Is How the World Ends is a fine piece of work; the story of two siblings finding each other at a party held at humanity’s end, it is basically On the Beach set at Burning Man. However, what is really remarkable about it is its method of release, as the first straight to VHS film in 20 years. In the early 2000s it was estimated 90% of British households owned a VCR – the last halcyon days of the format, before it was replaced by DVDs, and then Blu-ray, then streaming. In 2016, the world’s last VCR manufacturer Funai Electric ceased production. To release a film straight to video, in other words, is to make watching your film as difficult as
Context
The development sits in VINI’s Technology coverage for readers following technology, science, product policy, markets, infrastructure, and the public consequences of innovation. The original report is linked so readers can check the source account, follow later updates, and compare new coverage against the first published record. The linked item is dated 2026-06-04T06:00:28+00:00.
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Source
Primary source: ‘I’m asking people to do a lot, but that’s what it means to be a human’: why one man made the first straight-to-video movie in 20 years via The Guardian. VINI cites and links the source; it does not reproduce the publisher’s full article text without rights clearance.
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- ‘I’m asking people to do a lot, but that’s what it means to be a human’: why one man made the first straight-to-video movie in 20 yearsThe Guardian - 2026-06-04T06:00:28+00:00
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