Roberto dos Santos has chosen the most inconvenient path to releasing his debut feature film, and he's not sorry about it. 'Someone once said that if your mum can do it, it doesn't have value,' he declares, presumably while his mother watches from the sidelines, mildly offended.

His film, This Is How the World Ends, follows two siblings reuniting at an apocalyptic party - think On the Beach meets Burning Man. But the real headline is its distribution: the first straight-to-VHS release in two decades. In 2016, Funai Electric, the world's last VCR manufacturer, stopped production. So watching this film requires either owning a time machine or a working VCR, which is basically the same thing.

Dos Santos, a South African former lawyer who turned to filmmaking after multiple gunpoint hold-ups, leans into the exclusivity. 'I love the idea that you need to be part of the club to watch this,' he says from Cannes. The club's membership requirements: a VCR, a VHS tape, and a willingness to accept cropped, wobbly standard definition.

Ironically, the film itself looks gorgeous - full HD, pink clouds, textured sand. But Dos Santos is philosophical about the compromise: 'Compromise is a part of experiencing life. Some film-makers would stick their noses up at VHS. But that's the price you pay for being a human and for bumping up against the four corners of the world, and in this case, the four corners of the screen.'

The film's apocalypse is caused by AI, which Dos Santos loathes. He likens AI-generated content to a fake Fifa World Cup: 'If everybody can do something, then nobody can do it.' His solution? A niche release that requires viewers to physically order a tape, maybe even buy a VCR. 'I'm asking people to do a lot, but that's what it means to be a human,' he says.

Despite the hurdles, demand is real - Dos Santos had to order more tapes before release. The subreddit r/VHS has 73,000 users, and companies like Witter Entertainment specialize in VHS editions. Even Alien: Romulus got a limited VHS run in 2024, reformatted into 4:3. Nostalgia plays a part, but so does the desire to own a physical copy in an era of capricious streamers.

Dos Santos plans a reverse rollout: VHS first, then Blu-ray and DVD, then cinema and streaming. 'The first priority is VHS,' he grins. The screener sent to journalists came with the password 'stuartpleasebuyavcr,' which is both a plea and a threat. Dos Santos hopes his audience is 'crazy and passionate' enough to join him. So far, they are.