National Film Registry Inductees for 2022 / How to vote on 2023's List

by Nathaniel R

CARRIE (1976)

It's that time of year when this becomes THE LIST EXPERIENCE. The Library of Congress has revealed the titles that have been added to the National Film Registry denoting films that are "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant." We wish it were any time other than December each year given all the other lists and that this one literally never has anything to do with the film year in process / wrapping up. But it is what it is. It's feast or famine and everyone is alway determined to keep December so tight that noone can breathe or pay attention to anything they're feasting on for more than two minutes!

Here is th 2022 list in chronological order as always...

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"Grease" is the word for the National Film Registry. Let's look at their 1978 collection...

by Nathaniel R

Grease is the 9th film from 1978 to be selected by the Library of Congress

The Library of Congress has announced their annual 25 new additions to the National Film Registry. Works are selected for their cultural, historical or aesthetic importance. The list is now 800 titles long. Each year we think. 'Oh, we should do a series on the inductees' but then another year rolls around and the list grows ever more duanting. Here we are again. See anything you love on this list?

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New to the National Film Registry: Brokeback Mountain, Hud, etc...

by Nathaniel R

Each year in the thick of precursor awards season we are momentarily (and pleasantly!) asked to think about the entire history of motion pictures. Each December the Library of Congress adds 25 new movies to their list of American titles worthy of preservation. The criteria is "cultural, historic and aesthetic importance to the nation’s film heritage."

The most recent inductee this year is Ang Lee's neo western gay classic Brokeback Mountain (2005) which is about as deserving as titles get for this honor. And we're personally thrilled to see the best movie of 1963, Hud, added. Here's the whole list chronologically...

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"Paris Is Burning" and "The Breakfast Club" Among National Film Registry's Class of 2016

By Daniel Crooke

Founded in 1988 as a way to protect and preserve the heritage of “culturally, historically, and aesthetically significant” American cinema, the Library of Congress has announced their annual list of films to be inducted into their National Film Registry – and it’s packed with inspired choices. While most of the internet is consumed with Top Ten fever as the year winds down, let's detour from the contemporary cinema and take a look at this list of twenty-five classics...

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National Film Registry: A Sirk, Some Ghostbusters, and Zorro

Nooooo. I almost forgot to share the National Film Registries new titles. Each year they add 25 pictures  that are deemed historically, culturally or aesthetically important. Each year I suggest that we should watch all the titles together. Well, the ones we can find at least. Perhaps we'll actually do that for 2016 -- you never know! Getting a spot on the National Film Registry is more symbolic than active. It does not guarantee preservation or restorations but it does suggest that these films should all be preserved and/or restored.

The 2015 additions are:

• Edison Kinetoscopic Record of a Sneeze (1894) - watch it now. it's six seconds long... the earliest surviving copyrighted film
• Dream of a Rarebit Fiend (1906) -watch it now. (7 minutes) from a short Winsor McCay comic strip
• A Fool There Was (1915) -watch it now. (66 minutes) Theda Bara tempts a married man! It's always the woman's fault, don't you know 
• Humoresque (1920) - not the Joan Crawford film inspired by this story!
• The Mark of Zorro (1920) -watch it now (88 minutes) the Douglas Fairbanks version
• Black and Tan (1929) -watch it now -(15 minutes) short jazz film with Duke Ellington
• Dracula (1931) - the Spanish language version
• Our Daily Bread (1934) - King Vidor's socialist drama
• The Old Mill (1937) - animated short Oscar winner
• Hail the Conquering Hero (1944) - Preston Sturges comedy
• The Story of Menstruation (1946) - documentary short
• John Henry and the Inky-Poo (1946) - animated short Oscar nominee
• Winchester '73 (1950) -western with Jimmy Stewart and Shelley Winters
• Imitation of Life (1959) - Douglas Sirk's awesome melodrama
• Seconds (1966) -thriller starring Rock Hudson
• Portrait of Jason (1967) - LGBT documentary
• Symbiopsychotaxiplasm: Take One (1968) - a documentary about filmmaking
• The Inner World of Aphasia (1968) -documentary about aphasics
• Eadweard Muybridge, Zoopraxographer (1975) - a biographical doc
• Being There (1979) - the Hal Ashby dramedy with Peter Sellers
• Ghostbusters (1984) - the comic blockbuster currently undergoing a gender flip
• Top Gun (1986) -you feel the need. the need for speed
• Sink or Swim (1990) - documentary about formative childhood
• The Shawshank Redemption (1994) - that insanely beloved prison drama
• LA Confidential (1997) - the awesome neo noir

Big thanks to Matthew Rettenmund of Boy Culture for pointing out this insanely cool bit of trivia about the list:

Of special note: Mother and daughter Lupita Tovar (the world's oldest living actress at age 105) and Susan Kohner were in the Spanish-language Dracula (1931) and Imitation of Life (1959), respectively.

You may recall that Mexican actress Lupita Tovar recently took up the throne or oldest living screen star after the death of Luise Rainer. The super cool thing to know about Lupita Tovar is that she is the grandmother of Chris Weitz and Paul Weitz, both filmmakers (Paul wrote and directed Grandma this year) so her cinematic legacy lives on.

Though the titles are selected by the National Film Preservation Board and Library staff, the public can nominate titles here if you wanna get a jump start on their 2016 list. The movies have to be at least 10 years old so no "OMG THE FORCE AWAKENS WAS AMAZING!" because they will shut that right down.