[xtypo_dropcap]T[/xtypo_dropcap]he National Film Registry now has 25 new motion picture additions for the year 2010, the Library of Congress (LOC) announced on Tuesday, Dec. 28.
The new movies include “Hollywood classics, documentaries, and innovative shorts reflecting genres from every era of American filmmaking,” the LOC said in a press release.
Spanning from 1891 to 1996, the movies named to the registry this year were selected from 2,112 movies nominated by the public.
The movies added to the registry range from a glimpse of San Francisco before the 1906 earthquake (A Trip Down Market Street) and political thriller All the President’s Men to George Lucas’s 1967 student film and science fiction saga The Empire Strikes Back. The selections also include culturally important movies such as the black independent film Cry of Jazz, Louis Valdez’s I Am Joaquin, and John Huston’s war documentary Let There Be Light.
The LOC adds films that are “culturally, historically, or aesthetically” significant to the registry. Although they may not be the “best” movies of all time, but they are works of “enduring significance to American culture,” the LOC explained.
With the new additions, the registry now has 550 films.
"The National Film Registry is a reminder to the nation that the preservation of our cinematic creativity must be a priority, because about half of the films produced before 1950 and as much as 90 percent of those made before 1920 have been lost to future generations,” said Librarian of Congress James Billington in the press release.
Founded in 1800, the LOC is America’s oldest federal cultural institution. It encourages the public to nominate films for 2011’s registry at the Film Board’s website (www.loc.gov/film). The librarian will then finalize each year’s selections.
2010 National Film Registry
1. Airplane (1980)
2. All the President’s Men (1976)
3. The Bargain (1914)
4. Cry of Jazz (1959)
5. Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB (1967)
6. The Empire Strikes Back (1980)
7. The Exorcist (1973)
8. The Front Page (1931)
9. Grey Gardens (1976)
10. I Am Joaquin (1969)
11. It’s a Gift (1934)
12. Let There Be Light (1946)
13. Lonesome (1928)
14. Make Way For Tomorrow (1937)
15. Malcolm X (1992)
16. McCabe and Mrs. Miller (1971)
17. Newark Athlete (1891)
18. Our Lady of the Sphere (1969)
19. The Pink Panther (1964)
20. Preservation of the Sign Language (1913)
21. Saturday Night Fever (1977)
22. Study of a River (1996)
23. Tarantella (1940)
24. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn (1945)
25. A Trip Down Market Street (1906)
