The National Film Registry is the United States National Film Preservation Board's selection of films for preservation in the Library of Congress. The Board, established by the National Film Preservation Act of 1988, was reauthorized by acts of Congress in 1992, 1996, 2005, and again in October 2008. The 1996 law also created the non-profit National Film Preservation Foundation which, although affiliated with the National Film Preservation Board, raises money from the private sector.
The NFR names to its list up to 25 "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant films" each year, showcasing the range and diversity of American film heritage to increase awareness for its preservation. However, inclusion on the list is not a guarantee of actual preservation. To be eligible for inclusion, a film must be at least ten years old. For the first selection in 1989, the public nominated almost 1,000 films for consideration. Members of the National Film Preservation Board then developed individual ballots of possible films for inclusion. The ballots were tabulated into a list of 25 films which was then modified by Librarian of Congress James H. Billington and his staff at the Library for the final selection. Since 1997, members of the public have been able to nominate up to 50 films a year for the Board and Librarian to consider.
"Taken together, the ... films in the National Film Registry represent a stunning range of American filmmaking—including Hollywood features, documentaries, avant-garde and amateur productions, films of regional interest, ethnic, animated, and short film subjects—all deserving recognition, preservation and access by future generations. As we begin this new millennium, the registry stands among the finest summations of American cinema's wondrous first century."
—Dr. James H. Billington, Librarian of Congress.The Registry includes films ranging from Hollywood classics to orphan films. A film is not required to be feature-length, nor is it required to have been theatrically released. The Registry contains newsreels, silent films, experimental films, short subjects, films out of copyright protection, film serials, home films, documentaries, independent films, television films, and music videos. As of the 2012 listing, there are 600 films preserved in the Registry.
The earliest listed film is Newark Athlete (1891), and the most recent is The Matrix (1999). Counting the 11 multi-year serials in the Registry once each (as the Registry does) by year of completion, the year with the most films selected is 1939, with 17 films from that year chosen for preservation. The time between a film's debut and its selection varies greatly. The longest span is 119 years, when the 1891 Newark Athlete was selected in 2010. The shortest range is the minimum 10 years; this span is shared by Raging Bull, Do the Right Thing, Goodfellas, Toy Story, and Fargo. Movies released prior to 1979 had no opportunity for such a minimum-time selection. In the first year of the registry, Star Wars was the youngest film selected with no other film from the 1970s to be picked.
Famous quotes containing the words national and/or film:
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—Herman Melville (1819–1891)
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—Raymond Chandler (1888–1959)