Librarian of Congress James H. Billington announced his annual selection of 25 motion pictures to be added to the National Film Registry. This group of titles brings the total number of films placed on the Registry to 425. This year the only animated title to make the list was Pixars TOY STORY.
Under the terms of the National Film Preservation Act, each year the Librarian of Congress names 25 "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant motion pictures to the Registry. The list is designed to reflect the full breadth and diversity of America's film heritage, thus increasing public awareness of the richness of American cinema and the need for its preservation.
In making the announcement, the librarian said, By preserving American films, we safeguard a significant element of American creativity and our cultural history for the enjoyment and education of future generations. The films we choose are not necessarily the best American films ever made or the most famous, but they are films that continue to have cultural, historical or aesthetic significance and in many cases represent countless other films also deserving of recognition.
Billington explained, The selection of a film, I stress, is not an endorsement of its ideology or content, but rather a recognition of the film's importance to American film and cultural history and to history in general. The Registry stands among the finest summations of American cinema's wondrous first century.
For each title named to the registry, the Library of Congress works to ensure that the film is preserved for all time, either through the Library's massive motion picture preservation program or through collaborative ventures with other archives, motion picture studios and independent filmmakers. The Library of Congress contains the largest collections of film and television in the world, from the earliest surviving copyrighted motion picture to the latest feature releases. For more information, visit www.loc.gov/film.
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
