Every year, the Library of Congress chooses 25 films to be inducted into the National Film Registry, guaranteeing they will be preserved for future generations. To be eligible for selection, the films must be at least 10 years old, and deemed “culturally, historically or aesthetically” significant.
Hundreds of titles a year are nominated by the public before being considered by the Library film curators and members of the National Film Preservation Board.
While everything selected is pretty much always a great choice, highlights this year included 1998’s Saving Private Ryan and The Big Lebowski, 1986’s Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, and 1971’s Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Additionally, an early Pixar short film called Luxo Jr. was among the 25.
This latest batch brings the total to 650, which in turn is only a tiny fraction of the Library of Congress’s full motion picture collection. That numbers somewhere around 1.3 distinct items.
The full list of films chosen this year are as follows:
1. 13 Lakes (2004)
2. Bert Williams Lime Kiln Club Field Day (1913)
3. The Big Lebowski (1998)
4. Down Argentine Way (1940)
5. The Dragon Painter (1919)
6. Felicia (1965)
7. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)
8. The Gang’s All Here (1943)
9. House of Wax (1953)
10. Into the Arms of Strangers: Stories of the Kindertransport (2000)
11. Little Big Man (1970)
12. Luxo Jr. (1986)
13. Moon Breath Beat (1980)
14. Please Don’t Bury Me Alive! (1976)
15. The Power and the Glory (1933)
16. Rio Bravo (1959)
17. Rosemary’s Baby (1968)
18. Ruggles of Red Gap (1935)
19. Saving Private Ryan (1998)
20. Shoes (1916)
21. State Fair (1933)
22. Unmasked (1917)
23. V-E Day + 1 (1945)
24. The Way of Peace (1947)
25. Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)
