25 Movies with Artistic, Cultural or Historical Significance

National Film Preservation Board Selects 25 Movies to add to the National Film Registry. The Empire Strikes Back, The Exorcist, Saturday Night Fever, and Airplane! are among movies selected in 2010 for preservation. (See the complete 2010 list below.)

Watch Airplane! online, now, on demand.

Film preservation is an urgent issue. For example, only 20% of films from the 1920s and earlier have been preserved. Additionally, often the only surviving copy of a film is part of a private collection or foreign entity's collection. The goal of the Registry is to preserve films with artistic, cultural or historical significance.

Films with Artistic, Cultural or Historical Significance

Each year since 1989 the National Film Preservation Board, established by the United States Library of Congress, has selected several moves each year to add to the National Film Registry. A list of movies in the registry can be viewed online at Wikipedia. 525 films have been chosen for the registry so far.

The process of preservation includes "highest possible quality" duplication from nitrate based films to a durable "safety" stock, storage and related costs, and public access issues. Restoration from surveying copies is sometimes necessary.

The National Film Preservation Board was established by the National Film Preservation Act of 1988 (Public Law 100-446).

Complete List of Movies Selected in 2010 for the National Film Registry

1. Airplane! (1980)
2. All the President's Men (1976)
3. The Bargain (1914)
4. The 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 & Mrs. Miller (1971)
17. Newark Athlete (1891)
18. Our Lady of the Sphere (1969)
19. The Pink Panther (1964)
20. Preservation of American 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)
    

Vote for the 2011 National Film Registry!

You can be part of the process. Submit your list of movies to the Librarian of Congress, James H. Billington. To be eligible for the Registry, a film must be at least 10 years old and "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant."

For your list's consideration, visit the National Film Preservation Board website for more information how to submit your movie registry vote.

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