Every year the National Film Registry adds 25 films to its archives for their “cultural, historic and aesthetic importance to the nation’s film heritage,” thus preserving their place in history for all time…and for when the aliens come down and sort through the wreckage that was once humanity. Like always this year covers a wide breadth of different movies, with older classics like MY FAIR LADY with Audrey Hepburn and Buster Keaton’s THE NAVIGATOR making it alongside cinephile favorites like THE SHINING and JURASSIC PARK.
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Along with some of the biggest titles from Steven Spielberg and Stanley Kubrick, there's worthy classics like BROADCAST NEWS, Alfred Hitchcock's REBECCA and the Disney animated classic CINDERELLA. This year the Registry is celebrating 30 years of inducting movies, and Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden spoke issued a brief statement about the importance of keeping these movies safe,
“The National Film Registry turns 30 this year and for those three decades, we have been recognizing, celebrating and preserving this distinctive medium. These cinematic treasures must be protected because they document our history, culture, hopes and dreams.”
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Another entry is the 2005 film BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN from director Ang Lee, which secured acting nominations for Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger as two cowboys who fall in love while working in the mountains. Lee won an Oscar for Best Director, but the movie lost Best Picture to CRASH in one of the most devastating Oscar fouls in recent memory. Lee issued a statement as well, talking about how the movie has connected with people over the last 13 years.
“I didn’t intend to make a statement with Brokeback Mountain. I simply wanted to tell a purely Western love story between two cowboys. To my great surprise, the film ended up striking a deep chord with audiences; the movie became a part of the culture, a reflection of the darkness and light — of violent prejudice and enduring love — in the rocky landscape of the American heart. More than a decade has passed since Brokeback Mountain was released, but I hope that this film, a small movie with wide open spaces, continues to express something both fresh and fundamental about my adopted country.”
Here is the full list of inductees: