“Big Lebowski,” “Willy Wonka” among U.S. National Film Registry selections

PanARMENIAN.Net - “The Big Lebowski”, “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”, “Rosemary’s Baby”, “Saving Private Ryan” and “Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory” are among the 25 films saluted by the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress in the organization’s annual selection of notable works, Variety reports.

The org says selection will help ensure preservation of these films. This year’s choices bring the registry total to 650, a small fraction of the Library’s vast collection of 1.3 million items. As always, the choices are eclectic, including Hollywood films, indies, documentaries, silent movies and student films.

“The National Film Registry showcases the extraordinary diversity of America’s film heritage and the disparate strands making it so vibrant,” said the Librarian of Congress James H. Billington. “By preserving these films, we protect a crucial element of American creativity, culture and history.”

Under the terms of the National Film Preservation Act, each year the Librarian of Congress names 25 films that are “culturally, historically or aesthetically” significant. The films must be at least 10 years old. The Librarian makes the annual registry selections after reviewing hundreds of titles nominated by the public and conferring with Library film curators and the distinguished members of the National Film Preservation Board. In the announcement, the NFPB urged the public to make nominations for next year’s registry at its website.

The list also includes John Lasseter’s 1986 animated film, “Luxo Jr.”; films from Howard Hawks, Arthur Penn and Frank Tashlin; two Fox musicals featuring Carmen Miranda; and Efraín Gutiérrez’s 1976 independent “Please Don’t Bury Me Alive!,” considered by historians to be the first Chicano feature film.

Also added to the registry are seven reels of untitled and unassembled footage from 1913 featuring vaudevillian Bert Williams, the first African-American Broadway headliner and the most popular recording artist before 1920.

In 2013, the Library of Congress released a report that determined that 70% of the nation’s silent feature films have been lost forever and only 14% exist in their original 35mm format.