This week, the National Film Protection Agency selected twenty-five domestic films in accordance with the annual practice, included them in the Library of Congress for preservation, and passed on as national treasures to future generations.
The biggest feature of this year is that of all twenty-five selected films, up to seven are from female directors, which is the highest proportion ever, and reflects the rising awareness of gender equality in the American film industry and even the whole society. As of 2019, there are 775 films that have been included in this national treasure list by the Library of Congress, but the vast majority of them are written by male directors.
"Boys Don't Cry"
Before the Stone Wall
Of these seven female directors, perhaps the one we're most familiar with is "The Boy Doesn't Cry," which won Hillary Swank an Academy Award. The remaining six include the documentary "Before the Stone Wall", the independent film "Girlfriend", which was highly recommended by director Kubrick, the avant-garde film "My Name is Ona", the comedy "Marriage Proposal" written and directed by Elaine May, and the independent film "Real Woman Has Shape" starring "Ugly Betty" America Ferrera. and "I'm Human Too," a documentary about the 1969 Joint Strike of Black Female Caregivers in South Carolina Hospitals.
"Girlfriend"
Stills from "My Name Is Ona"
"The Magic of Marriage Proposal"
"I'm Human Too"
In addition, the list also includes Milos Fuhrman's famous "Mozart" that won eight Oscars, "Flashy World" based on Thackeray's famous "Vanity Fair", "Spirit and Flesh" by Oscar Micheaux, the classic suspense film "Under the Gaslight" starring Ingrid Bergman, the Disney animation classic "Sleeping Beauty" and Oliver Stone's anti-war film "Field Platoon".
The oldest of the twenty-five films is the two-minute-long documentary "Migrants Arrive at Ellis Island." Filmed on July 9, 1903 by the Thomas Edison Film Company, the film contains just three shots of a ferry carrying dozens of new immigrants arriving in the United States. The most recent one is "The Fog of War", which won the Academy Award for Best Documentary in 2003.
Since the establishment of the Bureau of Film Protection in the United States in 1988 and the first agreement on the list of protected films in 1989, a total of 775 films have been included in its scope of protection. The length of the selected film is not limited, and it does not matter whether it has been released or not, the only requirement is that the film must be more than ten years old. According to the consistent requirements of the screening of protected films, the twenty-five films selected this year are also "culturally, historically, or aesthetically important"; the selection process is also the same as before: the nomination list is first given by film experts and ordinary audiences (the public can log on to the official website of the Library of Congress to submit the list, more than 6,000 films have been nominated by the public this year), and the list is given to a review team of more than twenty people led by the librarian of the Library of Congress, who finalizes the twenty-five works. It is worth mentioning that Carla Hayden, the current director of the Library of Congress, is the first woman in history to hold the position, and the first African American to hold the position.
【Complete list of selected works in 2019】
1. The Biography of Mozart (Amadeus, 1984)
2. World of Glitz (Becky Sharp, 1935)
3. Before Stonewall (1984)
4. Body and Soul (1925)
5. Boys Don't Cry (1999)
6. Clerks (1994)
7. Coal Miner's Daughter (1980)
8. Emigrants Landing at Ellis Island (1903)
9. Employees Entrance (1933)
10. The Fog of War (2003)
11. Under the Gaslight (Gaslight, 1944)
12. George Washington Carver at Tuskegee Institute (1937)
13. Girlfriends (1978)
14. I Am Somebody (1970)
15 The Last Waltz (1978)
My Name Is Oona (1969)
17. The Magic of Marriage Proposal (A New Leaf, 1971)
18. Old Yeller (1957)
19. The Phenix City Story (1955)
20. Platoon (1986)
21. Purple Rain (1984)
22 Real Women Have Curves (2002)
23 She's Gotta Have It (1986)
24. Sleeping Beauty (1959)
25. Zoot Suit (1981)