National Film Preservation BoardEach year, the Library of Congress selects 25 motion pictures that represent important cultural, artistic and historic achievements in filmmaking to include in the library's National Film Registry where each will be preserved for future generations to enjoy. The announcement just came down from the Library of Congress that among others, the NFR has selected the 1983 holiday classic A Christmas Story, starring Peter Billingsley, as well as the sci-fi epic The Matrix, and the female-directed sports film, A League of Their Own for inclusion.

Under the terms of the National Film Preservation Act, the librarian of congress selects 25 titles nominated by the public and agreed upon by Library film curators and members of the National Film Preservation Board (NFPB). Aside from the qualification that the film be at least 10 years old, each film selected must also be a work of enduring importance to American culture, and that reflects who we are as a people and as a nation. So, I guess that means Dumb and Dumber won't get the nod anytime soon, huh? The public is encouraged to nominate films for future inclusion into the National Film Registry.

The other film's selected for inclusion this year are: 3:10 to Yuma (1957);  Anatomy of a Murder (1959); The Augustas (1930s-1950s) Born Yesterday (1950); Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961); The Corbett-Fitzsimmons Title Fight (1897); Dirty Harry (1971); Hours for Jerome: Parts 1 and 2 (1980-82); The Kidnappers Foil (1930s-1950s); Kodachrome Color Motion Picture Tests (1922); The Middleton Family at the New York World’s Fair (1939); One Survivor Remembers (1995); Parable (1964); Samsara: Death and Rebirth in Cambodia (1990); Slacker (1991); Sons of the Desert (1933); The Spook Who Sat by the Door (1973); They Call It Pro Football (1967); The Times of Harvey Milk (1984); Two-Lane Blacktop (1971); Uncle Tom's Cabin (1914); The Wishing Ring; and An Idyll of Old England (1914);