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    ‘Home Alone,’ ‘Fame,’ and Apollo 13’ Join National Film Registry

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    These movies, along with “Bamboozled” and “Home Alone,” are among 25 selected by the Librarian of Congress.It was a year for the underdogs.Two films that initially received mixed receptions but that later came to be considered groundbreaking in their own way — Spike Lee’s satire of blackface in cinema, “Bamboozled” (2000), and Tim Burton’s stop-motion animated Disney musical “The Nightmare Before Christmas” (1993) — are among the motion pictures that have been selected for preservation this year in the Library of Congress’s National Film Registry.Also being added are “Apollo 13” (1995), the Ron Howard space drama about the quest to save American astronauts after the failed 1970 lunar landing, and “Twelve Years a Slave” (2013), the Steve McQueen-helmed narrative that won three Academy Awards, including best picture.The library on Wednesday announced all 25 films, dating from 1921 to 2013, that are being honored this year for their historical, cultural or aesthetic significance. Movies are chosen by the Librarian of Congress, in consultation with other experts.The library also allows the public to make nominations at its website, and this year people nominated more than 6,800 films. Titles that were among the most submitted, and that have now been added to the list, include Chris Columbus’s holiday comedy “Home Alone” (1990), which vaulted Macaulay Culkin to stardom as a plucky youngster who uses his creativity to foil two bungling burglars; and “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” (1991), the James Cameron sci-fi sequel that became a landmark study in the use of CGI special effects.Two documentaries selected concern battles for representation. The Oscar-winning “Helen Keller in Her Story” (1954), by Nancy Hamilton, follows its subject, who was deaf and blind, from her childhood frustration to global success as an author, lecturer and activist for the rights of women and disabled people. “We’re Alive” (1974) chronicles six months of roundtables at the California Institution for Women that drew attention to inhumane prison conditions. The conversations were led by three U.C.L.A. graduate students, Michie Gleason, Christine Lesiak and Kathy Levitt.The experiences of Asian Americans are also centered in several new selections: “Cruisin’ J-Town” (1975), Duane Kubo’s documentary about jazz musicians in Los Angeles’s Little Tokyo; the Bohulano Family home movies about a Filipino American community in Stockton, Calif. from the 1950s through the 1970s; and “Maya Lin: A Strong, Clear Vision” (1994), Freida Lee Mock’s Oscar-winning documentary about the designer of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial on the National Mall.Three films that experimented with new forms and techniques were also selected: “The Lighted Field” (1987), Andrew Noren’s silent avant-garde masterwork that traffics in sensual shadow-play; “Queen of Diamonds” (1991), a drama by Nina Menkes, filmed in Las Vegas, that contrasts the noise and neon of the city with the quiet, lonely lives of its residents; and “The Lady and the Tramp” (1955), the Disney animated romance between a spoiled cocker spaniel and a mutt, which was praised for its fuller character development and distinguished by its use of a wide-screen CinemaScope format.The lineup also recognizes the debut features of several award-winning filmmakers: Martin Ritt’s noir drama “Edge of the City” (1957), which stars Sidney Poitier as a dockworker whose friendship with a white co-worker (John Cassavetes) aggravates a racist union leader; Gina Prince-Bythewood’s “Love & Basketball” (2000), a romantic sports drama that follows a boy and girl as they pursue basketball careers from childhood; and “¡Alambrista!” (1977), a small-budget film by Robert Young — often shot with a shaky, hand-held camera — that follows a farmer who enters the United States from Mexico undocumented, seeking work to support his family, which incorporates elements of guerrilla and activist filmmaking.Finally, New Yorkers — or those who love New York — will find a lot to like on the list this year: Choices for a Manhattan-set adventure include “Fame” (1980), Alan Parker’s teen musical drama about the High School of Performing Arts; “Desperately Seeking Susan” (1985), Susan Seidelman’s wackball of a film that follows an unhappy New Jersey housewife (Rosanna Arquette) down a rabbit hole of personal ads and mistaken identity; and “The Wedding Banquet” (1993), Ang Lee’s comedy about a gay Taiwanese man in New York who marries a Chinese woman to appease his parents back home (high jinks ensue when they decide to pay the “couple” a visit).The Library of Congress said in a statement that these additions bring to 875 the number of titles on the registry created to preserve the nation’s film heritage.” Eligible movies must be at least 10 years old. Carla Hayden, the Librarian of Congress, made the choices after consulting with members of the National Film Preservation Board and others. Some registry films are also available online in the National Screening Room.A television special, featuring several of these titles and a conversation between Hayden and Jacqueline Stewart, the film historian who directs the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures, will be shown Dec. 14 on TCM.Below are the 25 new additions to the National Film Registry:1. “A Movie Trip Through Filmland” (1921)2. “Dinner at Eight” (1933)3. Bohulano Family film collection (1950s-70s)4. “Helen Keller in Her Story” (1954)5. “Lady and the Tramp” (1955)6. “Edge of the City” (1957)7. “We’re Alive” (1974)8. “Cruisin’ J-Town” (1975)9. “¡Alambrista!” (1977)10. “Passing Through” (1977)11. “Fame” (1980)12. “Desperately Seeking Susan” (1985)13. “The Lighted Field” (1987)14. “Matewan” (1987)15. “Home Alone” (1990)16. “Queen of Diamonds” (1991)17. “Terminator 2: Judgment Day” (1991)18. “The Nightmare Before Christmas” (1993)19. “The Wedding Banquet” (1993)20. “Maya Lin: A Strong Clear Vision” (1994)21. “Apollo 13” (1995)22. “Bamboozled” (2000)23. “Love & Basketball” (2000)24. “Twelve Years a Slave” (2013)25. “20 Feet From Stardom” (2013) More

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      Super Mario Bros. and Daddy Yankee Added to Recording Registry

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      The Library of Congress has designated 25 recordings, including Madonna’s “Like a Virgin,” as “audio treasures worthy of preservation for all time.”Super Mario Bros. are currently ruling the box office. Now, they have also been designated an unlikely national treasure by no less than the Library of Congress.The composer Koji Kondo’s 1985 theme for the video game is among the 25 recordings just added to the National Recording Registry, joining Madonna’s 1984 album “Like a Virgin,” Daddy Yankee’s 2004 hit “Gasolina” and some of the earliest known mariachi recordings as “audio treasures worthy of preservation for all time.”The registry, created in 2000, designates recordings that are “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant,” and are at least 10 years old. This year’s entries were selected from more than 1,100 nominees submitted by the public. They bring the total number of titles on the registry to 625 — a tiny but elite slice of the nearly 4 million songs, speeches, radio broadcasts, podcasts and other recorded sounds in the library’s collection.This is the first time a video game soundtrack has been selected, according to the library. In the decades since the game’s release, Kondo’s “jaunty, Latin-influenced melody” (as the library describes it, calling it “the perfect accompaniment to Mario and Luigi’s side scrolling hijinks”) may have been driven permanently, or perhaps annoyingly, into the collective brain.But its creator remains relatively unknown. Kondo, who was born and raised in Japan, wrote the ditty — officially known as “Ground Theme” — in the 1980s, after seeing a recruiting flyer from Nintendo on a university bulletin board in Osaka.In a statement, Kondo, 61, who still works for Nintendo, said he was delighted by the designation. “Having this music preserved alongside so many other classic songs is such a great honor,” he said. “It’s actually a little difficult to believe.”And its significance, according to the library, goes far beyond the song itself, which was inspired in part by the music of the Japanese jazz fusion band T-Square. According to the library, Kondo’s soundtrack “helped establish the game’s legendary status and proved that the five-channel Nintendo Entertainment System (NES) sound chip was capable of a vast musical complexity and creativity.”This year’s list is heavy on familiar pop hits, including Madonna’s 1984 album, “Like a Virgin.”Library of CongressThis year’s list is heavy on familiar pop hits, including Led Zeppelin’s single “Stairway to Heaven,” Queen Latifah’s album “All Hail the Queen,” Mariah Carey’s single “All I Want for Christmas is You,” Jimmy Buffett’s “Margaritaville,” and John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads.”Many are deemed significant not just for their musical contribution, but for the broader cultural shifts they exemplify. With “Gasolina,” the first reggaeton recording on the registry, the library notes that its “aural dominance” ushered in “a full reggaeton explosion and even saw various radio stations switching their formats,” including some from English to Spanish.The earliest item added to the registry is “The Very First Mariachi Recordings,” a compilation of recordings (including “The Parakeet”) made in 1907-9 by a group from the rural state of Jalisco, Mexico. The four musicians, led by the vihuela player Justo Villa, are credited with having introduced the style of music to the capital city — and eventually the world — a few years earlier.The most recent is the Northwest Chamber Orchestra’s recording, released in 2012, of Ellen Taaffe Zwilich’s “Concerto for Clarinet and Chamber Orchestra,” which was inspired by the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks.The registry also includes some spoken-word recordings. The journalist Dorothy Thompson’s radio commentaries on “the European situation,” made between Aug. 23 and Sept. 6, 1939, are cited as a “unique broadcast record” of the period right before the outbreak of World War II.The library’s list also recognizes Carl Sagan’s “Pale Blue Dot,” a short 1994 recording of him explaining the ideas behind his book of the same title. It was inspired by a famous photograph of the Earth taken by the space probe Voyager 1 during its final mission, which Sagan describes as revealing how the Earth was “a mere point in a vast, encompassing cosmos.” More

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      Joni Mitchell to Be Honored With Gershwin Prize and Tribute Concert

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      The award from the Library of Congress comes amid a wave of recognition for the singer-songwriter, who performed in public last year for the first time since a 2015 health scare.Joni Mitchell, the revered singer-songwriter who has recently begun tiptoeing back into the public eye, has been named this year’s recipient of the Gershwin Prize for Popular Song, an award delivered by the Library of Congress, the institution announced Thursday.Mitchell, 79, has received a wave of accolades over the past few years, including recognition at the Kennedy Center Honors; a tribute from MusiCares, a Grammy-affiliated charity; and an honorary doctorate from the Berklee College of Music. The commendations have made once-rare public appearances by Mitchell not so rare. In July, she performed in public for the first time since she suffered a brain aneurysm in 2015, stunning attendees at the Newport Folk Festival — and viewers of the viral videos filmed there.As part of the Gershwin Prize, Mitchell will be honored with a tribute concert on March 1 in Washington, D.C., that will air on PBS on March 31. Typically, honorees perform at least one song at the event.Mitchell, who was one of the defining singer-songwriters of the 1960s and ’70s, was already expected to return to performing later this year. The musician Brandi Carlile, whom Mitchell has referred to as her “ambassador,” announced last year that Mitchell would headline a concert at the Gorge Amphitheater in Washington State in June, a day after Carlile anchors her own show there.Recognition for Mitchell’s creative achievements has surged in recent years, as her 1971 album “Blue” was widely celebrated for its 50th anniversary and the musician started an ongoing project called the Joni Mitchell Archives, which unearths rich collections of previously unheard music.Performing alongside Carlile at the Newport Folk Festival in Rhode Island, Mitchell sang some of her most beloved songs, including “Big Yellow Taxi,” “Both Sides Now” and “A Case of You.” Writing in The New York Times, the critic Lindsay Zoladz called Mitchell’s resurgence “heartening,” noting that “it allows a beloved if somewhat underappreciated artist to receive her laurels while she’s still living.”“Younger artists got the chance to pay earnest homage to their elder; a mature woman who was not yet finished reinterpreting her life’s work reclaimed the stage,” Zoladz wrote.The Gershwin Prize was established in 2007 to honor living musical artists whose contributions to popular music “exemplify the standard of excellence associated with George and Ira Gershwin.” The recipient is chosen by the librarian of Congress — currently Carla Hayden — who receives advice from scholars, producers, songwriters and other music specialists. Previous recipients include Tony Bennett, Emilio and Gloria Estefan, Carole King, Smokey Robinson and Stevie Wonder. More

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      ‘The Little Mermaid’ and ‘Iron Man’ Join National Film Registry

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      Those movies, along with ‘Hairspray’ and ‘When Harry Met Sally,’ are among 25 selected by the Librarian of Congress.Ariel is officially part of the human world.“The Little Mermaid,” the 1989 Disney animated movie that revolves around a rebellious teenage mermaid fascinated by life on land, is among the motion pictures that have been selected for preservation this year on the Library of Congress’s National Film Registry. Also being added are “Iron Man” (2008), the first film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and “When Harry Met Sally,” the beloved 1989 romantic comedy that begins with a pair of college graduates embarking on a cross-country drive from Chicago to New York.On Wednesday, the library plans to announce that a total of 25 more films, dating from 1898 to 2011, will be honored for their historical and cultural significance and added to the registry, helping to preserve them for future generations.The library also allows the public to nominate movies at its website, and other titles that were among the most submitted were Brian De Palma’s 1976 horror classic “Carrie,” an adaptation of Stephen King’s novel of the same title; and “Betty Tells Her Story” (1972), the Liane Brandon film that was the first independent documentary of the women’s movement to explore issues of body image, self-worth and appearance in American culture.A group of notable comedies were also among the selections: “Hairspray,” John Waters’s 1988 musical about a bubbly, overweight Baltimore teenager and her friends who integrate a local TV dance show in the early 1960s; “Cyrano de Bergerac,” Michael Gordon’s 1950 adventure comedy adaptation that made José Ferrer the first Hispanic performer to win an Oscar for best actor; and “House Party,” Reginald Hudlin’s 1990 film about a high school student who sneaks out, a comedy that introduced hip-hop music and new jack swing to mainstream America.Two significant genre films were also included: “The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez” (1982), the Robert M. Young western that was part of the 1980s Chicano film movement and starred Edward James Olmos; and “Super Fly” (1972), Gordon Parks Jr.’s searing commentary on the American dream that is considered a classic of the Blaxploitation genre.The Projectionist Chronicles a New Awards SeasonThe Oscars aren’t until March, but the campaigns have begun. Kyle Buchanan is covering the films, personalities and events along the way.Golden Globe Nominations: Here are some of the most eyebrow-raising snubs and surprises from this year’s list of nominees.Gotham Awards: At the first official show of the season, “Everything Everywhere All at Once” won big.Governors Awards: Stars like Jamie Lee Curtis and Brendan Fraser worked a room full of academy voters at the event, which is considered a barometer of film industry enthusiasm.Rian Johnson:  The “Glass Onion” director explains the streaming plan for his “Knives Out” franchise.Four films that broke ground in depicting LGBTQ+ issues onscreen were also selected: “Behind Every Good Man” (1967), Nikolai Ursin’s student short that offered an early look at Black gender fluidity in Los Angeles; “Word Is Out: Stories of Some of Our Lives” (1977), which was created by six queer filmmakers collectively known as the Mariposa Film Group and which featured a diverse group of gay men and lesbians discussing their lives at a time when such onscreen depictions were rare; “Tongues Untied” (1989), a video essay by Marlon Riggs about Black men loving Black men; and the most recent film to join the registry, Dee Rees’s “Pariah” (2011), about a Black teenager in Brooklyn as she comes to terms with her identity.The lineup also honors nine documentaries, including the oldest film in this year’s class, “Mardi Gras Carnival” (1898), the earliest known surviving footage of the New Orleans festival. It was long thought to be lost before being recently discovered at a museum in the Netherlands. Other nonfiction films being added include “Titicut Follies” (1967), Frederick Wiseman’s classic look inside the Bridgewater State Prison for the Criminally Insane in Massachusetts that exposed the abuse of patients; and “Union Maids” (1976), a portrait of three female labor activists involved in workers’ movements from the early 1930s to the present. That film was directed by Julia Reichert, who died last week, James Klein and Miles Mogulescu.The Library of Congress said in a statement that these additions bring the total number of titles on the registry to 850, chosen for “their cultural, historic or aesthetic importance to preserve the nation’s film heritage.” Movies must be at least 10 years old to be eligible, and are chosen by Carla Hayden, the Librarian of Congress, after consulting with members of the National Film Preservation Board and other specialists. More than 6,800 films were nominated by the public this year.A television special, featuring several of these titles and a conversation between Hayden and the film historian Jacqueline Stewart, will be shown Dec. 27 on TCM.Here is the complete list of the 25 movies being added to the National Film Registry:1. “Mardi Gras Carnival” (1898)2. “Cab Calloway Home Movies” (1948-51)3. “Cyrano de Bergerac” (1950)4. “Charade” (1963)5. “Scorpio Rising” (1963)6. “Behind Every Good Man” (1967)7. “Titicut Follies” (1967)8. “Mingus” (1968)9. “Manzanar” (1971)10. “Super Fly” (1972)11. “Betty Tells Her Story” (1972)12. “Attica” (1974)13. “Carrie” (1976)14. “Union Maids” (1976)15. “Word Is Out: Stories of Some of Our Lives” (1977)16. “Bush Mama” (1979)17. “The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez” (1982)18. “Itam Hakim, Hopiit” (1984)19. “Hairspray” (1988)20. “The Little Mermaid” (1989)21. “Tongues Untied” (1989)22. “When Harry Met Sally” (1989)23. “House Party” (1990)24. “Iron Man” (2008)25. “Pariah” (2011) More

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      Lizzo Plays New Notes on James Madison’s Crystal Flute from 1813

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      A classically trained flutist, the singer, rapper and songwriter spent more than three hours admiring the flute collection at the Library of Congress. Madison’s instrument was made for the second inauguration by a Parisian craftsman.Lizzo looked uncharacteristically nervous as she crossed the stage in a glittering mesh leotard with tights and sequined combat boots.A classically trained flutist who began playing when she was in fifth grade and considered studying at the Paris Conservatory, she has woven flute into many of her songs, has played virtually with the New York Philharmonic, and her flute, named Sasha Flute, even has its own Instagram page.But waiting for her on Tuesday night was an exquisite (and highly breakable) musical instrument that had arrived at her concert in Washington under heavy security: a crystal flute that a French craftsman and clockmaker had made for President James Madison in 1813.“I’m scared,” Lizzo said, as she took the sparkling instrument from Carol Lynn Ward-Bamford, a curator at the Library of Congress, who had carefully removed the flute from its customized protective case. “It’s crystal. It’s like playing out of a wine glass.”As the crowd roared, Lizzo played a note, stuck out her tongue in amazement, and then played another note, trilling it as she twerked in front of thousands of cheering fans. She then carried the flute over her head, giving the crowd at Capital One Arena one last look, before handing it back to Ms. Ward-Bamford.“I just twerked and played James Madison’s crystal flute from the 1800s,” Lizzo proclaimed. “We just made history tonight.”It was a symbolic moment as Lizzo, a hugely popular Black singer, rapper and songwriter, played a priceless instrument that had once belonged to a founder whose Virginia plantation was built by enslaved Black workers. And the flute had been lent to her by Carla D. Hayden, the first African American and first woman to lead the Library of Congress.The moment came together after Dr. Hayden asked Lizzo on Friday to visit the library’s flute collection, the largest in the world, with about 1,700 of the instruments.Dr. Hayden wrote on Twitter: “@lizzo we would love for you to come see it and even play a couple when you are in DC next week. Like your song they are ‘Good as hell.’”Lizzo responded without much hesitation.“IM COMING CARLA! AND IM PLAYIN THAT CRYSTAL FLUTE!!!!!” she wrote.Lizzo arrived on Monday, with her mother and members of her band. Dr. Hayden and staff members ushered her into the “flute vault,” and gave her a tour of the collection, which includes fifes, piccolos and a flute shaped like a walking stick, which Lizzo said she might want as a Christmas present.Lizzo spent more than three hours at the library, trying out several instruments, staff members said.She played a piccolo from John Philip Sousa’s band that was used to play the solo at the premiere of his song, “The Stars and Stripes Forever.” And she played a plexiglass flute, made in 1937, filling the ornate Main Reading Room and marble Great Hall with music, to the delight of library workers and a handful of researchers who happened to be there.“Just the enthusiasm that Lizzo brought to seeing the flute collection and how curious she was about it,” Ms. Ward-Bamford said in an interview on Wednesday. “It’s been wonderful.”Most of the collection — including Madison’s crystal flute — was donated in 1941 by Dayton C. Miller, a physicist, astronomer and ardent collector of flutes.The flute’s silver joint is engraved with Madison’s name, title and the year 1813.Library of CongressMadison’s flute had been made for his second inauguration by Claude Laurent, a Parisian craftsman who believed that glass flutes would hold their pitch and tone better than flutes made of wood or ivory, which were common at the time.The flute’s silver joint is engraved with Madison’s name, title and the year 1813. “It’s not clear if Madison did much with the flute other than admire it, but it became a family heirloom and an artifact of the era,” the library said.The library believes that the first lady, Dolley Madison, might have rescued the flute from the White House in 1814, when the British entered Washington during the War of 1812, although it has not found documentation to confirm the theory.Only 185 of Mr. Laurent’s glass flutes remain, the library said, and his crystal flutes are especially rare. The Library of Congress has 17 Laurent flutes, it said.When Lizzo asked if she could play Madison’s crystal flute at her concert on Tuesday, the library’s collection, preservation and security teams swung into action, ensuring the instrument could be safely delivered to her onstage.“It was a lot thrilling and a little bit scary,” Ms. Ward-Bamford said.Or as Lizzo told her cheering fans after she played the instrument: “Thank you to the Library of Congress for preserving our history and making history freaking cool. History is freaking cool, you guys.” More

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      Library of Congress Acquires Neil Simon Papers

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      The collection of approximately 7,700 items, donated by Simon’s widow, includes dozens of unfinished shows, including a screenplay written for Bette Midler and Whoopi Goldberg.As Mark Eden Horowitz, a senior music specialist at the Library of Congress, was digging through the playwright Neil Simon’s manuscripts and papers earlier this year, he made a surprising discovery.Simon, the most commercially successful American playwright of the 20th century, could also draw. Like, really draw.“They’re almost professional,” Horowitz said in a recent phone conversation of some of the pen-and-ink drawings and paintings he found tucked among the scripts. “There are two watercolors in particular that are quite beautiful landscapes.”More than a dozen notepads filled with drawings, cartoons and caricatures by Simon, who died in 2018, was just one of the surprising discoveries Horowitz made in the trove of approximately 7,700 of the playwright’s manuscripts and papers (and even eyeglasses), a collection that the library on Monday announced had been donated by Simon’s widow, the actress Elaine Joyce.An event on Monday at the library in Washington, which will stream live on its YouTube channel at 7 p.m., will include a conversation with the actors Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker, who are starring in the Broadway revival of Simon’s 1968 comedy “Plaza Suite,” as well as remarks by Joyce.The collection includes hundreds of scripts, notes and outlines for Simon’s plays, including handwritten first drafts and multiple drafts of typescripts — often annotated — as well as handwritten letters to luminaries like August Wilson. There are more than a dozen scripts (sometimes many more) for some of his most celebrated shows, including “Brighton Beach Memoirs,” “The Odd Couple” and “Lost in Yonkers,” Simon’s dysfunctional-family comedy that won a Tony Award as well as the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1991.Sometimes, Horowitz said, it took some detective work to identify a famous play, which existed in an early version under an alternate title. (An early script for “Lost in Yonkers” has the title “Louie the Gangster,” and “Brighton Beach Memoirs” was once “The War of the Rosens.”)“Sometimes you’re not sure when you open the title and then you realize, ‘Oh, this became that,’” he said.The collection includes materials from the 25 screenplays Simon wrote, including “The Prisoner of Second Avenue,” “The Heartbreak Kid” and “The Goodbye Girl,” for which he won a Golden Globe in 1978. There are also several scripts for shows never completed or produced, such as one titled “The Merry Widows,” written for Bette Midler and Whoopi Goldberg, and a musical that uses the songs of George and Ira Gershwin, called “A Foggy Day.”“Every time you open a carton, it’s like, ‘Oh my God, what’s going to be in here?’” Horowitz said.Beyond dozens of unknown works in progress — some comprise just a few scenes, while others have multiple drafts — the archive also includes Simon’s Pulitzer Prize, his special Tony Award and at least two Golden Globes, as well as photographs, programs, original posters and even baseballs signed by several Hall of Famers, among them Tommy Lasorda, Eddie Murray and Tony Gwynn. (Simon was a noted baseball fan.)Dozens of spiral notebooks are also packed not just with revisions and “miscellaneous attempts at plays,” as Simon wrote in one, but drafts of speeches and tributes Simon delivered. In one case, a script for a show called “202 and 204” is interrupted by handwritten letters to cast members of “Lost in Yonkers” for opening night — plus the set designer, lighting designer, even the casting director, Horowitz said.Horowitz said that, once the library finishes combing through the items and putting scripts in alphabetical order, it plans to develop a digital tool similar to the ones they have to search other collections of work by theater professionals like Simon’s close friends Bob Fosse and Gwen Verdon, with whom he collaborated on the musical “Sweet Charity.”He also hopes that not just researchers, but also producers, might dive into the archives — and that some of the unproduced works might be staged, and the unfinished ones perhaps completed.“It’s so frustrating,” he said, laughing. “I desperately want to know how they end.” More

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      F.D.R. Speeches and Alicia Keys Album Added to National Recording Registry

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      A hit by the band Journey, radio accounts of the 9/11 attacks, “Buena Vista Social Club” and a recording of Hank Aaron’s 715th home run also made the registry.Franklin D. Roosevelt’s speech about “a date which will live in infamy.” The rock band Journey’s song about “a small-town girl livin’ in a lonely world” who takes a midnight train going anywhere. And firsthand descriptions of the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center.Each of those are “unforgettable sounds of the nation’s history,” the Library of Congress said on Wednesday, adding that they are among 25 recordings selected this year for inclusion in the National Recording Registry.Since 2002, the Librarian of Congress, with advice from experts, has picked recordings that are at least 10 years old and are “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant” for inclusion in the registry.The program, library officials said, aims to provide a long-term archival home for the preservation of the recordings and to acknowledge their importance.The registry “reflects the diverse music and voices that have shaped our nation’s history and culture,” the librarian of Congress, Carla Hayden, said in a statement.“The national library is proud to help preserve these recordings,” she added.Other recordings selected this year include Alicia Keys’ first album, “Songs in A Minor”; the 1997 album “Buena Vista Social Club”; a 1956 recording of Duke Ellington and his orchestra at the Newport Jazz Festival; and the 1974 radio call of Hank Aaron’s 715th home run, which broke a record previously held by Babe Ruth.The 575 recordings already included in the national registry include classical music; opera performances; blues and pop songs; monologues and poems; and speeches and radio broadcasts reflecting momentous news events. Among those are Robert F. Kennedy’s speech upon the death of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the 1973 Wailers album “Burnin’” and a 1977 recording of a Grateful Dead concert at Cornell University.That diversity can also be seen in this year’s selections, which include all of Roosevelt’s speeches as president and the 1981 Journey single turned karaoke favorite, “Don’t Stop Believin’,” which the library described as “the personal empowerment anthem of millions.”One of the more somber recordings chosen this year consists of the Sept. 11, 2001, broadcasts by the radio station WNYC, which was located at that time in Lower Manhattan, blocks from the World Trade Center.That morning station employees broke with scheduled programming to describe the chaos of the terror attacks on the Twin Towers, broadcasting what the library called “the tragedy’s first eyewitness accounts.”“As the story unfolded,” the library wrote, “the dedicated staff of WNYC remained on the air.” More

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      National Film Registry Adds 25 New Films, Including 'Return of the Jedi'

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      Those movies, along with “Selena,” “Wall-E” and “A Nightmare on Elm Street” are among 25 selected by the Librarian of Congress.It’s not just Gollum who thinks a certain ring is precious.The first in Peter Jackson’s epic trilogy of films based on J.R.R. Tolkien’s novels, “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” (2001), is among the motion pictures that have been chosen for preservation this year on the Library of Congress’s National Film Registry. Also being added are the final installment in another beloved trilogy, “Star Wars: Episode VI — Return of the Jedi,” and the disarmingly sweet Pixar comedy “Wall-E.”On Tuesday, the library plans to make its annual announcement that 25 more films, dating from 1902 to 2008, will be honored for their historical and cultural significance and added to the registry, helping to preserve them for future generations.The selection of “Return of the Jedi” (1983) is the culmination of a yearslong campaign by “Star Wars” fans to add the film to the registry. Hispanic lawmakers and experts earlier this year had also pushed for the inclusion of “Selena,” Gregory Nava’s 1997 biopic of the Tejano singer Selena Quintanilla-Pérez that starred Jennifer Lopez in her first major film role. Supporters hoped that choosing it could serve as an example that would help open more doors for Latinos in movies and television.A group of notable films are also among the selections: “Sounder,” Martin Ritt’s 1972 drama about a family of Black sharecroppers in 1930s Louisiana that earned Cicely Tyson an Oscar nomination for best actress; “A Nightmare on Elm Street,” Wes Craven’s 1984 horror classic that starred Robert Englund as Freddy Krueger; and “Wall-E,” Andrew Stanton’s 2008 Pixar sci-fi film about the last robot left on Earth, which won an Oscar for best animated feature.This year’s class also includes a pair of cult favorites: “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?,” Robert Aldrich’s 1962 thriller about an aging child star (Bette Davis) left to care for her sister (Joan Crawford), and “Pink Flamingos,” John Waters’s 1972 underground comedy starring Divine.The library noted that the lineup includes a number of films by influential directors of color, among them “The Watermelon Woman” (1996), the first feature by Cheryl Dunye, who also starred as a young Black lesbian struggling to make a documentary about a beautiful actress; “Cooley High” (1975), Michael Schultz’s comedy about Black high school seniors in 1960s Chicago; and “Chicana” (1979), Sylvia Morales’s 22-minute documentary tracing the history of Chicana and Mexican women.Three documentaries that address racially motivated violence against people of color have also been selected: “The Murder of Fred Hampton” (1971), Howard Alk and Mike Gray’s look at the leader of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party (Hampton was also the subject of a studio drama this year, “Judas and the Black Messiah”); “Who Killed Vincent Chin?” (1987), Christine Choy and Renee Tajima-Peña’s examination of the fatal beating of a young Chinese American engineer by two white men in Detroit; and “Requiem-29” (1970), David Garcia’s chronicle of a brutal police attack on Chicano protesters in Los Angeles in 1970 that left the journalist Ruben Salazar dead.The lineup also honors several silent films that challenged stereotypes, including the oldest film in this year’s class, “Ringling Brothers Parade Film” (1902), a three-minute recording of a circus parade in Indianapolis that also shows a prosperous northern Black community. “The Flying Ace” (1926) is an aviation romance with an all-Black cast, and “Hellbound Train” (1930), made by the Black evangelical couple James and Eloyce Gist, was played in churches to scare sinners straight.The Library of Congress said in a statement that these additions bring the total number of titles on its registry to 825, chosen “because of their cultural, historic or aesthetic importance to preserve the nation’s film heritage.” Movies must be at least 10 years old to be eligible, and are picked by Carla Hayden, the Librarian of Congress, after consulting with members of the National Film Preservation Board and other specialists. The library also allows the public to submit nominations at its website. More than 6,100 films were nominated this year, with the highest number of votes going to “Return of the Jedi.”A television special, featuring several of these films and a conversation between Hayden and the film historian Jacqueline Stewart, will be shown Friday on TCM.Here is the complete list of the 25 movies chosen for the National Film Registry:1. “Ringling Brothers Parade Film” (1902)2. “Jubilo” (1919)3. “The Flying Ace” (1926)4. “Hellbound Train” (1930)5. “Flowers and Trees” (1932)6. “Strangers on a Train” (1951)7. “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?” (1962)8. “Evergreen” (1965)9. “Requiem-29” (1970)10. “The Murder of Fred Hampton” (1971)11. “Pink Flamingos” (1972)12. “Sounder” (1972)13. “The Long Goodbye” (1973)14. “Cooley High” (1975)15. “Richard Pryor: Live in Concert” (1979)16. “Chicana” (1979)17. “The Wobblies” (1979)18. “Star Wars: Episode VI — Return of the Jedi” (1983)19. “A Nightmare on Elm Street” (1984)20. “Stop Making Sense” (1984)21. “Who Killed Vincent Chin?” (1987)22. “The Watermelon Woman” (1996)23. “Selena” (1997)24. “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” (2001)25. “Wall-E” (2008) More

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      U.S. Lawmakers Suggest 25 Movies About Latinos to the Film Registry

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      #masthead-section-label, #masthead-bar-one { display: none }What to WatchBest Movies on NetflixBest of Disney PlusBest of Amazon PrimeBest Netflix DocumentariesNew on NetflixAdvertisementContinue reading the main storySupported byContinue reading the main storyU.S. Lawmakers Suggest 25 Movies About Latinos to the Film RegistryBy diversifying the films added to the national registry, members of Congress hope that more opportunities will open up for Latinos in Hollywood.Salma Hayek during the shooting of “Frida“ (2002), which is on the list of the caucus’s nominees.Credit…Miramax FilmsMarch 8, 2021The Congressional Hispanic Caucus is continuing work it started in January, when it nominated the movie “Selena” for the National Film Registry, with a list of 25 more films it would like to see the registry add.The movies nominated by the caucus last week are from as early as 1982, and they also include films like “Spy Kids” (2001), a comedy featuring a Latino family, and “Frida” (2002), an Oscar-winning movie about the artist Frida Kahlo. The registry typically adds new movies in December.“It is essential that the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry reflect the true diversity of American culture,” the chairman of the caucus, Representative Raul Ruiz, a Democrat from California, said in a statement. “Including more Latino films in the National Film Registry will help elevate Latino stories, promote an inclusive media landscape, and empower Latino filmmakers and storytellers.”Established by Congress in 1988, the registry preserves films that it deems “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant.” Each year, a committee selects 25 films to add.“The Library of Congress is grateful for the nominations from the Congressional Hispanic Caucus and for their interest in the National Film Registry,” Brett Zongker, a spokesman for the Library of Congress, said in a statement, adding, “The registry seeks to ensure the preservation of films that showcase the range and diversity” of America’s film heritage.Latinos make up the largest minority group in the United States, at 18.5 percent of the population. But they continue to be underrepresented in films and on television. A 2019 study from the University of Southern California’s School for Communication and Journalism found that only 4.5 percent of all speaking characters across 1,200 top-grossing films from 2007 to 2018 were Latino.Of the nearly 800 films in the registry, at least 17 are examples of Latino stories. The number of Latino directors in the registry is tiny: There are 11. Of them, nine are men and two are women.Representative Joaquin Castro, a Democrat from Texas, led the move for nominations. Latino creators and their stories are often pushed away by gatekeepers of American culture, like Hollywood and the national registry, Castro has said. He added that Latinos are often portrayed negatively in all media — as gang members, drug dealers or hypersexualized women.In a letter to the Librarian of Congress, Castro and Ruiz wrote that such misconceptions and stereotyping in media are significant factors “motivating ongoing anti-Latino sentiment in American society,” affecting areas “from immigration law to the education system to the current public health crisis.”The caucus’s list was developed through feedback from constituents, and movies were also identified by, among others, the National Association of Latino Arts and Cultures, the National Hispanic Foundation of the Arts, the National Hispanic Media Coalition and the Latinx House (which uses a gender-neutral term for Latinos).“Our stories have often been missing from American film, and even less often been recognized as important cultural pieces in American history,” Castro said in a phone interview. “This is an effort to change that.”The 25 films the caucus chose reflect stories from a variety of nationalities, including Mexican, Puerto Rican, Dominican, Cuban, Colombian, Argentine, Salvadoran and Nicaraguan.The list speaks to many parts of the Latino experience, including people who are native to the United States and its territories and those who migrated to the country because of its politics and interventions in Latin America, Theresa Delgadillo, a Chicana and Latina studies professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, said in an interview.“It is an important way to influence that diversity effort in an industry,” Delgadillo said about the caucus’s effort.She and other professors, though excited about the effort, were also critical of the list, because, they say, there were few stories about Latinas and L.G.B.T.Q. people. AdvertisementContinue reading the main story More