Amy Heckering's 1995 comedy, "Clueless," was one of the defining films of decade and was just inducted into the National Film Registry. But even as the director of another generational favorite from the 1980s, "Fast Times at Ridgemont High," Heckerling didn't see it coming while writing and working on the film. And that title? She got it from her babysitter.
Wes Anderson's touching 2014 film, "The Grand Budapest Hotel," joins the National Film Registry this year. Anderson and his team used the Library's vast collection of hand-tinted European photographs from before World War I to help create the titular hotel's distinctive look.
The 2025 National Film Registry is out today, showcasing a group of 25 films spanning 118 years and including fan favorites such as “The Thing,” “Clueless,” “The Big Chill” and “The Incredibles.” The Library’s annual addition to the list of films to be preserved for their cinematic and cultural heritage starts with the 1896 silent film, “The Tramp and the Dog,” and stretches to the 2014 Wes Anderson picture, “The Grand Budapest Hotel.”
Spike Lee's 2000 film "Bamboozled," a hard-edged satire of blackface in cinema and television, was part of the 2023 class of National Film Registry and his fifth film to join the list. In an interview with the Library, he explains how the film is an answer to D.W. Griffith's notorious "The Birth of a Nation" in 1915, which set into play more than a century of racist tropes in films.
A sizzle reel introduces the 25 influential films from the past 102 years have been selected for the 2023 Library of Congress National Film Registry, Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden announced today, inluding blockbusters such as "Fame," "Home Alone" and "Apollo 13," the popular romance "Love & Basketball," and influential feature films and documentaries such as "12 Years a Slave," "Matewan," "Alambrista!" and "Maya Lin: A Strong, Clear Vision."
Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige was excited, explaining why he and his filmmaking team were thrilled that their cornerstone feature, 2008’s “Iron Man,” was being inducted into cinematic Valhalla, the Library’s National Film Registry, in the class of 2022. “All of our favorite movies are the ones that we watch over and over again, and …
The film "Top Gun: Maverick" has caught the nation's imagination 36 years after the first "Top Gun" did, setting box office records. The Library placed the original film in the National Recording Registry and has several items, including the original print of the film, preserved in its collections.
The National Film Registry's 2021 class is the most diverse in the program's 33-year history, including blockbusters such as "Return of the Jedi," "Selena" and "Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring," but also the '70s midnight-movie favorite "Pink Flamingos" and a 1926 film featuring Black pilots in the daring new world of aviation, "The Flying Ace." The Library interviewed a dozen key players about their role in inducted films, including Mark Hamill, Edward James Olmos, John Waters, and documentary filmmakers Cheryl Dunye and Sylvia Morales.
"The Battle of the Century," a Laurel and Hardy silent film thought to be lost forever, was found a few years ago and today was entered into the Library's National Film Registry.
