2022 National Film Registry Selects Announced
Work of ASC members among the 25 films selected, including Matthew Libatique, Bradford Young and Peter Deming.
Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden announced the annual selection of 25 influential motion pictures to be inducted into the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress. Selected for their cultural, historic or aesthetic importance to preserve the nation’s film heritage, the newest selections include a vibrant diversity of American filmmakers, as well as landmark works in key genres and numerous documentaries.
The 2022 selections date back 124 years in filmmaking, to an 1898 short documenting the Mardi Gras Carnival parade in New Orleans. The film was long thought to be lost but recently discovered in a museum in the Netherlands. The most recent film now added to the registry is 2011’s Pariah, directed by Dee Rees. This year’s selections include at least 15 films directed or co-directed by filmmakers of color, women or LGBTQ+ filmmakers.
Here is this year’s complete list of selected films (with cinematographers indicated):
Mardi Gras Carnival (1898) - Unknown
Cab Calloway Home Movies (1948-1951) - Cab and Nuffie Calloway
Cyrano de Bergerac (1950) - Franz Planer, ASC
Charade (1963) - Charles B. Lang, ASC
Scorpio Rising (1963) - Kenneth Anger
Behind Every Good Man (1967) - Nikolai Ursin
Titicut Follies (1967) - John Marshall
Mingus (1968) - Lee Osborne & Michael Wadleigh
Manzanar (1971) - Robert A. Nakamura
Betty Tells Her Story (1972) - Liane Brandon
Super Fly (1972) - James Signorelli
Attica (1974) - Roland Barnes, Jay Lamarche, Mary Lampson, Jesse Goodman, Kevin Keating, Paul Glushanok, Carol Stein
Carrie (1976) - Mario Tosi, ASC
Union Maids (1976) - Tony Heriza & Sherry Novick
Word is Out: Stories of Our Lives (1977) - Nancy Adair, Peter Adair, Andrew Brown, Rob Epstein, Lucy Massie Phenix, Veronica Selver
Bush Mama (1979) - Charles Burnett & Roderick Young
The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez (1982) - Reynaldo Villalobos
Itam Hakim, Hopiit (1984) - Victor Masayesva Jr.
Hairspray (1988) - David Insley
The Little Mermaid (1989) - Animated
Tongues Untied (1989) - Vivian Kleiman & Marlon Riggs
When Harry Met Sally (1989) - Barry Sonnenfeld
House Party (1990) - Peter Deming, ASC
Iron Man (2008) - Matthew Libatique, ASC
Pariah (2011) - Bradford Young, ASC
These selections bring the number of films in the registry to 850, many of which are among the 1.7 million films in the Library’s collections.
“Films have become absolutely central to American culture by helping tell our national story for more than 125 years. We are proud to add 25 more films by a group of vibrant and diverse filmmakers to the National Film Registry as we preserve our cinematic heritage,” said Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden. “We’re grateful to the entire film community for collaborating with the Library of Congress to ensure these films are preserved for the future.”
Turner Classic Movies (TCM) will host a television special Tuesday, Dec. 27, starting at 8 p.m. ET to screen a selection of motion pictures named to the registry this year. Hayden will join TCM host, film historian and Academy Museum of Motion Pictures Director and President Jacqueline Stewart, who is chair of the National Film Preservation Board, to discuss the films. “I am especially proud of the way the Registry has amplified its recognition of diverse filmmakers, experiences, and a wide range of filmmaking traditions in recent years,” Stewart said. “I am grateful to the entire National Film Preservation Board, the members of the public who nominated films, and of course to Dr. Hayden for advocating so strongly for the preservation of our many film histories.”
Select titles from 30 years of the National Film Registry are also freely available online in the National Screening Room.
The public submitted 6,865 titles for consideration this year. The public can submit nominations throughout the year on the Library’s website. Nominations for next year will be accepted until Aug. 15, 2023. Cast your vote at loc.gov/film.
Follow the conversation about the 2022 National Film Registry on Twitter and Instagram at @librarycongress and #NatFilmRegistry.
