America's film archive exists partly because of a fight over colorization
In the 1980s studios were adding colour to black-and-white classics, and directors like Frank Capra and Martin Scorsese lobbied Congress to stop the tampering. The result was the National Film Registry. Each year up to 25 films join it, from Hollywood epics to home movies, and anyone can nominate.
The colorization row led two congressmen, Robert J. Mrazek and Sidney R. Yates, to sponsor what became the National Film Preservation Act of 1988. Filmmakers also objected to other commercial alterations, such as pan and scan cropping and cutting films for television. The law set up the registry and its selection rules, and Congress has renewed the mission several times since, most recently in 2016. A 1996 act added a non-profit foundation that raises private money for preservation.
For the first list, in 1989, the public put forward almost 1,000 titles. Board members drew up ballots, and Librarian of Congress James H. Billington and his staff refined the tally into the final 25. Since 1997 anyone may suggest up to 50 films a year, with an August deadline. A film becomes eligible ten years after release, and picks are normally announced in December. The one miss came in 2025, when a federal government shutdown pushed that year's announcement to January 29, 2026.
The registry is not a list of hits. It takes newsreels, student and experimental work, music videos, serials, documentaries, animation and orphan films, and entries need not be feature-length or ever have played in cinemas. As of the 2025 intake it held 925 films. The oldest is Newark Athlete from 1891; the newest is The Grand Budapest Hotel from 2014. Annabelle Serpentine Dance and The Tramp and the Dog each waited 129 years to get in.
Raging Bull holds the opposite record. It opened on November 14, 1980, and was inducted in October 1990, just short of the ten-year minimum. Only eight other titles went in right at the ten-year mark, Toy Story and Fargo among them. Some franchises have several entries: all three original Star Wars films are included. Among directors, John Ford is represented by work spanning The Iron Horse to The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance, and Buster Keaton by silent comedies such as The General.
Source: National Film Registry
