The National Film Registry Announces Its Latest Inductees

What do a silent film with an all-Black cast, the musical White Christmas, and The Karate Kid have in common? Each is now officially deemed “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant” by the Library of Congress, earning induction into the National Film Registry.

Every December since 1989, the Library of Congress has selected 25 films for inclusion in the registry, a growing canon reflecting the breadth and depth of America’s rich film heritage. Films must be at least 10 years old before they are eligible. The oldest film on this year’s list dates back to 1896 — The Tramp and the Dog, the first commercial film made in Chicago and the first known as “pants humor” where a comic character loses their pants — while the newest is Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel. You can find the list of all 935 films here.

“When we preserve films, we preserve American culture for generations to come,” Acting Librarian of Congress Robert R. Newlen said in a statement. “These selections for the National Film Registry show us that films are instrumental in capturing important parts of our nation’s story.”

The National Film Registry was an outgrowth of the National Film Preservation Act, which passed in 1988. This legislation was created in part to raise awareness of the urgent need for film preservation and is dedicated to preserving the world’s most popular art form and one of America’s most important cultural legacies.

In 2013, the Library of Congress released a study that reported only 14 percent of feature films produced and distributed domestically between 1912 and 1929 exist in their original format. Even films produced in the last half a century are in danger of being lost due to film stock deterioration, improper storage, or studio neglect.

Actress Alfre Woodard, a member of the National Film Preservation Board, compared the registry’s importance to that of the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., calling it “a testament to who we are,” in an interview with Vanity Fair in 2022. “You really know a people by their art and the stories they tell,” she said. “Whether it is established filmmakers, young filmmakers, orphaned films we’re finding, student films — they tell us who we are. It is our history of using film to express ourselves.”

Registry inductees are typically revealed in December, but the government shutdown pushed the announcement to January 28. The list for 2025 includes six silent films, including The Maid of McMillan (1916), known to be the first student film on record, and Ten Nights in a Barroom (1926), featuring an all-Black cast and the earliest of only two surviving films made by Colored Players Film Corporation of Philadelphia.

Ten Nights in a Barroom, 1926 (Uploaded to YouTube by Black Excellence)

Four documentaries were also selected, including Ken Burns’ first film Brooklyn Bridge (1981), Nancy Buirski’s The Loving Story (2011) about the couple whose forbidden interracial marriage led to a landmark Supreme Court decision, George Nierenberg’s celebration of gospel music Say Amen, Somebody (1982), and Danny Tedesco’s The Wrecking Crew (2008) about the legendary session musicians behind countless hit records for the Beach Boys, the Monkees, and others.

The Wrecking Crew Trailer (Uploaded to YouTube by Rotten Tomatoes Indie)

Two vintage musicals starring Bing Crosby also made the list, the holiday perennial White Christmas (1954) and High Society (1956), a remake of The Philadelphia Story costarring Frank Sinatra and featuring songs by Cole Porter.

Hight Society Trailer (Uploaded to YouTube by Rotten Tomatoes Classic Trailers)

The 1980s are well represented with John Carpenter’s The Thing (1982), his initially underappreciated remake of the classic 1951 thriller that has seen a critical and cult resurgence in recent years, Lawrence Kasdan’s Baby Boomer classic The Big Chill (1983), and John Avildsen’s blockbuster The Karate Kid (1984).

The Karate Kid Trailer (Uploaded to YouTube by Sony Pictures Entertainment)

Denzel Washington costars in two Oscar-winning films inducted into the registry, Edward Zwick’s Civil War drama Glory (1989) and Jonathan Demme’s Philadelphia (1993), the first Hollywood studio film to deal with HIV/AIDS.

Philadelphia Trailer (Uploaded to YouTube by Rotten Tomatoes Classic Trailers)

The remaining films chosen for inclusion to the registry are testament to its breadth and depth:  Richard Linklater’s richly romantic Before Sunrise (1995), Amy Heckerling’s Jane Austen-inspired Clueless (1995), Peter Weir’s prescient The Truman Show (1998), Julie Taymor’s Oscar-nominated biopic Frida (2002), Stephen Daldry’s Oscar-winning The Hours, Brad Bird’s animated classic The Incredibles (2004), and Christopher Nolan’s mind-bending Inception (2010).

Inception Trailer (Uploaded to YouTube by Rotten Tomatoes Classic Trailers)

Each year, the 25 films are ultimately selected by the Librarian of Congress, who considers thousands of titles nominated by the public as well as recommendations by the National Film Preservation Board and other industry artisans and film curators. This year, the public submitted 7,559 titles.

Do you have a cherished film you’d like to nominate for the registry? You can do so at loc.gov/film.