‘When Harry Met Sally,’ ‘Iron Man’ and ‘Superfly’ added to National Film Registry

By Lisa Respers France, CNN

This annual list of 25 influential films to be inducted into the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress has been revealed.

The eclectic Hollywood releases selected this year include Marvel’s “Iron Man,” Disney’s beloved animated film “The Little Mermaid,” John Waters’ quirky “Hairspray,” the romantic comedy “When Harry Met Sally,” Brian De Palma’s adaptation of “Carrie,” and the 1950 film version of “Cyrano de Bergerac,” which made José Ferrer the first Hispanic actor to win the best actor Academy Award.

“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,” Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden said in a statement. “We’re grateful to the entire film community for collaborating with the Library of Congress to ensure these films are preserved for the future.”

This year’s films selected are (in chronological order):

• Mardi Gras Carnival (1898)

• Cab Calloway Home Movies (1948-1951)

• Cyrano de Bergerac (1950)

• Charade (1963)

• Scorpio Rising (1963)

• Behind Every Good Man (1967)

• Titicut Follies (1967)

• Mingus (1968)

• Manzanar (1971)

• Betty Tells Her Story (1972)

• Super Fly (1972)

• Attica (1974)

• Carrie (1976)

• Union Maids (1976)

• Word is Out: Stories of Our Lives (1977)

• Bush Mama (1979)

• The Ballad of Gregorio Cortez (1982)

• Itam Hakim, Hopiit (1984)

• Hairspray (1988)

• The Little Mermaid (1989)

• Tongues Untied (1989)

• When Harry Met Sally (1989)

• House Party (1990)

• Iron Man (2008)

• Pariah (2011)

The movies are selected “for their cultural, historic or aesthetic importance to preserve the nation’s film heritage.”

One selection dates back 124 years to the 1898 film of 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.

This year’s selections include at least 15 films directed or co-directed by filmmakers of color, women or LGBTQ+ filmmakers and 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.

Turner Classic Movies (which is owned by CNN’s parent company) will host a television special on December 27, starting at 8 p.m. ET to screen a selection of the films added to the registry this year.

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