The Library's National Film Registry celebrates American filmmaking and promotes public awareness of the need to preserve and protect the nation's film heritage. The National Film Registry Tour has given Americans across the country the opportunity to see selected films, added to the registry each year, in their restored state as they were meant to be seen: on the big screen. The tour has already visited many U.S. cities, and four more are slated to host the tour.
"The National Film Registry Tour serves to not only promote the important cause of film preservation, but to provide an opportunity for nationwide audiences to enjoy these films in the manner in which they were intended to be seen," said Dr. Billington. "This means ensuring that they are available, in good quality projection prints, now and for the future."
The National Film Registry was created in 1988. The Registry recognizes the richness of American filmmaking and each year 25 "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant films are added to it. The films on tour are selected from the Registry and include a broad range of film types, dates and filmmakers. Audiences will see such films as "Ninotchka," "The March of Time: Inside Nazi Germany -- 1938" and "Meshes of the Afternoon," as well as "Safety Last," "Raging Bull" and "The Searchers."
Funding for the tour comes from the James Madison Council, the Library's private sector support group. The Film Foundation, a group of leading film directors committed to film preservation, and Turner Classic Movies have provided additional support. Motion picture studios have generously provided new prints of the titles under their control. The preservation work of many organizations will be represented, including the Library of Congress, the International Museum of Photography at George Eastman House, the Museum of Modern Art Department of Film and Video and the UCLA Film and Television Archive.
National Film Registry Tour
Feb. 20-23
Hawaii Theatre, Honolulu
March 8-10
Alabama Theatre, Birmingham
March 14-16
Tennessee Theater, Knoxville
April 10-13
Indianapolis Arts Centre
Additional dates will be announced as they are added.
Features
The Cheat
Chinatown
Dr. Strangelove
Duck Soup
Gigi
High School
I Am a Fugitive from a Chain Gang
The Learning Tree
Letter from an Unknown Woman
My Darling Clementine
The Night of the Hunter
Ninotchka
On the Waterfront
Out of the Past
Raging Bull
Safety Last
Salt of the Earth
The Searchers
Shadow of a Doubt
Shane
Sunrise
Touch of Evil
The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
2001: A Space Odyssey
Within Our Gates
Yankee Doodle Dandy
Short Subjects
The Battle of San Pietro
Big Business
Castro Street
Eaux d'Artifice
Gertie the Dinosaur
The Great Train Robbery
March of Time: Inside Nazi Germany -- 1938
Meshes of the Afternoon
The River
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