What favorite will be added to National Film Registry?
Since the Library of Congress instituted the National Film Registry, a compendium of films deemed historically, culturally or aesthetically important enough to preserve for future generations, the public (as well as film professionals and scholars) has been asked to nominate films for inclusion.
There are currently 625 films on the Registry, dating as far back as 1891 (the Edison short "Newark Athlete"). They include Hollywood classics like "Citizen Kane" and "Duck Soup"; documentaries like "Harlan County U.S.A."; cartoons ("What's Opera, Doc?"); promotional films (Westinghouse's 1939 short, "The Middleton Family at the New York World's Fair"); and home movies (including Abraham Zapruder's 8mm footage of the Kennedy assassination).
Three of the most-frequently nominated films are movie buffs' favorites:
"Ghostbusters" (1984), a sci-fi comedy starring Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis as a team of spook-hunters who [spoiler alert!] save New York City from supernatural terrors;
"Ferris Bueller's Day Off" (1986), John Hughes' sprightly comedy starring Matthew Broderick as a high school student playing hooky with his friends in Chicago; and
"Titanic" (1997), James Cameron's romantic blockbuster, starring Leonardo diCaprio and Kate Winslet, which won 11 Academy Awards.
And this year, the Library tells "Sunday Morning," one of these three favorites WILL be added.
One of the most eclectic of film lists, the Registry's aim is to help protect our nation's fragile film heritage. Each year 25 films from all genres of fiction and non-fiction are added, to be preserved by the Library.
This year's additions are expected to be announced on Wednesday, Dec. 17.
TAKE OUR POLL: Which of these three would YOU like to see preserved on the National Film Registry?
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