Women and filmmakers of color are joining the A-list.
Twenty-five movies, including a record-setting number of projects helmed by female directors and directors of color, were announced Monday as the annual inductees for National Film Registry.
Kathryn Bigelow’s Oscar-winning “The Hurt Locker,” Wayne Wang’s “The Joy Luck Club,” Stanley Nelson’s civil rights activist documentary “Freedom Riders” and Lois Weber’s 1913 silent short “Suspense” will each be preserved in the registry, which is part of the Library of Congress.
Kathleen Collins’ 1982 film “Losing Ground,” which was one of the first movies directed by an African-American woman, was inducted, too.
Overall, nine of the 2020 inductees were directed by women, and seven were directed by filmmakers of color, the library said.
“With the inclusion of diverse filmmakers, we are not trying to set records but rather to set the record straight by spotlighting the astonishing contributions women and people of color have made to American cinema, despite facing often-overwhelming hurdles,” said Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden.
Other films included on the 2020 lineup include “The Dark Knight,” “Grease” and the comedy-drama “Lilies of the Field,” for which Sidney Poitier became the first Black star to win the Oscar for Best Actor.
“‘Lilies of the Field’ stirs up such great remembrances in our family, from the littlest Poitiers watching a young and agile ‘Papa’ to the oldest — Papa Sidney himself!” Poitier said in a statement.
Ida Lupino’s 1950 black-and-white film “Outrage,” Lourdes Portillo’s mystery documentary “The Devil Never Sleeps,” the animated staple “Shrek” and the iconic comedy “The Blues Brothers” were all selected by the library, too, as was “Cabin in the Sky,” a 1943 musical featuring an all-Black cast.
Widely considered among the best superhero movies ever made, Christopher Nolan’s “The Dark Knight” centers on a high-stakes cat-and-mouse game between Batman and the Joker.
Heath Ledger won a posthumous Oscar for his chilling performance as the Joker in the film, which premiered in 2008.
“This is not only a great honor for all of us who worked on ‘The Dark Knight,’ this is also a tribute to all of the amazing artists and writers who have worked on the great mythology of Batman over the decades,” Nolan said.
Also released in 2008, the war thriller “The Hurt Locker” saw Bigelow win the Oscar for Best Director. She remains the only woman to receive that award.
“My desire in making ‘The Hurt Locker’ was to honor those in uniform serving in dangerous posts abroad, so I have been gratified by the resonance the film has had over the last 10 years,” Bigelow said after the movie was chosen by the Library of Congress. “For it to be selected by the National Film Registry is both humbling and thrilling.”
The Library of Congress said each of the movies were chosen for their “cultural, historic or aesthetic importance to the nation’s film heritage.” The library adds 25 movies every year to its registry, which was founded in 1988.
