This year’s inductees into the National Film Registry, a program of the Library of Congress, casts a wide net of franchise blockbusters (”Return of the Jedi,” “The Fellowship of the Ring”), legendary directors (Alfred Hitchcock, Robert Altman, Jonathan Demme, Wes Craven), an array of Black, Latinx and Asian American filmmakers — and a healthy dose of Chicago-made work.
The 25 titles, released this week, include the Cabrini-Green set 1975 comedy “Cooley High,” its title taken from Cooley Vocational High School, closed four years after American-International released director Michael Schultz’s coming-of-age comedy.
Also on the list: “The Murder of Fred Hampton” (1971), which started out as a chronicle of Illinois Black Panther Party chairman Hampton. After he and Mark Clark were murdered in a raid coordinated by federal, state and Chicago law enforcement, the documentary became, among other things, an indictment of then-Cook County State’s Attorney Edward V. Hanrahan.
Also inducted this year, the 1979 documentary “The Wobblies,” made by Deborah Shaffer and Stewart Bird, traces the history of the Chicago-founded Industrial Workers of the World.
“No doubt about it, there’s a lot of prime Chicago material on the list,” said National Film Preservation Board chair Jacqueline Stewart Monday. The board advises the National Film Registry; Stewart, a longtime University of Chicago professor, now serves as chief artistic and programming officer of the new Academy Museum, located in Los Angeles. She continues as a prominent host on Turner Classic Movies. This year she also received a MacArthur Fellowship, informally known as a “genius grant.”
Each year’s film registry additions are overseen by Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden, and the movies are chosen for “cultural, historic or aesthetic importance.” Along with the movie’s addition to a roster of now 825 titles, the honor includes the preservation of the film in one of the National Film Registry’s affiliated archives.
The 2021 list runs a chronological gamut from a three-minute 1902 Ringling Brothers parade film, shot in Indianapolis at the dawn of the silent era, to a 1930 evangelical allegory and Black cinema milestone (”Hellbound Train”), to a pair of terrific concert films: ”Richard Pryor: Live in Concert” (1979) and “Stop Making Sense” (1984).
Each year, members of the public can suggest their own nominees via the Library of Congress website. The films must be at least 10 years old. A Library of Congress announcement this week cited rabid online support for “Return of the Jedi,” which even the Library of Congress noted was “perhaps not quite up to the lofty standards of its two predecessors,” and for “The Fellowship of the Ring,” part of director Peter Jackson’s hugely popular “Lord of the Rings” trilogy.
Stewart said Monday that film registry board members, along with Librarian of Congress Hayden, were well aware of “gaps in the registry, particularly with Latinx filmmakers.” She added that “Who Killed Vincent Chin?” (1987), an Oscar-nominated documentary about the fatal attack on a Chinese American by two white Detroit autoworkers, marks the registry’s first recognition of female Asian American filmmakers, Christine Choy and Renee Tajima-Pena.
“That film,” Stewart said, “was truly in need of preservation. And it’s incredibly important right now, when we’ve seen a rise in anti-Asian violence. It’s important to trace that history.”
Like its predecessors, the 2021 list is made for inclusion, arguments, debate and breadth. “We’ve always wanted to show the many different types of filmmaking — short films, longer films, silent films, student films,” along with long-established classics,” said Stewart. “The goal is to have people see at least one title on the list that touches them personally, and at least one title that can introduce folks to something they’ve never seen before.”
The full chronological list:
1. “Ringling Brothers Parade Film” (1902)
2. “Jubilo” (1919)
3. “The Flying Ace” (1926)
4. “Hellbound Train” (1930)
5. “Flowers and Trees” (1932)
6. “Strangers on a Train” (1951)
7. “What Ever Happened to Baby Jane?” (1962)
8. “Evergreen” (1965)
9. “Requiem-29″ (1970)
10. “The Murder of Fred Hampton” (1971)
11. “Pink Flamingos” (1972)
12. “Sounder” (1972)
13. “The Long Goodbye” (1973)
14. “Cooley High” (1975)
15. Richard Pryor: Live in Concert” (1979)
16. “Chicana” (1979)
17. “The Wobblies” (1979)
18. “Star Wars Episode VI — Return of the Jedi” (1983)
19. “A Nightmare on Elm Street” (1984)
20. “Stop Making Sense” (1984)
21. “Who Killed Vincent Chin?” (1987)
22. “The Watermelon Woman” (1996)
23. “Selena” (1997)
24. “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” (2001)
25. “WALL-E” (2008)
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National Film Preservation Board chair and Turner Classic Movies host Jacqueline Stewart joins Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden 8 p.m. ET Dec. 17 on TCM to discuss and present five of this year’s National Film Registry honorees: “Sounder” (1972), “Chicana” (1979); “Strangers on a Train” (1951); “The Watermelon Woman” (1996); and “Whatever Happened to Baby Jane?” (1962).
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