‘She’s Gotta Have It’ and ‘Purple Rain’ Join National Film Registry - The New York Times

The debut feature film of Spike Lee, breakthrough works by Elaine May, Kimberly Peirce and Patricia Cardoso, and other acclaimed pictures including “Platoon,” “Gaslight” and “Sleeping Beauty” are among the movies that will be inducted into the Library of Congress’s National Film Registry this year.

In keeping with its annual tradition, the library plans to announce on Wednesday that it has chosen a new crop of 25 movies that will be added to the registry, recognizing their artistic significance and helping ensure their preservation.

Those films include “She’s Gotta Have It,” Lee’s landmark 1986 romantic comedy; “A New Leaf,” May’s 1971 directorial debut, which she wrote and co-starred in, a triple feat that was a first for the big studios; “Boys Don’t Cry,” Peirce’s Academy Award-winning 1999 biopic about the transgender man Brandon Teena; and Cardoso’s 2002 comedy-drama “Real Women Have Curves,” about a Mexican-American teenager in East Los Angeles.

The documentaries “I Am Somebody” (1970), Madeline Anderson’s look at a strike by black hospital workers, and “Before Stonewall” (1984), Greta Schiller’s chronicle of gay history, have also been selected.

The lineup also honors several musical films, including “The Last Waltz,” Martin Scorsese’s 1978 documentary about a mammoth farewell concert for the Band; “Coal Miner’s Daughter,” the 1980 Michael Apted feature that won Sissy Spacek an Oscar for her portrayal of Loretta Lynn; and “Purple Rain,” the 1984 rock music drama starring Prince and directed by Albert Magnoli.

Other films that made the list include Oliver Stone’s 1986 Vietnam War drama, “Platoon”; the 1959 Disney version of “Sleeping Beauty”; and George Cukor’s 1944 melodrama, “Gaslight,” in which Ingrid Bergman plays a new wife whose older husband (Charles Boyer) tries to drive her mad by pretending what she sees isn’t really happening.

The Library of Congress said in a news release that the films had been selected “because of their cultural, historic and aesthetic importance to the nation’s film heritage.” Movies must be at least 10 years old to be eligible, and are chosen by Carla Hayden, the Librarian of Congress, after consulting with members of the National Film Preservation Board and other specialists. The library also allows the public to submit nominations at its website; it said that more than 6,000 films were nominated this year, and that the highest number of votes went to “Clerks,” the low-budget 1994 comedy written and directed by Kevin Smith.

Here is the complete list of the 25 movies chosen for the National Film Registry:

1. “Amadeus” (1984)

2. “Becky Sharp” (1935)

3. “Before Stonewall” (1984)

4. “Body and Soul” (1925)

5. “Boys Don’t Cry” (1999)

6. “Clerks” (1994)

7. “Coal Miner’s Daughter” (1980)

8. “Emigrants Landing at Ellis Island” (1903)

9. “Employees Entrance” (1933)

10. “Fog of War” (2003)

11. “Gaslight” (1944)