December 3, 1996

Contact: Craig D'Ooge (202) 707-9189

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New Venues for the National Film Registry Tour

The Librarian of Congress, Dr. James H. Billington, announced today that the National Film Registry Tour will continue its second season by traveling to three Western states: Washington, Idaho, and Hawaii. The tour features a wide variety of film titles from the National Film Registry projected back on the big screen in their original 35mm or 16mm formats. The purpose is to celebrate American filmmaking while promoting public awareness of the need to protect and preserve America's film heritage.

Dr. Billington said: "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. This means ensuring that they are available, in good quality projection prints now and for the future."

The next stop for the tour will be Seattle, Washington, December 12-19 at the brand new Cineplex Odeon Meridian Complex. To begin the new year, the tour will travel to the Egyptian Theatre and The Flicks in Boise, Idaho, January 23-26, 1997. The historic Hawaii Theatre will host the tour in Honolulu, Hawaii, February 20- 23. Additional 1997 dates will be announced as they are confirmed. The tour has played to enthusiastic audiences in over eleven states thus far. The goal is to bring the tour to at least one city in each of the 50 states and the District of Columbia.

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."

The perilous state of America's film heritage was documented by the Library and the National Film Preservation Board in "Film Preservation 1993: A Study of the Current State of American Film Preservation." More than half of all American films made before 1951 are lost forever. Film is a fragile medium and motion pictures, both old and new, face deterioration problems. Only by storing films in low-temperature and low-humidity environments can the decay process be slowed. The majority of American films do not receive this type of care and are in critical need of preservation.

Funding for the tour comes from the James Madison Council, the Library's private sector advisory board. 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
(Program Subject to Change)

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
What's Opera, Doc?

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PR 96-178
12/3/96
ISSN 0731-3527