Mondo Knows Facts
The National Film Registry began in 1988
Congress created it to preserve films of cultural and historical importance The National Film Preservation Act of 1988 set up the National Film Registry inside the Library of Congress, which each year names films deemed culturally, historically or aesthetically significant. Listing requires a title to be at least ten years old. The board also runs a preservation programme that funds archives. It sits in Mondo's movies & tv collection, one of 200 facts that each trace back to the reference below.
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More facts like this
Films reach the registry after ten yearsNew releases cannot be listed, so the list favours survivorsThe registry has grown by 25 films a yearEach annual list is capped at 25 titles, so most nominations failThe registry protects home movies and newsreelsNewsreels, adverts and family films sit alongside studio featuresFederal money pays for film preservationThe national preservation programme gives grants to archives and librariesNitrate film is stored in isolated vaultsArchives separate it because a fire could spread through a collectionOld film can decay into vinegarAcetate stock releases acetic acid as it breaks down over time
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Tags: registry, preservation, 1988
The National Film Registry began in 1988: the short answers
- Where does this come from, and can I check it?
- Congress created it to preserve films of cultural and historical importance. The figure is taken from Library of Congress, which is linked in full on this page. Every fact on Mondo Knows names its source rather than repeating an unsourced claim.
- Is this really a movies & tv fact?
- Yes. It sits on the Movies & TV shelf, one of 2,600 sourced facts grouped into space, animals, the human body, history, science and more. Category pages collect every fact in the same field.
- What else can I read about it?
- The links under the fact point to a quiz, game, puzzle or calculator on the same subject, and the shelf below shows related facts. The wording here is original, and quoted phrases are marked as quotations.