BY MELISSA HOUGHTON
Women in Film & Video (WIFV) continues its multi-year initiative to have more women-made films included in the National Film Registry housed at the Library of Congress. A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWN directed by Penny Marshall is one of the films WIFV nominated and was included in the National Film Registry in 2012. Although women have been involved with movies since the movie camera was invented, their work is severely underrepresented in this national collection. Of the 750 films on the National Film Registry list, only 52 are women-directed films, 36 are filmmakers of color.
The Library of Congress maintains the National Film Registry to honor “culturally, historically or aesthetically significant films” that are at least 10 years old at the time of their inclusion in the Registry. The selected films are “works of enduring significance to American Culture.” More information about the National Film Registry can be found here: https://www.loc.gov/programs/national-film-preservation-board/film-registry/
The period for Public Nominations for 2019 will be open until September 15, 2019. You may recommend up to 50 titles per year through the Library of Congress’ online nomination form: https://www.research.net/r/national-film-registry-2017
To get you started on your 50 nominations we encourage you to consider 10 women-made films listed below. Descriptions are available here – https://www.wifv.org/news/national-film-registry/.
- A WOMAN’S ERROR (1922) – written/directed by Tressie Souders
- HE’S ONLY MISSING (1978) – written/directed/produced by Robin Smith
- LOSING GROUND (1982) – written/directed by Kathleen Collins
- YENTL (1983) – directed/co-written/co-produced by Barbra Streisand
- SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE (1993) – directed by Nora Ephron, screenplay co-written with David S. Ward and Jeff Arch
- BOYS DON’T CRY (1999) – written/directed by Kimberly Peirce
- THE LIFE AND TIMES OF HANK GREENBERG (1999) – written/directed/produced by Aviva Kempner
- ERIN BROCKOVICH (2000) – written by Susannah Grant
- LOVE & BASKETBALL (2000) – written/directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood
- UNDER THE SAME MOON / LA MISMA LUNA (2007) – directed by Patricia Riggen, written/produced by Ligiah Villalobos
WIFV celebrates its 40th Anniversary in late 2019 so we decided to develop a list of 40 women-made and/or women-centric films (including the 10 mentioned above) deserving of inclusion in the National Film Registry. Thanks to WIFV Interns (Summer 2019) Lucia Fox-Shapiro, Julia Hay, and Nicole Spriggs-Moye for their research, descriptions, advocacy, and promotion of the 2019 nominations.
The full list of 40 is here!
- A WOMAN’S ERROR (1922) written and directed by Tressie Souders – may be the first film made by an African-American woman!
- THE CHAMP (1931) written by Frances Marion – only screenwriter to win back-to-back screenwriting Oscars; one for THE CHAMP
- THE MIRACLE WORKER (1962) about Helen Keller and starring Anne Bancroft and Patty Duke
- THE WOMEN’S HAPPY TIME COMMUNE (1972) directed by Sheila Page
- HE’S ONLY MISSING (1978) directed by Robin Smith
- OTHELLO (1980) directed by Liz White
- LOSING GROUND (1982) written and directed by Kathleen Collins
- VICTOR VICTORIA (1982) starring Julie Andrews
- YENTL (1983) written, directed, and produced by Barbra Streisand
- DESPERATELY SEEKING SUSAN (1985) written by Leora Barish and directed by Susan Seidelman
- DIRTY DANCING (1987) written by Eleanor Bergstein
- CROSSING DELANCEY (1988) written by Susan Sandler and directed by Joan Micklin Silver
- MYSTIC PIZZA (1988) written by Amy Holden Jones
- FAST FOOD WOMEN (1992) directed by Anne Lewis
- JUST ANOTHER GIRL ON THE IRT (1992) written and directed by Leslie Harris
- SLEEPLESS IN SEATTLE (1993) written and directed by Nora Ephron
- MAYA LIN: A STRONG CLEAR VISION (1994) written and directed by Freida Lee Mock
- CLUELESS (1995) written and directed by Amy Heckerling
- MATILDA (1996) screenplay by Robin Swicord and Nicholas Kazan
- THE WATERMELON WOMAN (1997) written and directed by Cheryl Dunye
- SLUMS OF BEVERLY HILLS (1998) written and directed by Tamara Jenkins
- THE PARENT TRAP (1998) directed by Nancy Meyers
- BOYS DON’T CRY (1999) written and directed by Kimberly Peirce
- BUT I’M A CHEERLEADER (1999) starring Natasha Lyonne
- ERIN BROCKOVICH (2000) written by Susannah Grant
- LOVE AND BASKETBALL (2000) written and directed by Gina Prince-Bythewood
- THE LIFE AND TIMES OF HANK GREENBERG (2000) directed by Aviva Kempner
- 5 GIRLS (2001) written and directed by Maria Finitzo
- LEGALLY BLONDE (2001) screenplay by Karen McCullah and Kirsten Smith
- BACK TO GOMBIN (2002) written and directed by Minna Packer
- FRIDA (2002) written by Hayden Herrera and directed by Julie Taymor
- REAL WOMEN HAVE CURVES (2002) based on the play by Josefina Lopez and directed by Patricia Cardoso
- SISTERS IN CINEMA (2003) written and directed by Yvonne Welbon
- D.E.B.S. (2004) written and directed by Angela Robinson
- MAKING TROUBLE: Three Generations of Funny Jewish Women (2006) directed by Rachel Talbot
- STEPHANIE DALEY (2006) written and directed by Hilary Brougher
- BILLY THE KID (2007) directed by Jennifer Venditti
- HER NAME IS SABINE (2007) written and directed by Sandrine Bonnaire
- UNDER THE SAME MOON / LA MISMA LUNA (2007) written by Ligiah Villalobos and directed by Patricia Riggen
- WHIP IT (2009) written by Shauna Cross and directed by Drew Barrymore
Melissa Houghton is Executive Director of Women In Film & Video (WIFV). WIFV is the fiscal sponsor for the 2020 One Woman One Vote Festival.