'Return Of The Jedi' and 'Nightmare On Elm Street' among latest films added to National Film Registry

Hit 80's films among those chosen for preservation

What do Luke Skywalker, Freddy Krueger and David Byrne from Talking Heads have in common?

Their movies have been chosen for preservation at the National Film Registry in Washington D.C.

25 films are chosen each year for preservation at the Library of Congress, and this year's selection is rather electric.

Blockbusters such as 'Return Of The Jedi', 'A Nightmare On Elm Street', and 'Fellowship Of The Ring' made the cut, along with Jonathan Demme's seminal Talking Heads concert film 'Stop Making Sense', John Waters' subversive classic 'Pink Flamingos' and Pixar's 2008 hit 'Wall-E'.

“It is a great honour to have ‘The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring’ selected this year by the National Film Registry,” said Peter Jackson’s filmmaking team, which includes Fran Walsh and Philippa Boyens.

“We are proud to be part of an archive that celebrates and preserves the art of visual storytelling, for generations to come.”

Several films added to the collection this year address the theme of racial violence, with films such as 'The Murder of Fred Hampton', 'Who Killed Vincent Chin?' and 'Requiem-29' being selected for inclusion.

Films become eligible for preservation 10 years after release, and to date, 825 films have been chosen for preservation in the archives.

The library has selected movies for preservation for their "cultural, historic and artist importance" since the registry began in 1988.

The collection of films is overseen by the National Film Preservation Board and the films are stored at the Library of Congress in Washington D.C.

Directors Frank Capra and Martin Scorsese were among the biggest names to lobby for the creation of the project, as they argued that films made at the outset of cinema history were being poorly stored and needed a permanent home for preservation.

2020 saw 'The Dark Knight', 'The Hurt Locker' and 'Shrek' added to the registry, and in recent years hit films such as 'The Shawshank Redemption, 'Pulp Fiction', 'The Matrix', and 'The Silence Of The Lambs' were added to the registry.