NOS News•today, 09:53
Film Mardi Gras (1898) found in the Netherlands in the national film list of the US
Footage of a parade in New Orleans found in the Netherlands has been included in the US National Film Registry.
The Mardi Grass Carnival , made in 1898, is the oldest film of the carnival celebration and was discovered this year in the collection of the Eye film museum.
In the footage, just under two minutes long, a colorful procession with several floats moves through the streets of New Orleans. The footage was found when the Louisiana State Museum was looking for its oldest record for an exhibit about the folk festival.
That turned out to be a 68mm film from one of Eye's oldest collections, the archive of an American newsreel. It had already been preserved in 1998, but then no one realized how unique the statue was. Eye hopes that now that the other approximately 200 films from this archive are being digitized, even more special images will be discovered.
Mardi Grass Carnival shows how exuberant the party was already celebrated at the time:
Mardi Gras Carnival 1898
The film is included in the National Film Registry because the American Library of Congress considers the recordings special. Each year, 25 films are selected for that list that are of great "cultural, historical or aesthetic importance to the national film heritage".
The
list of 850 titles includes Hollywood classics such as
Gone with the Wind ,
The Sound of Music and
The Matrix , but also an information film such as
The Story of Menstruation (1946), an amateur film of a visit to Disneyland and the Zapruder film of the murder on President Kennedy. There are only nine titles from before 1900 on the list.
If a film is selected for the register, the Library of Congress, one of the U.S. cultural bearers, promises to make an effort to preserve it, for example by including a copy in its collection, helping other archives to change the title. to store or to assist with restorations.
Romcom, animation and blaxploitation
At the same time as
Mardi Grass Carnival , 24 other titles were selected, such as the romcom
When Harry Met Sally , horror film
Carrie , Disney animation
The Little Mermaid, blaxploitation film
Super Fly and the first of the successful series of Marvel films,
Iron Man . They are all titles that were influential in their genre, explains Congressional Librarian Carola Hayden.
There were 6858 nominations submitted by the public this year. Films must be at least ten years old to be eligible.