Introduction
The introduction of an International Film Registry organization would enable films from around the world to be remembered by future generations for their cultural, historical and aesthetic value. The organization will serve as a preservation site for culturally important identified films. The films that would be preserved will constitute films from organization’s member states that are recognized by the states to be containing significant social interests. It is important to note that the films that would be voted into the registry would not be the best films but those with historic, aesthetic and cultural representation of the society. In this paper, we are going to discuss the important associated with the creating an international film registry in all country.
Memory can be accounted to be the most important preservative item for cultural identities and engaging the past with the present and in the process shaping the future. The memory that will be residing in the international registry will serve to document heritage of the global society reflecting the diversity of people in terms of their culture and language. In the film Casablanca, directed by Michael Curtiz is a 1942 American romantic drama film. The film set during the World War II was not expected by the producer Hal Wallis to be something more than ordinary. The film is significant in that it is a permanent memory that the international community will live to tell as it is a reflection of the Nazi regime and how lovers could sacrifice to have their loved ones freed to continue the fight against the Nazi regime. The film will act as reminder and an informative to the current generation on how virtue and love was expressed in 1940s having in mind the condition of war and associate refugees. In the film blazing saddles, the live history of the American West is unruffled. The film is significant to the registry in that it gives a documentary on how anachronism took place in the politics of 1870s was. In addition to this, the film addresses an international concept because it documents about various diverse groupings of the American West, including the supremacy of the blacks and their interaction with the Europeans and the prevailing juxtaposing administration as documented in the film. Seemingly, this is a good historic background of the American people.
Finally, the film West Side Story is an artistic film which reflects the historic artistic work of great artists like Shakespeare. It is more a reflection of the adaptation of the Broadway music. The movie is significant to the registry in that it reminds the viewers on what was rated best during the periods that the movie was produced as it was rated the best winning several awards (Blush, Douglas, Paul & Kurt, 2011). The film is an historical film that reflects on the lifestyle of the people of west coast and the artistic presentation that points more about Manhattan. Such movies should be put in the registry since they will be used by the future generation in study the cultural and historical values of the past.
A considerable section of the world heritage documentary gets lost through natural causes. This losses could only be avoided if such documentaries could be secured in the international film registry because libraries are prone to losses. The protection of significant films that are endangered is the vital importance of establishment of an International registry. Culture, history and aesthetic are the most significant heritage that needs to be preserved. The registry is important tool in studying and understanding the world history. Through the film, individuals will be able to learn about some of our way of life, how the daily lives of these people used to be and how individuals can also learn about some of the important morals of humanity that people in this culture preserved (Eagan, 2010). Adding to this, the films registry will be the only reliable source of video material that will help the future generation in understanding the history of the world.
Films are social items of documenting and presenting about the past, the present and the future of a society. Films are influential in that they affect the viewers’ perceptions of the various themes that are presented in such movies. The global viewership of films is highly influenced and impacted by films from the USA, India, France and Japan. This has been so because of the unique aspects of film industry that exemplified in movies from the above mentioned countries. For instance the Indian cinema has grown in Asia as Asians realize that the Indian cinema was much more fitting to their sensibilities than the western cinema. Indian cinema in the 21st century moved beyond the borders of India influencing the various audiences in the international market that Indian Diaspora was present. This impacted the other international film producing industries thus taking India films as alternative. In the recent past Indian film has begun to influence the western musical films. These Indian films played an instrumental particular role in reviving the music genre in the western world.
American based movies are influential in that they are the tool that the American culture is spreading. The documentary the Amazing Shadows is one of the cultural, historic and aesthetic film preserved in the National Registry of the US as voted in by the house of congress. The documentary highlights the significant importance of preserving the history of US film industry based on the cultural, aesthetic and historic films which were rated the best at their time and also influenced the world as evident in their wining of international awards. The films as mentioned earlier include the Casablanca, the West Side Story and others. This films change the world viewership as people have the tendency of turning to watching historic movies. Aesthetic films in the history of the USA include the West Side story. This film is American musical film of the 1961. It is directed by Jerome Robbins and Robert Wise and it is an adaptation of Shakespeare’s play Romeo and Juliet musical Broadway of the name Westside Story. (Eitier, 2011).
The Japanese films are highly influential because of their tactical presentation of Kungfu and Karate. The Kurosawa masterpiece is one of the significant Japanese film works that contributed to the world viewership of films today. The Japan films brought to Hollywood the idea of team work in achievement of objectives in movies. This is historic to the Japanese people.
Films such as Singing in the Rain and Jodhaa Akbar are influential movies based on the film culture that they exhibit in their production. Singing in the Rain is musical American comedy film directed by Kelly Gene and Stanley Donen. It is winning the Golden Globes confirms its rating in the industry. This film is influential to the world viewership as people from nations from France will be influenced by the general comedy of American origin which traces its originality to Europe. The Indian historical drama film the Jodhaa Akbar presents a religious aspect of romance between the Muslim emperors. The film is historic and significant to the world including France as it is an international presentation of the past way of live where the French people could understand the origin and perspective of the Indian early tradition. Its international high rating will capture the attention of international community who will seek to watch a historic drama comedy of Indian origin.
International Film Registry setting is challenged by the diversity in demand and requirements by various states and countries which have different tests for films this will make it difficult for international groups to come into consensus on the qualification of the movie to the national registry. Films from various countries are not defined as being private or public and if defined the criteria used are not standardized. Setting an international film registry will face a misconception of popular movies from the culturally significant films which are vital to be preserved (Zeng, 2007). This is so because the audience will be suggesting the selection of films to the registry based on popularity assuming other important qualifications.
The international film registry will have to lay strict and effective rules and regulations that will guard the selection of a film to the international registry. Other than this the organization would have to ensure that these rules are relevant to each countries definitions and understanding of the films’ qualification. The nomination of a film to the international registry will involve, the film should be at least 10 years old, be exhibiting historic, aesthetic and cultural aspects of a certain society in its content. Another aspect to be considered is whether the film is private or public and only public films are to be nominated because the registry serves the interest of the public. In addition, the selection of movies that qualifies for preservation need to be educative, about any part of the history of the world culture, tradition and beliefs of humanity.
In conclusion, setting international film registry is of importance as it will serve to preserve the cultural presentations of various nations. Preservation of cultural significant films will serve to reserve people heritage and culture. However, the setting of an international registry can be challenging. There is more knowledge that can be passed to the future generation. In my own opinion, setting up this organization will help pass knowledge to more people in the future and acknowledge more film makers for being part of history making. Additionally, there is the fear of some culture being extinct and the only way of preserving this culture is to keep tangible evidence to prove of their existence. Adding to this, the organization will help create more aware of preserving the culture by awarding films that champion for ideologies similar to the organization.
Work cited
Blush, Douglas, Paul Mariano, and Kurt Norton. These Amazing Shadows. Sundance Selects,
2011. Print.Eagan, Daniel. America's Film Legacy: The Authoritative Guide to the Landmark Movies in the National Film Registry. New York: Continuum, 2010. Print.Eitier, Bob. “These Amazing Shadows Focuses on Culturally Relevant Films.” Technorati. 26 December 2011: Web. Hernon, Peter, John A. Shuler, and Robert E. Dugan. Us Government on the Web. Westport, Conn: Libraries unlimited, 2003. Print. Zeng, Li. The Past Revisited: Popular Memory of the Cultural Revolution in Contemporary China. , 2007. Print.
