The National Film Registry explores going digital

Star Wars fans are undoubtedly rejoicing with the addition of The Empire Strikes Back to the Library of Congress’ National Film Registry, but a more interesting point brought up in the Washington Post interview with librarian James H. Billington is that the library is looking into ways to stream some of their films online. Clearly, films like Empire won’t be there anytime soon, but it sounds like the library is looking for ways to share their collection – and it is an impressive one – with the world.

Said Billington, “We’re going to be putting a lot of this, hopefully, online. “I hope we’ll be able to work something out, because [the registry] has great educational and inspirational as well as entertainment value.”

Here’s hoping that Billington gets his way. Right now, it looks like the biggest roadblock is the National Film Registry’s site itself – which is more than a tad dated. In the meantime, I encourage you to take a look through the Registry’s selection of films on their wikipedia page – it is a fascinating collection and a goldmine for any film buff.

– Dave Robson