One of the motion picture recordings of American Sign Language selected for National Film Registry

From WILX-TV:

BALTIMORE -- "The Empire Strikes Back" and "Saturday Night Fever" are among the 25 films selected for preservation this year by the Library of Congress.

Each year, the library adds 25 films to the National Film Registry to preserve films with artistic, cultural or historical significance. There are now 550 films in the registry, which began in 1989.

This year's selections were announced early Dec. 28. They include one of the first motion pictures ever made, a clip of a young man swinging Indian clubs, which were an exercise aid. The film was made in 1891 at the Edison Laboratory in West Orange, N.J.

Also selected was a 1913 film called "Preservation of the Sign Language," one of the first motion picture recordings of American Sign Language.

"The Empire Strikes Back" joins "Star Wars" in the registry.

A list of the 25 films being added to the National Film Registry, as announced Tuesday by the Library of Congress:
-- "Airplane!" (1980)
-- "All the President's Men" (1976)
-- "The Bargain" (1914)
-- "Cry of Jazz" (1959)
-- "Electronic Labyrinth: THX 1138 4EB" (1967)
-- "The Empire Strikes Back" (1980)
-- "The Exorcist (1973)
-- "The Front Page" (1931)
-- "Grey Gardens" (1976)
-- "I Am Joaquin" (1969)
-- "It's a Gift" (1934)
-- "Let There Be Light" (1946)
-- "Lonesome" (1928)
-- "Make Way For Tomorrow" (1937)
-- "Malcolm X" (1992)
-- "McCabe & Mrs. Miller" (1971)
-- "Newark Athlete" (1891)
-- "Our Lady of the Sphere" (1969)
-- "The Pink Panther" (1964)
-- "Preservation of the Sign Language" (1913)
-- "Saturday Night Fever" (1977)
-- "Study of a River" (1966)
-- "Tarantella" (1940)
-- "A Tree Grows in Brooklyn" (1945)
-- "A Trip Down Market Street" (1906)