Friday, June 20, 2008

MD Poll: Philadelphia Freedom

Jonathan Demme's Philadelphia, the Academy Award winning drama (starring Tom Hanks and Denzel Washington) that was the first studio release to deal with the subject of AIDS, has been selected by Movie Dearest readers as the GLBT-themed film most worthy of induction into the National Film Preservation Board's National Film Registry (see the comments section below for the complete statistics of the poll).

So, here is where you have to do a little work to make this all worthwhile. Below you will find a short sample letter requesting that Philadelphia be considered for inclusion in the NFR. Simply copy it and go to the NFR's nomination page to email it to them. Feel free to add your own personal thoughts about the film as well (and share them in the comments section below if you wish).

Dear National Film Registry:

Please consider the 1993 motion picture "Philadelphia" for induction into the National Film Registry this year. As a supporter of film history and preservation, I feel that this film fulfills the criteria for inclusion due to its historical significance as the first major studio release to address the subject of AIDS.

As a member of/ally to the GLBT community, I also feel that its inclusion will increase the diversity represented within the National Film Registry.


As it states on the NFR website, nominations by the general public are very important in the board's selection process, so be sure to submit your vote to help increase the presence of GLBT-themed films in the NFR (for more information on the NFR, see my original post). I will also be submitting an email elaborating on this whole project and how the film was selected, but please take a few minutes to send your own email as well.

The announcement of the 25 films selected for this year's induction will take place the last week of December.

Click here to vote in the latest MD Poll.

2 comments:

Kirby Holt said...

Which Queer Movie Should Be Inducted Into the National Film Registry?

46 total votes

1. Philadelphia - 30.4%
2. The Boys in the Band - 21.7
3. The Celluloid Closet - 15.2
4. Parting Glances - 10.9
5. Making Love - 8.7
6. The Times of Harvey Milk - 6.5
7. Go Fish - 4.3
8. Desert Hearts - 2.2
9. Personal Best / Tongues Untied - 0%

dmappin said...

"Philadelphia," to me, is one of the most dishonest films about gay life ever made. For God's sake Beckett and his lover don't even kiss in this film! What were the filmmakers afraid of?

But then this film wasn't made for gays, but straight audiences. Guess that answers my question.