Congressman Joaquin Castro, along with members of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, want more Latino films entered into the National Film Registry and they’re asking for movie fans’ help. Castro told Entertainment Weekly that, starting Tuesday, he is collecting suggestions from members of the public for films representing Latino, Black and other underrepresented communities that best represent them.
“Since the earliest days of cinema, Latino actors, writers, directors, and creatives have made extraordinary contributions to American filmmaking,” Castro said. “As the Library of Congress works to preserve the films that shaped American culture, public nominations will put a spotlight on the Latino-driven films that have sold out theaters and defined generations. As we launch this year’s push for inclusion, I look forward to hearing from folks across America about the Latino films that have made an enduring impact on their lives.”
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Each year, the Librarian of Congress adds 25 new films to the National Film Registry and as of 2023, only 24 of the 850 films in the registry are Latino — less than three percent.
“We’re 20 percent of the country, but only three percent of the films in the National Film Registry have anything to do with Latino lives and culture. So, this is an effort to help do better,” Castro said.
“The Latino narrative is largely missing from the American narrative,” he explains. “So Latino contributions in business, government, culture, and just about every other space are not recognized to the degree that they merit. To me, when we think about telling the Latino story, we have to first recognize the contributions of, in this case, Latino filmmakers, actors, directors, and so forth.”
Castro also spoke about how Latinos are represented in film — and noted that he thinks Hollywood has improved over the years in its representation.
“Over the years I think that has gotten better. Hollywood’s gotten better about that presence. And then the second part of that is prominence,” he says. “I think that’s the part where you see a lot more now, where you have Latino, Latina leads in positive, important characters that are often inspirational. And then the third part, I think, is the one that we still see the least, where the focus of the film is really on Latinos and Latino culture.”
He continued, Flamin’ Hot, I think it falls into that category recently, right? Blue Beetle, certainly. Sasha Calle as Supergirl in The Flash. All these. Those, to me, are in that middle category, where it’s not necessarily a Latino story, but it is a Latina who is in an incredible inspirational role, particularly for young Latinas, that we just hadn’t seen before. You know? Presence should be kind of a baseline, right?”
Those wanting to send suggestions just need to go to an online form here. The deadline to make submissions is Thursday, August 3rd at 11:59 p.m. PT. The final list of inductees will be announced later this year.
