These Amazing Shadows (2011) - a new documentary on the importance of films

These Amazing Shadows is a new documentary that is being screened across the US in May and June. The Coolidge Corner Theater in Brookline, MA will be showing it on Tuesday May 10th with one of the two directors introducing the film and a panel discussion with director Paul Mariano, film critic Jay Carr, George Willeman from the Library of Congress and film professor Robin Blaetz. The Coolidge Corner will have additional screenings of the documentary from May 20th to May 26th if you can't attend the special May 10th screening. Check out these listings to see if the documentary will be shown at a theatre near you.

I'm really excited to see this documentary. As a classic film enthusiast and all-around movie buff, I think films are incredibly important. They've become such an important part of our culture and their influence, even on our personal lives, is undeniable.

From the These Amazing Shadows website:

What do the films Casablanca, Blazing Saddles and West Side Story have in common? Besides being popular, they have also been deemed "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant" by the Library of Congress and listed on The National Film Registry. THESE AMAZING SHADOWS, an 88-minute documentary, tells the history and importance of the Registry, a roll call of American cinema treasures that reflects the diversity of film, and indeed the American experience itself. The current list of 550 films includes selections from every genre - documentaries, home movies, Hollywood classics, avant-garde, newsreels and silent films. These Amazing Shadows reveals how "American movies tell us so much about ourselves... not just what we did, but what we thought, what we felt, what we aspired to, and the lies we told ourselves." 

Watch the trailer here: