Marlon Riggs’ TONGUES UNTIED and Dee Rees’ PARIAH Selected for 2022 National Film Registry

On Wednesday, December 14, Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden announced the annual selection of 25 influential motion pictures to be inducted into the National Film Registry of the Library of Congress for 2022. Per their press release, “Selected for their cultural, historic or aesthetic importance to preserve the nation’s film heritage, the newest selections include a vibrant diversity of American filmmakers, as well as landmark works in key genres and numerous documentaries.” This year’s titles featured a surprisingly abundant line-up of queer-themed films and films by queer artists. We’re honored to see one of our Frameline Distribution titles and a Frameline Completion Fund recipient among the 2022 titles: Marlon T. Riggs’ Tongues Untied and Dee Rees’ Pariah.

Marlon T. Riggs’ seminal 1989 film essay about Black men loving Black men, Tongues Untied, continues to be exhibited in museums, film festivals, and cultural spaces around the world. Following a comprehensive Blu-ray release of all of Riggs’ work from The Criterion Collection in 2021, Tongues Untied has screened more than a dozen times across six continents in 2022, with upcoming screenings in Cuba, Brazil, and the UK planned for early 2023. Frameline Distribution is proud to ensure that the singular works of Marlon Riggs continue to be programmed theatrically and digitally. Tongues Untied is currently streaming via Kanopy and OVID.tv in the United States.

Recipient of a Frameline Completion Fund grant in 2010, Pariah marked the feature film debut of Oscar-nominated writer/director Dee Rees (Mudbound). Premiering at the Sundance Film Festival in 2011 and released by Focus Features in the US later that year, Pariah holds the unique distinction of being the most recent title to be inducted into the National Film Registry as of this year. A luminous tale of a queer Black teenager coming out and of age, the feature film version of Pariah stemmed from Rees’ 2007 short film of the same name, which also received a Frameline Completion Fund grant in addition to winning the Audience Award for Short Film at Frameline32.

Joining Tongues Untied and Pariah this year are several exceptional LGBTQ+ films of varying degrees of notoriety and recognition. Melding biker/leather fetishes with Hollywood iconography through rapid, elliptical montages set to pop music, Kenneth Anger’s Scorpio Rising (1963) is one of the cornerstones of Avant Garde cinema. The most famous work by vanguard filmmaker Anger, Scorpio Rising explores queer sexuality, erotic fantasy, gay idolatry, and the occult in its kinetic 28 minutes—forever altering cinema as we know it.

Two pivotal LGBTQ+ documentaries—both recently restored by the Outfest UCLA Legacy Project—were also chosen. Co-directed by the gay and lesbian collective, Mariposa Film Group (which included two-time Academy Award-winning director Rob Epstein), Word Is Out: Stories of Some of Our Lives (1977) captures the voices of 26 different queer individuals as they candidly discuss their lives and struggles during a crucial period for the LGBTQ+ rights movement. Nikolai Ursin’s Behind Every Good Man (1967) provides an illuminating glimpse into the life of a Black trans woman in pre-Stonewall America. Courtesy of the UCLA Film & Television Archive, Behind Every Good Man is free to stream on YouTube.

And finally, the enduring legacy of the late, great Divine can be felt deeply in this year’s inductees. John Waters transitioned from the fringes of underground cinema to (mostly) family-friendly territory with Hairspray (1988). Later adapted into a hugely successful stage musical, Hairspray marks star Rikki Lake’s screen debut as well as the final film appearance from Divine, who died just three weeks after the film’s release. Debbie Harry, Ruth Brown, Sonny Bono, Jerry Stiller, a young Josh Charles, and Dreamland regular Mink Stole round out the ensemble cast. Waters’ most notorious feature, Pink Flamingos (1971), was added to the National Film Registry last year.

Disney’s animated The Little Mermaid (1989) was also among the 25 titles this year. Often regarded as the film that sparked Disney Animation Studios’ renaissance through the 1990s, The Little Mermaid took direct inspiration from Divine when creating the character of Ursula the Sea Witch (voiced in the film by Pat Carroll). A live action version of the film, directed by Rob Marshall and starring Halle Bailey as Arial and Melissa McCarthy as Ursula, will hit theatres in May of 2023.

Brian de Palma’s iconic Oscar-nominated Stephen King adaptation Carrie (1976), Frederick Wiseman’s unflinching and unforgettable documentary Titicut Follies (1967), Rob Reiner and Nora Ephron’s gold standard romcom When Harry Met Sally… (1989), Stanley Donen’s globe-trotting Audrey Hepburn/Cary Grant caper Charade (1963), and Reginald Hudlin’s rollicking hit comedy House Party (1990), starring Kid ’n Play, are among the other 25 films. For a complete list of the 2022 inductees as well as information on all 850 films currently in the National Film Registry, visit this link.

Tongues Untied photo courtesy of Signifyin’ Works