Experimental filmmaker Helen Hill, right, seen in July 2003 with Canadian husband Paul Gailiunas, will have one of her films preserved in the U.S. federal film registry. (The Times-Picayune/Associated Press) Experimental filmmaker Helen Hill, right, seen in July 2003 with Canadian husband Paul Gailiunas, will have one of her films preserved in the U.S. federal film registry. (The Times-Picayune/Associated Press)

The music video for Michael Jackson's Thriller and the 1975 cinema classic Dog Day Afternoon will be preserved by the official federal film registry in the U.S.

The Library of Congress' National Film Registry announced 25 films it will preserve in federal archives on Wednesday.

Among them is Scratch and Crow, a film that former Halifax resident and experimental filmmaker Helen Hill made in 1995. Hill, a South Carolina native who married Canadian Paul Gailiunas, was murdered in New Orleans in 2007. A Nova Scotia animation award has been named after her.

Jackson's 1983 landmark production Thriller is the first music video to be added to the registry, created in 1989 by the National Film Preservation Act. Thriller, directed by John Landis, was a breakthrough for its storyline, its high production values compared to other videos of the time and for the boost it gave to Jackson's career.

Dog Day Afternoon, Sidney's Lumet's critically acclaimed crime drama starring Al Pacino, is one of many Hollywood productions on the list, which also includes The Muppet Movie and Once Upon a Time in the West.

Early films deemed to be worth preserving include 1911 live action/animation work Little Nemo and Mabel Norman's 1914 silent pic Mabel's Blunder.

There are two films directed by William Wyler, the 1942 film Mrs. Miniver, which earned six Oscars and 1938's Jezebel, which earned an Oscar for Bette Davis.

Films must be at least 10 years old to be nominated and are chosen for their historic, cultural and aesthetic significance.

Other films on the list:

  • The Exiles (1961).
  • Heroes All (1920).
  • Hot Dogs for Gauguin (1972).
  • The Incredible Shrinking Man (1957)
  • The Jungle (1967).
  • The Lead Shoes (1949).
  • The Mark of Zorro (1940).
  • Pillow Talk (1959) .
  • Precious Images (1986) .
  • Quasi at the Quackadero (1975).
  • The Red Book (1994).
  • The Revenge of Pancho Villa (1930-36).
  • Stark Love (1927).
  • The Story of G.I. Joe (1945) .
  • A Study in Reds (1932).
  • Under Western Stars (1938).