“Betty Tells Her Story,” a 1972 documentary produced and directed by UMass Amherst Professor Emerita and filmmaker Liane Brandon was the first independent documentary of the Women’s Movement to explore the ways in which clothing and appearance affect a woman’s identity. It is among 25 influential motion pictures selected by the Library of Congress to be inducted into the National Film Registry for 2022.

“Films have become absolutely central to American culture by helping tell our national story for more than 125 years,” says Librarian of Congress Carla Hayden. “We are proud to add 25 more films by a group of vibrant and diverse filmmakers to the National Film Registry as we preserve our cinematic heritage.”

“Betty Tells Her Story” was considered innovative, even radical, for its time; in particular for its subject, a woman, a non-actress who was neither famous nor glamorous, who simply tells her story in her own words.

In two separate takes, Betty Murray, a schoolteacher, recalls her search for the perfect dress for an upcoming special occasion. During the first take, Betty describes in delightful detail how she found just the right one, spent more than she could afford, felt absolutely transformed…and never got to wear it. Brandon then asks her to tell the story again, and this time her account becomes more nuanced, personal and emotional, revealing her underlying feelings.

“It was very different from traditional non-fiction films,” says Brandon, who also filmed and edited the documentary and served on the College of Education faculty for 30 years. “Most of the documentaries I had seen were about wars, historical events, male heroes, travel, inventions and so-called “primitive” tribes. Most were made by men. Very few, if any, were concerned with the lives of ordinary women, or with the issues of culture, standards of beauty, clothing and identity.”

This year’s selections include at least 15 films directed or co-directed by filmmakers of color, women or LGBTQ+ filmmakers. The selections bring the number of films in the registry to 850, many of which are among the 1.7 million films in the library’s collections.

Hollywood releases selected for 2022 include Marvel Studios’ “Iron Man,” Disney’s “The Little Mermaid,” John Waters’ “Hairspray,” the classic romantic comedy “When Harry Met Sally,” Brian De Palma’s adaptation of “Carrie” and the 1950 film version of “Cyrano de Bergerac.”

“Betty Tells Her Story” was restored in 2010 with a grant from New York Women in Film & Television’s Women’s Film Preservation Fund. Since then it has enjoyed renewed popularity and is regularly screened in documentary courses, film study programs, women’s studies, journalism, psychology, sociology and anthropology courses at colleges and universities across the country.

The film is one of the first included in the collection of New Day Films, the first filmmaker-run cooperative dedicated to the distribution of feminist and social issues films created by Brandon and others in 1971. The New Day Films Collection is now housed in the David M. Rubenstein Rare Book & Manuscript Library at Duke University. The films are in active distribution through New Day, Kanopy and the Criterion Channel.