Search Engines | Authority and Portal Sites | Film Vendors | Current Area Screenings | Additional Film-related Sites

Film-related Search Engines

All Movie Guide Film Finder
This database is very similar to the Internet Movie Database (described below). It is an excellent source for historical data about feature films. Two very handy features of their movie databases are the inclusion of four-star rating system and also when a film is to be shown on television in the coming month, it is noted with an icon linked to the air date and channel. The site also includes an interface for searching for people involved with production on a given movie including actors, directors, writer, costume designer, etc. Editor's choice

British Board of Film Classification Database
This interesting site not only gives a film's British classification but also its running time, distributor, director, and cast information. There are also notes included describing whether there had been cuts made and "decision commentary".

Ebert and Roeper and the movies
This is the television movie review program that has continued since the death of original Ebert co-host and show co-founder, Gene Siskel. The database contains Siskel and Ebert's thumbs up and thumbs down votes, audio reviews, and reviews by a number of other show co-hosts including Richard Roeper.

Film Literature Index Online (1976-2001)
An index of articles from 150 film and television periodicals and 200 other periodicals. The periodicals range from the scholarly to the popular. The FLI Online contains approximately 700,000 citations to articles, film reviews and book reviews published between 1976-2001. This is a preview database and therefore a static resource that will not be updated until the FLI Online is officially released, possibly in 2005

Film.com
This site contains a movie review database with titles beginning in 1998 in addition to many other features about the motion picture industry such as film festivals, awards, box office data, film clips, and viewing recommendations.

Internet Movie Database
This is a master source for conducting film research. It contains production data, awards, user reviews, plot summaries, and whether it is commercially available onvideo or DVD. The database can be searched for titles, personal names, plots, quotes, and character names. Here are some numbers: over 200,000 films and tv shows cited, information on over 400,000 actors and actresses and 40,000 directors. Editor's choice

Movie Review Index
A database of links to over 250,000 online reviews from over 280 websites. A sample search on "Gangs of New York" yielded 137 individual reviews, though the vast majority are from little known sources such as Ross Anthony's Hollywood Report Card and DVD Talk.

Movie Review Query Engine
This is the best free movie review database currently available. It contains over 140,000 articles of over 20,000 titles. The articles span the history of cinema, for instance, a search on "The Cabinet of Dr. Caligari" (1920) yielded 13 articles. Editor's choice

Movies Unlimited
Movies Unlimited is a vendor of over 40,000 film and television programs on video and DVD. If you are trying to find whether a feature film or old TV show is on video, this is a very good place to start. Editor's choice

Moving Image Collections
A window to the world’s moving images. A really cool union catalog of moving images from collections worldwide with information on how to obtain access to the footage. Editor’s choice

MPAA Ratings Database
Keyword search this database from the Motion Picture Association of America. Database comntains titles since 1968.

Film-related Authority and Portal Sites

About.com - Entertainment
About.com is also an authority site that uses a variety of contributor experts to compile annotated lists of links. Other catagories include - Anime, Classic movies, Documentaries, Hollywood movies, Horror and Suspensel movies, Kids movies and TV, and World / Independent film.

Academic Info - Film Studies Gateway
This is another authority site, notable because it is aimed more specifically at academic users. Some of the links are annotated.

FilmSound.org
“Learning space dedicated to the art and analyses of film sound design.” This site includes many full-text articles and a trove of useful information on the film sound industry. Editor’s choice

Librarians Index to the Internet - Media: Film, Movies and Video
This is a very selective page of annotated links categorized under: Best of ..., Directories, Databases, and Specific Resources. Editor's choice

Open Directory Project: Arts: Movies
The Open Directory Project is very similar to the format used by the Yahoo site, there are brief annotations but the site will include links to all sites submitted to them without discrimination. For the searcher who is looking for an exhaistive listing of film-related websites, the Open Directory project is the best, almost twice as many links as Yahoo. The site's search engine can be limited to searching within the Movies section. Editor's choice

Public Moving Image Archives and Research Centers
A master list of links to moving image collections worldwide.

ScreenSite
The is an outstanding academic site developed and maintained by the University of Alabama - Telecommunication and Film department. The mission of the site is to facilitate the serious study of film and television, unlike the majority of film websites that are targeted primarily to fans rather than scholars. Among its many interesting features are a page of course syllabi from film classes worldwide, film program descriptions, open teaching position listings, film textbook reviews, and much more. It is a treasure trove of information and could easily draw one into hours of browsing. Editor's choice

Yahoo - Entertainment - Movies and Film
This section of the Yahoo Portal contains about 10,000 links to movie-related websites divided into about 40 categories. Yahoo editors categorize the links and include very brief annotations but make no attempt to evaluate the sites listed. The site's search engine can be limited to searching within the Movies and Film section.

Film Vendors

The University of California at Berkeley maintains an extensive, searchable database of film distributors. These are sources for both theatrical and documentary films on a variety of subjects. Some of these vendors offer a wide selection and some focus on a specific field. Browsing their collections may be helpful if you are interested in incorporating film into your course. Resources are also available in Media Services to assist faculty in the identification and location of media. Librarians can suggest suitable titles for particular subject needs. (x3257)

Current Area Screenings

Find out what's playing this week. There are always a wide variety of films showing in the Washington area, from multiplexes to arthouse theatres to the national museums. Two up to date sources are the Washington City Paper (reviews, showtimes) and the Washington Post (reviews, showtimes).

Additional Film-related Sites

Cross-Cultural Film Guide: Films from Africa, Asia and Latin America at The American University (1992)

Guide to Film and Video Organizations - District of Columbia-Maryland-Virginia (1999)

Page Created and Maintained by Media Services