Film Studies: Databases

AFI Catalog

The AFI Catalog, the premier, authoritative resource of American film information, covers the history of American cinema comprehensively from 1893 to 1993 with full or short records for films from 1994 to 2015. Every film produced on American soil or by American production companies is indexed from the birth of cinema to the present day. New records are created by the AFI editorial team and added each year.

AFI Catalog is a national filmography documenting the history of American cinema. Cataloging currently covers the years 1893-1974 comprehensively, with additional records covering selected major films from 1975 onwards. Drawing on the expertise of specialist staff at the American Film Institute (AFI), it is a key resource for any educational institution, library, or film organization that is involved with the research, study and teaching of film.

Since the initiation of the project in 1968, the mandate of the AFI Catalog has been to catalog every American motion picture either produced in the United States or sponsored and financed by American companies as an aid to the preservation of the American national film heritage. In accordance with the international film archival body FIAF (La Fédération Internationale des Archives du Film), AFI Catalog includes only those films that are 40 minutes or longer in duration, or 4 reels or longer in length. To date, the Catalog has comprehensive coverage of feature films of this length from 1911-1974; in addition, over 17,000 short films (those less than 40 minutes or 4 reels) have also been included from the first era of filmmaking, 1893–1910. In support of its basic mandate, it has been the goal of the Catalog staff to codify the available documentation, present it in an accurate, decade-by-decade arrangement and provide the scholarly and archival communities, as well as the general population, with a significant historical and cultural document that delineates America’s film history.

The Harper's Bazaar Archive 

The Harper’s Bazaar Archive significantly enhances the University’s existing holdings of one of the world’s most influential fashion and lifestyle magazines. Providing access to over 500,000 pages of content, coverage extends back to the first issues of both the US (1867-present, with subsequent issues added on an ongoing basis), and UK (1930-2015) editions, both of which are seamlessly cross-searchable. 

The resource is fully indexed, and content is discoverable to either article level or, in the case of advertisements, by brand or company name. The highly visual content is presented in the original magazine layout, providing both context and opportunity for comparative studies of both the US and UK editions. The database also complements the University’s recent acquisitions in general interest magazines, notably those available on EBSCOhost Reseach Databases.  

This powerful lens into American, British and International fashion is essential to students and researchers in Fashion, Business and Technology, with cross-searching facilitated between both  Women's Wear Daily and The Vogue Archive by their shared ProQuest platform. However, whilst synonymous with designers and illustrators, Harper’s also showcased the work of acclaimed authors such as John Steinbeck and Virginia Woolf and photographers including Diane Arbus and Man Ray. Its diverse cultural range offers rich primary source material for the Departments of American Studies, English Literature and Creative Writing, Film Studies, History, and Sociology, as well as interdisciplinary research groupings across the Humanities including CIDRAL and the Institute for Cultural Practices. 

BFI Player
BFI Player is a video on demand service from the British Film Institute, streaming acclaimed, landmark and archive films.

The BFI Player is available institution-wide for the duration of the current academic year (2024/25). Simply follow the ’New User’ instructions on Library Search (in the ‘Access Note’ under the link) to register for free access using your University email address. Once you’ve registered, head for the BFI Player website and sign in to select and view from the subscription collection.

The BFI Player complements the Library’s other major streaming services by offering UK productions and expanding the diversity and inclusivity of provision, in terms of both ‘world’ cinema and of gender. The portfolio of over 550 films effectively encompasses a century of cinema, extending from Nosferatu (1922) to the current Oscar nominee, The Quiet Girl. In addition to the contemporary and the classic from across the globe (Seven Samurai, Citizen Kane, L'Atalante), there’s also a host of cult favourites, ranging from The Draughtsman’s Contract and The Harder They Come to La Haine, for you to enjoy.

In line with most streaming platforms, the films available change from time to time: new titles are added every month and some may drop off. Individual titles are accordingly listed on Library Search and details of each film’s ‘lifespan’ can also be found there. Once you’ve registered, it’s well worth bookmarking the BFI Player website https://player.bfi.org.uk/subscription and paying it a regular visit.

Library Stack

Library Stack is a unique archive and lending library with digital collections relating to art, design, film, architecture, experimental sound and critical theory. By working directly with a variety of publishers, firms, artists, and academics, Library Stack provides access to a diverse array of born-digital resources ranging from articles, eBooks and zines to podcasts, music and films.

In addition to providing digital publications from established commercial publishers including Aperture, Sternberg and MACK, Library Stack’s ongoing collaboration with small independent presses, companies, and individuals means that users can access resources that exist outside of mainstream academic and commercial publishing.

The content on offer will be of interest to students across a wide variety of courses here at the University and represents a rich and varied range of innovative formats that extend beyond traditional outputs such as articles and books - including software, sound recordings, and artworks.

Students and staff from the University of Manchester should register using their University email address in order to gain access to both the Open Access and reserved circulation items. By creating an account, you can also make use of the ‘Bookshelf’ feature which allows you to borrow reserved circulation items and save, organise and annotate items, creating your own collections based on your research interests.

Entertainment Industry Magazine Archive (EIMA) – newly expanded coverage

To continue our support of performance-based studies in the challenging post-COVID environment the Library has recently arranged for the expansion of its coverage of the Entertainment Industry Magazine Archive to encompass its complete portfolio on film and television.  Material from major trade publications such as The Hollywood Reporter (1930-2015); American Cinematographer (1920-2015) and Kine Weekly (1907-1971) are now readily accessible online to researchers looking at the economics of the entertainment industry and the production, marketing and reception of its outputs. Professional publications such as Written By… (the in-house magazine for the Screenwriter’s Guild of America), together with historical mass market consumer magazines such as Boy’s Cinema (1919-1940) are also included in this readily searchable compilation offering key primary sources for the critical examination of trends and developments in popular culture across the entire 20th century and into the 21^st.

This complements our existing collection which addresses music, radio and theatre and includes renowned titles such as Billboard (1894-2000) and The Stage (1880-2000), together with key publications such as Variety (1905-2000), Boxoffice (1920-2000) and Broadcast (1960-2000). To further facilitate discovery all titles in these archival collections are also individually indexed on Library Search.