LibGuides: Film: Articles

Film and multimedia databases serve as invaluable repositories of audiovisual content, scholarly research, and archival materials, offering filmmakers, students, and enthusiasts unprecedented access to the world of cinema and digital media. These databases aggregate resources, including films, television shows, documentaries, interviews, scripts, and behind-the-scenes footage spanning multiple genres, eras, and cultures.

Researchers and film scholars leverage these databases to analyze cinematic techniques, explore narrative structures, and examine the evolution of visual storytelling across different periods and regions. By accessing digitized content and production materials, users gain direct insight into filmmaking processes, artistic choices, and cultural contexts, enabling nuanced interpretations and critical visual media analysis.

Moreover, film and multimedia databases facilitate interdisciplinary research, allowing scholars to explore connections between cinema and other fields, such as sociology, psychology, literature, and cultural studies. Through advanced search capabilities and metadata analysis, researchers can identify patterns, trends, and influences within vast collections of visual content, shedding light on the complex interplay between media and society.

Educators use film and multimedia databases to enrich classroom instruction, providing students with opportunities to engage with primary visual sources and develop media literacy skills. Instructors foster critical viewing habits by incorporating film clips, interviews, and production documents into lesson plans and empower students to construct their interpretations of visual narratives.

Overall, film and multimedia databases play a pivotal role in democratizing access to visual culture, fostering scholarly inquiry in film studies, and preserving the cinematic heritage of humanity for future generations.

Communication and Media Studies Databases: A-G

Asian Film Online This link opens in a new window The Asian Film Online streaming video collection includes narrative feature films, documentaries, and shorts featuring Asian voices addressing Asian issues.
Communication Abstracts This link opens in a new window Coverage includes literature from the field of communication and other relevant disciplines. Subjects include general communication, communication theory, interpersonal and intrapersonal communication, international literature in film studies, crisis communication, public opinions, and more.
Communications and Mass Media (Gale OneFile) This link opens in a new window From marketing professionals to students studying for advanced degrees in linguistic theory, this collection provides current and accurate information from more than 100 journals focused on all aspects of the communications field. Key subjects covered include: advertising and public relations, literature and writing, linguistics, and many more.
Criterion Collection This link opens in a new window For remote access using FAU login credentials, a temporary work-around is necessary. Please click Kanopy. In the search box, type 'criterion'. The Criterion Collection is committed to publishing the defining moments of cinema by building a continuing series of important classic and contemporary films.
Digital Campus (Swank) This link opens in a new window Digital Campus (Swank) does not support Internet Explorer and some earlier versions of Firefox and Chrome. Digital Campus by Swank Motion Pictures, Inc. allows students the flexibility to legally view course-assigned films outside of the classroom. Providing digital access to course-related films allows educators to enhance the learning experience without taking up valuable class time. Faculty who wish to request a movie may fill out the Digital Campus Movie Request Form. We now have access to numerous documentaries and the top 200 films on Digital Campus.
Film & Television Literature Index This link opens in a new window This resource is a comprehensive bibliographic database covering the entire spectrum of television and film writing. It has been designed for use by a diverse audience that includes film scholars, college students, and general viewers. Subject coverage includes film & television theory, preservation & restoration, writing, production, cinematography, technical aspects, and reviews.
Film Literature Index This link opens in a new window Open Access This resource contains approximately 700,000 citations to articles, film reviews and book reviews.
Film Studies Collection (Kanopy) This link opens in a new window This collection includes a variety of films from producers such as the Criterion Collection/Janus Films, Breaking Glass Pictures, Flicker Alley, TMW Media, Stash Media, and HBO, and features a variety of genres and themes including animation, documentaries, art cinema, French New Wave, cult classics, silent films, noir, westerns, melodrama, yakuza pictures, and horror.
Filmakers Library Online This link opens in a new window This multidisciplinary collection provides award-winning documentaries with relevance across the curriculumrace and gender studies, human rights, globalization and global studies, multiculturalism, international relations, criminal justice, the environment, bioethics, health, political science and current events, psychology, arts, literature, and more. It presents points of view and historical and current experiences from diverse cultures and traditions world-wide.

Communication and Media Studies Databases: H-Z

Hollywood, Censorship, and the Motion Picture Production Code, 1927-1968 This link opens in a new window This collection documents forty years of self-regulation and censorship in the motion picture industry through The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) Production Code Administration Files.
Humanities & Social Sciences Index Retrospective: 1907-1984 This link opens in a new window This resource offers a broad range of subject coverage in the humanities and social sciences with high-quality indexing of more than 1,300,000 articles in nearly 1,100 periodicals, dating as far back as 1907, as well as citations of over 240,000 book reviews.
Humanities Source This link opens in a new window Includes Humanities Full Text, Humanities Index Retrospective and additional content. Subject areas include archaeology, area studies, art, classical studies, communications, dance, film, folklore, gender studies, history, journalism, linguistics, literary and social criticism literature, music, performing arts, philosophy, religion and theology. Funded by statewide allocation.
Internet Movie Database This link opens in a new window Open Access Online movie database.
March of Time This link opens in a new window The March of Time, Time Inc.'s 1935-1967 controversial film series, is now available online in a single, cross- searchable collection. These videos have been restored to their original luster by HBO Archives, allowing viewers to experience these historic films as audiences did in earlier decades.
Media Education Foundation (MEF) Collection This link opens in a new window The films in this collection encourage critical thinking about the social, political, and cultural impact of American mass media. With a special focus on representations of gender and race, and the effect these representations have on identity and culture, MEF films are especially well-suited for use in Women's Studies, Sociology, Race Studies, Communication, Anthropology, Education, and Psychology courses.
Meet the Press This link opens in a new window Network television's longest running program (premiering in 1947), Meet the Press, is now searchable on a single platform, and includes thousands of interviews, panels, and debates. Many episodes have not been seen since their original broadcast.
New World Cinema: Independent Features and Shorts, 1990-Present This link opens in a new window New World Cinema: Independent Features and Shorts, 1990????Present includes over 200 full-length feature films from leading independent distributors such as Kino Lorber, First Run Features, Film Movement, and Global Lens. All the films were shown at major festivals, including some 50 award winning short films.
PBS Video Collection This link opens in a new window The PBS Video Collection assembles over 1,000 of the greatest documentary films and series from the history of PBS. Some of the films and series included are American Experience, Empires, Freedom, Frontline, Great Performances, NOVA, and the films of Ken Burns, Michael Wood, and more. Funded by statewide allocation.
Ringling Collection This link opens in a new window Open Access The Ringling Collection is comprised of cabinet cards, postcards and photographs of 19th Century American and British actors and actresses. There are more than 6,000 images in this digital collection depicting more than 3,000 actors and actresses. The Collection is important not simply for its pictures of the idols of a bygone era, but for its depictions of clothing, hair styles and other indicators of the period's social mores and attitudes. The original collection is housed in the Belknap Collection for the Performing Arts in the Smathers Libraries' Department of Special Collections at the University of Florida.
Silent Film Online This link opens in a new window Silent Film Online brings together films which represent the basis of modern cinematic technique and film theory. The database covers silent features, serials, and shorts from the 1890s to the 1930s, and includes the most complete, authoritative versions of the highest quality from leading distributors.

Newspaper Databases A - G

Access World News (Newsbank) This link opens in a new window Research diverse perspectives, topics and trends that align with curricular areas such as Political Science, English, Sociology, Humanities, Business, International Studies, and more. Features reliable, credible information from a wide variety of international, national, and local news sources including the including the Miami Herald, Palm Beach Post, and others.
African American Newspapers, 1827-1998 This link opens in a new window This resource enables users to search more than 270 African American newspapers published in the 19th and 20th centuries. Created in partnership with the Wisconsin Historical Society, the Kansas State Historical Society and the Library of Congress, African American Newspapers chronicles a century and a half of the African American experience.
America's Historical Newspapers, 1690-1900 This link opens in a new window Early American newspapers including titles from all 50 present states. Includes: Early American Newspapers, Series I (1690-1876) and Series II (1758-1900).
Caribbean Newspapers, 1718-1876 This link opens in a new window Caribbean Newspapers, 1718-1876 enables users to search more than 66 newspaper titles from 22 islands, including Bermuda, published in the 18th and 19th centuries.
Chicago Tribune This link opens in a new window Complete full-text content of local and regional news, including community events, schools, politics, government policies, cultural activities, local companies, state industries, and people in the community. Paid advertisements are excluded.
Christian Science Monitor This link opens in a new window Full-text coverage of the Christian Science Monitor. Funded by statewide allocation.
Chronicling America: Historic American Newspapers This link opens in a new window Open Access This site allows you to search and read newspaper pages from 1900-1910 and find information about American newspapers published between 1690-present. Chronicling America is sponsored jointly by the National Endowment for the Humanities and the Library of Congress as part of the National Digital Newspaper Program (NDNP).
CQ Researcher Plus Archive This link opens in a new window The CQ Researcher explores a single "hot" issue in the news in depth each week. Topics range from social and teen issues to environment, health, education and science, and technology. There are 44 reports produced each year, including four expanded reports. Funded by statewide allocation.
Current Affairs in Video This link opens in a new window Current Affairs in Video features award-winning films and documentaries emphasizing detailed analysis and discussion of the critical issues of the day.
Education Week This link opens in a new window Independent, non-profit newspaper covering K-12 education. Published 37 times a year, including three issues of annual reports.
Ethnic NewsWatch and Ethnic NewsWatch: A History This link opens in a new window Ethnic NewsWatch is an interdisciplinary, bilingual (English and Spanish) and comprehensive full text database of the newspapers, magazines and journals of the ethnic, minority and native press. Designed to provide the "other side of the story," ENW full-text titles offer additional viewpoints from those proffered by the mainstream
Florida Digital Newspaper Library This link opens in a new window Open Access The Florida Digital Newspaper Library exists to provide access to the news and history of Florida.
Florida Newspaper Database This link opens in a new window Indexing to news resources from around the state. Includes some full text.
Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Daily Reports, 1974-1996 This link opens in a new window FBIS Daily Reports consists of translated broadcasts, news agency transmissions, newspapers, periodicals and government statements from nations around the globe.

Newspapers Databases H - Z

HarpWeek This link opens in a new window This resource provides electronic access to Harper's Weekly: 1857-1912.
Historical Atlanta Daily World This link opens in a new window This database offers full-page and article images with searchable full text. The collection includes digital reproductions providing access to every page from every available issue. Coverage spans 1931- 2003.
Historical Chicago Defender This link opens in a new window Black Studies Center provides the full-text backfile, from 1910 to 1975, of the influential black newspaper The Chicago Defender.
Historical Los Angeles Sentinel This link opens in a new window This database offers full-page and article images with searchable full text, covering 1934 -2005. The collection includes digital reproductions providing access to every page from every available issue.
Historical Los Angeles Times This link opens in a new window This database offers full-page and article images with searchable full text back to the first issue. The collection includes digital reproductions providing access to every page from every available issue. Coverage spans 1881- 2000.
Historical New York Amsterdam News This link opens in a new window The Amsterdam News was founded as a six-page weekly covering local news by James Henry Anderson in 1909. Under the ownership of C. B. Powell and Philip M. H. Savory from 1938, it became the largest black community weekly in the United States. Contributors to the newspaper have included W. E. B. Du Bois, Roy Wilkins and Malcolm X. Our coverage spans 1922-1993.
Historical New York Times This link opens in a new window This database offers full-page and article images from the New York Times from its first issue in 1851 to 2020. The collection includes digital reproductions of every page from every issue, cover to cover, in downloadable PDF files. The database is an ongoing project.
Historical Pittsburgh Courier This link opens in a new window This database offers full-page and article images with searchable full text. The collection includes digital reproductions providing access to every page from every available issue. Coverage spans 1911- 2002.

Historical U.S. Newspapers (Primary Source Guide) The United States Historical Newspaper Research Subject Guide provides the research with links to historical American Newspapers.

Historical Wall Street Journal This link opens in a new window Each issue is indexed for easy searching; and this resource offers complete pages and images from the run dating back to the first 1889 issue through 2012.

Historical World Newspapers (Primary Source Guide) This resource is a Subject Research Guide that links historical newspapers worldwide.

Illustrated Civil War Newspapers and Magazines This link opens in a new window The Illustrated Civil War Newspapers and Magazines website makes it possible for you to discover the lively news stories, illustrations, cartoons, editorials, biographies, literature, and even advertisements that shaped and reflected public opinion in this era.
Latin American Newspapers This link opens in a new window This collection provides more than 35 fully searchable key Latin American newspapers published in the 19th and 20th centuries, featuring titles from Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Cuba, Guatemala, Mexico, Peru, Venezuela and elsewhere.
Los Angeles Times This link opens in a new window Also see Historical Los Angeles Times. Major daily newspaper from Los Angeles. With the nation's largest editorial department, it offers extensive coverage of national, international, and local news.
Meet the Press This link opens in a new window Network television's longest running program (premiering in 1947), Meet the Press, is now searchable on a single platform, and includes thousands of interviews, panels, and debates. Many episodes have not been seen since their original broadcast.
Miami Herald Collection with Historical Archive This link opens in a new window Complete full-text content of local and regional news, including archive years of the Miami Herald from 1911 to 1982.
Miami Herald Historical Archive This link opens in a new window Archive years of the Miami Herald from 1911 to 1982, with full-text content of local and regional news.
Nation Archive This link opens in a new window This database contains indexing & abstracting and full text for the complete archive of The Nation beginning with its first issue in 1865 through to the present.
New York Times This link opens in a new window Also see Historical New York Times. Provides coverage of national and international news, plus coverage of important speeches and documents, Supreme Court decisions and presidential press conference transcripts.
Nexis Uni This link opens in a new window Accesses over a billion full-text news, magazine, legal, and business articles and reports, including newspapers, magazines, state and federal laws and regulations, case law, newsletters, and company and industry information. Funded by statewide allocation.
Palm Beach Post This link opens in a new window Complete full text of local and regional news.
Readex AllSearch This link opens in a new window Cross-search historical collections containing books, pamphlets, broadsides, newspapers, government documents, and ephemera. This resource provides access to America's Historical Imprints, including Early American Imprints Series I: Evans, Early American Imprints Series II: Shaw-Shoemaker, American Civil War Collection, and American Slavery Collection; America's Historical Newspapers, including African American Newspapers and Caribbean Newspapers; Foreign Broadcast Information Service (FBIS) Daily Reports; and World Newspaper Archive: Latin American Newspapers.
Regional Business News This link opens in a new window Provides comprehensive full-text coverage for regional business publications, including business journals, newspapers, and newswires from all metropolitan and rural areas within the United States.
Sun Sentinel This link opens in a new window Complete full-text content of local and regional news, including community events, schools, politics, government policies, cultural activities, local companies, state industries, and people in the community. Paid advertisements are excluded.
Times Digital Archive This link opens in a new window Search with the Times Literary Supplement Historical Archive on Gale NewsVault. Researchers can search through the complete digital edition of The Times (London), using keyword searching and hit-term highlighting to retrieve full-facsimile images of either a specific article or a complete page. The entire newspaper is captured, with all articles, advertisements and illustrations/photos divided into categories to facilitate searching.
Times Literary Supplement Historical Archive This link opens in a new window Search with the Times Digital Archive on Gale NewsVault. Includes the complete run of The Times Literary Supplement from 1902 to 2008, including reviews, letters, poems, articles and literary criticism. The TLS has attracted the contributions of the worlds most influential writers and critics, from T.S. Eliot and Virginia Woolf in the 1920s and 30s to A.N. Wilson and Christopher Hitchens in the 1990s and 2000s.
USA Today This link opens in a new window With daily circulation exceeding 2 million in all 50 states, USA TODAY is the most widely read newspaper in the country.
Wall Street Journal This link opens in a new window Also see Historical Wall Street Journal. The paper is considered the preeminent publication for business news and information on financial markets worldwide. Each issue of every newspaper is indexed thoroughly, so researchers can access not only top news stories but also detailed information from all the paper's sections. For each article cited in the database, an abstract of up to 75 words helps the researcher know if the complete text will meet his or her needs.
Washington Post This link opens in a new window Coverage of national, international, and local news. The Washington Post is renowned for its political reporting, editorials and columnists.
Westlaw This link opens in a new window Westlaw enables students and faculty to research law-related issues. This comprehensive collection of legal content includes expert's analysis from hundreds of law reviews and journals, encyclopedias, treatises and full-text legislation, regulations, and court decisions.

General Reference Databases:

Academic OneFile (Gale) This link opens in a new window Academic OneFile is a source for peer-reviewed, full-text articles from the world's leading journals and reference sources with extensive coverage of the physical sciences, technology, medicine, social sciences, the arts, theology, literature and other subjects. Includes full-text coverage of the New York Times back to 1985.
Academic Search Complete This link opens in a new window The world's largest scholarly, multi-disciplinary full-text database. This scholarly collection offers information in nearly every area of academic study including computer sciences, engineering, physics, chemistry, language and linguistics, arts & literature, medical sciences, and ethnic studies.
Academic Video Online: Premium This link opens in a new window Academic Video Online brings together over 40 multidisciplinary video collections from Alexander Street Press, covering art and architecture, diversity, health sciences, history, music and performing arts, psychology and counseling, sciences and engineering, and social sciences. See separate collection titles and the mulitmedia platform -Alexander Street Press- within our A-Z Database List.
Alexander Street Press Video This link opens in a new window ProQuest's Alexander Street Video contains Alexander Street's streaming video content. Subject matter spans across the curriculum —in literature; music; social and cultural history; film; the performing arts; religion; sociology; and other areas. This platform contains our owned collections and our subscription to Academic Video Online: Premium.
Biography (Gale In Context) This link opens in a new window Biography (Gale In Context) merges Gale's reference content with periodicals and multimedia. Users can search based on name, occupation, role, historical period, dates and places, and other aspects. These entries cover international figures from all time periods and areas of study. Funded by statewide allocation.
Gale General Reference Center Gold This link opens in a new window A general interest database that integrates a variety of sources in one easy-to-use interface. Use General Reference Center Gold to find articles from newspapers, reference books, and periodicals, many with full text and images. Find the latest current events, popular culture, business and industry coverage, the arts and sciences, sports, hobbies, and more.
Gale Virtual Reference Library This link opens in a new window A database of encyclopedias, almanacs, and specialized reference sources for multidisciplinary research. These reference materials once were accessible only in the library, but now you can access them online from the library or remotely 24/7. Because each library creates its own eBook collection, the content you see may vary if you use the database at different libraries (your school, your public library, or your office).
General OneFile (Gale) This link opens in a new window A one-stop source for news and periodical articles on a wide range of topics: business, computers, current events, economics, education, environmental issues, health care, hobbies, humanities, law, literature and art, politics, science, social science, sports, technology, and many general interest topics.
HathiTrust This link opens in a new window Open Access. FAU users may log in with FAUNet ID to download ebooks. HathiTrust is a partnership of academic & research institutions, offering a collection of millions of books digitized from libraries around the world. FAU is a partner institution.
JSTOR This link opens in a new window More than 2000 scholarly journals in education, humanities, mathematics, science, and social science disciplines. Most full-text access is archival; some current full text. Also includes a collection of over 500 Spanish-language e-books, which are student tech fee funded.
JSTOR Sustainability Collection This link opens in a new window Includes a wide range of journals, ebooks, and more than 5,400 Open Access research reports in the field of sustainability. Explores resilience and sustainability, and covers research on environmental stresses and their impact on society. Generously funded by the FAU Student Government Association.
Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary This link opens in a new window College level English language dictionary.
NYPL Digital Gallery This link opens in a new window Open Access NYPL Digital Gallery is the New York Public Library's image database, developed to provide free and open online access to thousands of images from the original and rare holdings of the Research Libraries. Spanning a wide range of visual media, NYPL Digital Gallery offers digital images of drawings, illuminated manuscripts, maps, photographs, posters, prints, rare illustrated books, and more. Encompassing the subject strengths of the vast collections of the Research Libraries, these materials represent the applied sciences, fine and decorative arts, history, performing arts, and social sciences.
Opposing Viewpoints (Gale In Context) This link opens in a new window This database covers today's hottest social issues, from offshore drilling to climate change, health care to immigration. It includes pro/con viewpoint essays, topic overviews, primary documents, biographies, periodical articles and more. This is a good source for students to start research or analysis of an issue, to complete writing assignments, prepare for a debate, or create a presentation.
Points of View Reference Center This link opens in a new window This database contains resources that present multiple sides of an issue, aiding students in developing persuasive arguments and essays. Covering many subjects, each topic includes an overview (objective background/description), point (argument) and counterpoint (opposing argument).
ProQuest This link opens in a new window An all-inclusive list of databases availble to FAU from this vendor.
ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global This link opens in a new window ProQuest Dissertations and Theses Global includes international dissertations and theses as well as all previous content. It is the world's most comprehensive collection of dissertations and theses from around the world, spanning from 1743 to the present day and offering full text for graduate works added since 1997, along with selected full text for works written prior to 1997. It contains a significant amount of new international dissertations and theses both in citations and in full text.
Social Science Premium Collection (ProQuest) This link opens in a new window This collection provides access to databases covering the international literature in the social sciences, including politics, sociology, social services, anthropology, criminology, and education. Funded by statewide allocation.
Taylor & Francis Online This link opens in a new window The Taylor & Francis Online journal collection includes scholarly journals in the Humanities, Social Sciences, and Science and Technology. Imprints include Psychology Press and Routledge.
WorldCat This link opens in a new window WorldCat is now available on the new WorldCat Discovery platform. A comprehensive catalog with over 179 million bibliographic records representing library collections from around the world. The catalog includes books, print journals, DVDs, historic photos, video games, musical scores, newspapers, webpages and other items.