Temple University Libraries is pleased to bring you authoritative information on 200,000 motion pictures via our subscription to Film Indexes Online.
Film Indexes Online provides combined access to the distinguished British Film Institute Film Index International and the unparalleled American Film Institute AFI Catalog in one easy to use database. You can find the link to Film Indexes Online on our new databases page.
Film Index International is a filmography covering around 118,000 films and 685,000 personalities from over 170 countries, detailing directors, full cast and crew lists, credits, release and production information, biographical information, and lists of awards. All eras of film-making are covered. It also includes searchable plot summaries and references to film journals are cited in many of the entries.
The AFI Catalog is the national filmography, providing detailed information on American feature films including full production and cast information as well as extensive plot summaries. The catalog covers about 46,000 American films from 1893-1958 and 1961-1970. More than 17,500 entries cover the early years of American film from 1893 to 1910.
For many years the library provided access to Film Index International via CD ROMs accessible only from within Paley library, and to the print volumes of the AFI Catalog in the Paley reference collection. This new online subscription allows access to both resources from any location at any time via the library website. The combined search empowers you to perform the most comprehensive research using the most authoritative information. This resource is a welcome alternative and compliment to the often incomplete and inaccurate filmographies on the free web. The keyword searches for plots and themes, for example, are far more effective in Film Indexes Online than those in the Internet Movie Database. It will be a valuable resource across the all of the disciplines that have film as a focus of research or that use the medium as a teaching tool.
Please feel free to contact me with any questions about this resource.