Documentary: Nonfiction report that devotes its full time slot to one thesis or subject, usually under the guidance of a single producer MBC
Articles and Databases
Find history, criticisms, and reviews about documentary film, specific documentaries, or documentary film makers
- International Film Archive Database (FIAF)
- International Index to Film Periodicals (1972-)
- International Index to Television Periodicals (1979-)
- Bibliography of FIAF Members' Publications
Find Documentary Films
- Documentary films at Penn State are searchable in the CAT
- LC Subject: Documentary films
- LC Subject: Documentary-style films
- Penn State also owns many films in the PBS documentary series Frontline
- Search by the program name for these television programs
Books
- About Documentary Films
- LC Subject: Documentary film
- Books about making a documentary film
- LC Subject: Documentary films production and direction
Reference/Encyclopedias
- Gale Virtual Reference Library
- Includes many entries related to documentary history and development, specific filmmakers and films
- History of the American Cinema (10 vols) Ed. Charles Harpool.
- Each volume covers a decade (1900-1980)
- American Documentary in the 1950s. Jack Ellis.
- Looking Back and Turning Inward: American Documentary Films of the Seventies. William Rothman.
- American Documentary in the 1980s. Carl Plantinga.
Documentary Programs/Distributors
- Documentary Educational Resources
- Founded in 1968 by independent filmmakers
- Produce, distribute, promote quality ethnographic, documentary, non-fiction films
- Foster cross-cultural understanding through video and film
- Frontline
- Human experience documentaries air on PBS
- Independent Lens
- Documentaries and dramas by independent filmmakers
- Emmy winning series
- Media Education Foundation
- Inspires critical reflection on the social, political, and cultural impact of American mass media
- POV (Point of View)
- Television's longest running showcase for independent non-fiction films
Websites
- Reel Life Stories (University of California, Berkeley)
- SnagFilms
- Watch over 850 full-length documentary films for free
- Charities/causes related to film content are listed
- re:frame
- Program of the Tribeca Film Institute
- Documentaries for purchase (partnership with Amazon.com)
- Helps individual filmmakers, distributors, archives, libraries and other media owners to digitize and sell their work using the internet, and to become a one-stop location for anyone seeking these films (from the website)
- National Film Board of Canada
- Free online screening room with "over 700 full length films, trailers and clips"
- Available in English and French
- Classic & contemporary Canadian documentary films
Website Locators
- Please direct questions to ASK!
- Website Feedback
- Libraries Phone: 814-865-6368
- Updated: 09/21/09
- U.Ed. LIB 05-62
- Copyright © 2008 The Pennsylvania State University
