Screen Studies Collection: FIAF International Index to Film Periodicals Database; AFI (American Film Institute) Catalogue; Film Index International (FII)

On May 2, 2016May 2, 2016 By europeancollectionsIn E-resourcesLeave a comment

Cambridge University Library is pleased to announce access is now enabled to the Screen Studies Collection that includes

FIAF International Index to Film Periodicals Database

The International Federation of Film Archives (FIAF) brings together institutions dedicated to rescuing and preserving films. FIAF’s editorial staff, along with its Affiliates, produces the International Index to Film Periodicals which offers in-depth coverage of the world’s foremost academic and popular film journals. This database contains FIAF’s “Treasures from Film Archives”; a detailed index of the silent-era film holdings of archives from around the world, a selection of Reference volumes and the linked full-text of over 60 journals.

AFI (American Film Institute) Catalogue

The AFI Catalog, the premier, authoritative resource of American film information, covers the history of American cinema comprehensively from 1893 to 1975, with full or short records for films from 1976 to present. Every film produced on American soil or by American…

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Film resources trial

On February 10, 2016February 10, 2016 By europeancollectionsIn E-resourcesLeave a comment

Electronic Collection Management

Four film resources are currently on trial until 31 March 2016:

Entertainment Industry Magazine Archive

An archival research resource containing the essential primary sources for studying the history of the film and entertainment industries, from the era of vaudeville and silent movies through to 2000. The core US and UK trade magazines covering film, music, broadcasting and theater are included, together with film fan magazines and music press titles. Magazines have been scanned cover-to-cover in high-resolution color, with granular indexing of all articles, covers, ads and reviews.

FIAF International Index to Film Periodicals

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Hollywood in rural Italy

On September 23, 2015September 23, 2015 By europeancollectionsIn Italian4 Comments

When we posted about the silent film journal Griffithiana back in April 2014, about 50% of the A.G. Parker Film History Collection had been catalogued. Now about 80% has been processed. Scholars who have used the collection so far have appreciated the wide range of languages covered, and have stressed to me the scarcity and value of the many imprints from the 1920s and 1930s which are included.

Hollywood in Friuli : sul set di Addio alle armi (CCA.56.314) — *Hollywood in Friuli : sul set di Addio alle armi* (CCA.56.314)

The Italian component consists so far of 334 titles. Coverage of books on silent cinema is particularly strong, with a number of titles relating to the Pordenone Silent Film Festival. The earliest Italian imprint in the collection is from 1932, Introduzione a un’estetica del cinema by Alberto Consiglio (CCC.56.100). Many of these books are, of course, lavishly illustrated and of quite a large format, so they are interesting and rewarding to process. They are sometimes produced by fairly small, specialist Italian publishers, and are often not held by any other British library. One such volume which meets all these criteria is Hollywood in Friuli : sul set di Addio alle armi, published by La Cineteca del Friuli in 1991. (CCA.56.314)

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Manoel de Oliveira

On August 21, 2015August 21, 2015 By europeancollectionsIn PortugueseLeave a comment

Very few artists can boast a career spanning more than 80 years and even fewer can claim to have been at their artistic and critical peak when approaching, and indeed reaching, their own centenary. However, both of these things were true of Manoel de Oliveira, arguably Portugal’s greatest filmmaker and unquestionably cinema’s most longstanding director, who passed away on April 2 this year at the age of 106.

Manoel Cândido Pinto de Oliveira was born on December 11, 1908, in Porto and began his filmmaking career in 1931 with a 20-minute silent documentary about his home city’s famous river, Douro, faina fluvial. Continue reading “Manoel de Oliveira” →

Spanish cinema resources at the University Library

On November 28, 2014 By europeancollectionsIn SpanishLeave a comment

*El cine sonoro en la II República (1929-1936)*, by Román Gubern. Classmark: 415.d.97.207

The 2014 Norman MacColl Symposium, organised by the Spanish and Portuguese Department of Cambridge University and convened by Prof. Brad Epps, was held on the 1^st of November at Clare College under the title “Canon, contra-canon y cinefilia: Historias del cine español en un contexto internacional.”

The symposium encouraged debate around key trends and issues of Spanish cinema. The distinctive style of Spanish cinema, deeply rooted in the Spanish tradition of the sainete and the esperpento (the farce and the absurd), gradually evolved to become an open space where popular cinema grew alongside sophisticated styles inspired by Hollywood or Paris. Although Spain’s political isolation under Franco prevented film makers from fully absorbing European new waves, the death of Franco in 1975 saw a burst of creativity and experimentation that placed Spanish cinema back on the international arena. Continue reading “Spanish cinema resources at the University Library” →

German fiction in the Schobert film collection

On October 31, 2014October 31, 2014 By europeancollectionsIn GermanLeave a comment

Processing of two large collections of cinema books, totalling several thousand titles, is currently in progress. Cataloguing of the Glynne Parker collection is well advanced, and specific items have already been the basis of posts on the European languages across borders blog. Rather more work remains to be done before processing of the Walter Schobert collection is completed. A film historian whom I recently took to view the two collections is sure they include many titles not otherwise available in national libraries.

Professor Walter Schobert collection - donation label — Professor Walter Schobert collection – donation label

The Parker and Schobert collections complement each other remarkably well. To the limited extent in which they duplicate each other, and existing holdings in the University Library, it is in the English language component, but for neither collection is English the largest language grouping. The emphasis of the Parker collection is on French and Italian material, whilst among Schobert’s books German language material predominates.

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Luis Buñuel: international iconoclast

On July 11, 2014November 19, 2014 By europeancollectionsIn Historical collections, SpanishLeave a comment

Former University Library staff member Glynne Parker died in October 2011, and after his death his wonderful collection of printed matter and ephemera on film was presented to the Library. At the time of writing, about 50% of the 2800 items have been catalogued. The general collection will feature in a future blog post, but some material is particularly worthy of mention.

A young Luis Buñuel (top right) with friends, including Federico García Lorca (bottom right), Madrid, 1923. ((source)) — A young Luis Buñuel (top right) with friends, including Federico García Lorca (bottom right), Madrid, 1923. (source)

The A.G. Parker Film History Collection contains several books about Luis Buñuel (1900-1983), an artist and man of great contrasts and contradictions: he was arguably the best-known and most significant Spanish filmmaker of the 20^th century, but almost all of his most famous films were produced outside Spain; he achieved international fame (and infamy) with his first two features, Un chien andalou and L’âge d’or, but then took 20 years to get his filmmaking career properly underway again; he was a leader of the international Surrealist movement, but made one of cinema’s most critically acclaimed and influential realist works in Los olvidados.

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Griffithiana: a silent film and classic animation journal

On April 17, 2014April 5, 2017 By europeancollectionsIn Historical collections, Italian1 Comment

Griffithiana_anno_1 — First issue of *Griffithiana*, 1978.

Friuli-Venezia Giulia is probably one of the lesser known Italian regions, but its position as one of Italy’s “most cinematic” regions attracts cinema lovers and experts from all over the world. It is home to seven major international film festivals (see list below) and to the Cineteca Nazionale del Friuli which, amongst other ventures -like film conservation-, published Griffithiana, a biannual journal named after D.W. Griffith, with articles and monographic issues related to the study of silent cinema and classic animation. Continue reading “Griffithiana: a silent film and classic animation journal” →

Languages across Borders

Tag: film history