Research

General Sites

  • American Masters Database  
    Read well-researched biographies of important film and television personalities.
  • And the Oscar Went To ...   Paid Subscription Required
    View photos of Oscar winners from 1928 to 1952.
  • BBC Audio Interviews  
    Audio clips of interviews–many (but not all) with influential creators of film, television, or digital media. Dates and original broadcast stations listed.
  • BFI Sight and Sound: Directors' Top 10 Lists  
    Directors list their 10 favorite films of all-time for Sight and Sound.
  • Bibliographies on Notable Directors   Peer Reviewed
    Comprehensive bibliographies from the UC-Berkeley library on more than 200 directors.
  • Directors Guild of America   Paid Subscription Required
    Although most of the information here can only be accessed by DGA members, non-registered visitors can access current and back issues of the DGA Weekly and the DGA Monthly. The multimedia section also features accessible streaming video from the members-only DGA Visual History Program.
  • Entertaining America: Jews, Movies, and Broadcasting  
    An online exhibit documenting the relationship of Jews to film and television, including information on Jewish actors, directors, writers, businessmen, studio tycoons, and more. The exhibit covers specific works (Seinfeld, Your Show of Shows) and events (McCarthyism, the Holocaust) spanning from the invention of cinema to today.
  • Euro Screenwriters: Interviews with European Film Directors  
    A website for aspiring screenwriters hosts this section of interviews with famous directors. The interviews are culled from various resources. The film clips section has video interviews and other material, including trailers edited by Jean-Luc Godard.
  • Film Indexes Online   Paid Subscription Required
    Find cast and crew information, synopses, and bibliographies about film.
  • Korean Film Archive: 100 Korean Films  
    Filmography of the 100 most important Korean movies by the National Archive, with detailed synopses, historical context, and director biographies in English. Use the database section to search the film collection of the physical archive in Seoul.
  • Latin America Cinema Guide  
    An extensive guide to online sources for the study of Latin American cinema, including pages devoted to specific directors and performers and links to film archives and cinematheques in Latin American countries.
  • Masters of Cinema  
    Masters of Cinema is an organic, international initiative founded in 2001 by four friends with a mutual interest in a particular type of filmmaker. The aim is to bring pertinent information together in one place for aficionados of World Cinema.
  • National Film and Sound Archive Collection Spotlights  
    These themed online exhibitions help users explore the collection of the Australian Film and Sound Archive. There are many moving image-focused materials, including stills of famous Australian movie theaters, information about notable film and TV personalities, and information about the archive's own restoration of two Australian films, Jedda and The Story of the Kelly Gang.
  • Senses of Cinema Great Directors Index  
    The online journal's permanent collection of articles, each introducing and describing one famous filmmaker and his or her work. A wide range of directors are represented.
  • Who's Who of Victorian Cinema  
    Biographies of actors and directors, as well as rigorously researched articles about the technology, creation, and exhibition of early film. The sources page also functions as a comprehensive annotated bibliography of the topic. Created by Luke McKernan, a British film historian.