The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures
Encyclopedia
The American Film Institute Catalog of Motion Pictures is an ongoing project by the American Film Institute
since the late 1960s to catalog all commercially-made American motion pictures from the earliest days of the industry to the present. It has been published as both a series of hardcover books and as an online
database file
.
Each entry in the catalog typically includes the film's title, physical description, production and distribution companies, production and release dates, personal credits, a plot summary, and notes on the film's history. The films are indexed by personal credits, production and distribution companies, year of release, and major and minor plot subjects.
To qualify for the "Feature Films" volumes, a film must have been commercially made by an American company, and given a theatrical release in 35 mm or larger gauge
to the general public, with a running time of at least 40 minutes.
The hardcover volumes published so far:
The publication of the hardcover volumes was suspended due to budgetary reasons after volume F4 in 1997. Feature films released from 1951 through 1960, and from 1971 through 1973 have been cataloged only in the online database. The project estimates that additional years will be cataloged at six-month intervals.
The project will also eventually catalog short films (beyond 1910) and newsreel
s.
American Film Institute
The American Film Institute is an independent non-profit organization created by the National Endowment for the Arts, which was established in 1967 when President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act...
since the late 1960s to catalog all commercially-made American motion pictures from the earliest days of the industry to the present. It has been published as both a series of hardcover books and as an online
ONLINE
ONLINE is a magazine for information systems first published in 1977. The publisher Online, Inc. was founded the year before. In May 2002, Information Today, Inc. acquired the assets of Online Inc....
database file
Database
A database is an organized collection of data for one or more purposes, usually in digital form. The data are typically organized to model relevant aspects of reality , in a way that supports processes requiring this information...
.
Each entry in the catalog typically includes the film's title, physical description, production and distribution companies, production and release dates, personal credits, a plot summary, and notes on the film's history. The films are indexed by personal credits, production and distribution companies, year of release, and major and minor plot subjects.
To qualify for the "Feature Films" volumes, a film must have been commercially made by an American company, and given a theatrical release in 35 mm or larger gauge
Film gauge
Film gauge is a physical property of photographic or motion picture film stock which defines its width. Traditionally the major film gauges in usage are 8 mm, 16 mm, 35 mm, and 65/70 mm...
to the general public, with a running time of at least 40 minutes.
The hardcover volumes published so far:
- A, Film Beginnings, 1893–1910 (1995)
- Subtitled "A Work in Progress" due to the scant information available on many films released in this era. Foreign-made films are included if they were released by American companies.
- F1, Feature Films, 1911–1920 (1988)
- F2, Feature Films, 1921–1930 (1971)
- F3, Feature Films, 1931–1940 (1993)
- With this volume, the project began to include plot summaries written especially for the catalog from viewing the movie itself, whenever possible, instead of relying on plot summaries taken from copyright registrations, studio publicity materials, or reviews.
- F4, Feature Films, 1941–1950 (1997)
- F6, Feature Films, 1961–1970 (1976).
- Due to the large number of co-productions between American and foreign companies in the 1960s, and the difficulty of determining any particular film's nationality, this volume includes all feature films released theatrically in the United States in that period. The hardcover edition includes pornographic features, although they have been excluded from the electronic database edition.
The publication of the hardcover volumes was suspended due to budgetary reasons after volume F4 in 1997. Feature films released from 1951 through 1960, and from 1971 through 1973 have been cataloged only in the online database. The project estimates that additional years will be cataloged at six-month intervals.
The project will also eventually catalog short films (beyond 1910) and newsreel
Newsreel
A newsreel was a form of short documentary film prevalent in the first half of the 20th century, regularly released in a public presentation place and containing filmed news stories and items of topical interest. It was a source of news, current affairs and entertainment for millions of moviegoers...
s.