Welcome!
On this page you will find links to databases to which the library has subscribed for French cinema classes at UConn. From Les Frères Lumières to Alice Guy Blaché to Agnès Varda to Céline Sciamma, France has a rich cinematic tradition that continues to evolve.
Left to right: Senegalese director Ousmane Sembène; JR and director Agnès Varda; Director Alice Guy; Director Céline Sciamma
Library Film Streaming Databases
- Kanopy Streaming VideoAccess to films for French cinema and language classes
- Alexander Street Press Film PlatformCross-search Alexander Street Press streaming videos across such subjects as anthropology, business, counseling, film, health, history, music, and theatre. The materials include documentaries, interviews, feature films, performances, news programs and newsreels, and demonstrations.
- Academic Video OnlineIncludes documentaries, interviews, feature films, performances, demonstrations, and news programs and newsreels covering subject areas that span anthropology, business, counseling, film, health, history, and music.
- Swank Digital Campus
Access to 1000 feature films, documentaries, foreign films, and TV shows curated to include the top movies and documentaries used by academic libraries provided by Swank in partnership with studio partners.
- PBS Video Collection1,500 streaming videos produced by PBS. Includes films from well-known PBS series such as Ken Burns' Jazz, NOVA, Frontline, and Finding Your Roots.
- Film Platform CollectionIncludes documentaries released from 2020-2022 covering topics including topics such as environmental science, media studies, women's studies, and sociology.
- Films on DemandDocumentary films on various topics in the humanities and social sciences.
Film Studies Databases
- Film & Television Literature Index
Includes article abstracts covering film & television topics including theory, preservation & restoration, writing, production, cinematography, technical aspects, and reviews.
- Communication & Mass Media Complete
Articles in communication, mass media, linguistics, and film studies.
French TV Archive
- Institut National de l'Audiovisuel (INA)Archive of French television
Cinéma africain et maghrébin
- Archives Numériques du Cinéma Algérienالأرشيف الرقمي للسينما الجزائرية
Les « Archives Numériques du Cinéma Algérien » sont une plateforme indépendante et alternative de diffusion du patrimoine cinématographique algérien. Créées en 2012 sur les réseaux sociaux Facebook et Youtube, les archives numériques explorent la cinématographie algérienne post-coloniale mais interrogent aussi les représentations du cinéma colonial en Algérie. Par la diffusion de films, d’extraits de films, de documents, la plateforme souhaite donner à voir librement les éléments constitutifs d’un cinéma d’une grande diversité finalement peu connu. - Africinéactualités du cinéma africain
Film History & Criticism Resources (EBooks)
Past Forward: French Cinema and Post-Colonial Heritage by ISBN: 9780809385881Publication Date: 2010-09-01In Past Forward: French Cinema and the Post-Colonial Heritage, author Dayna Oscherwitz focuses on the world of French films with a new lens. Drawing upon a wealth of research and the examination of popular French movies, Oscherwitz offers fresh perspectives not only on the unique importance of motion pictures and their indelible influence on French character, but on current debates regarding individual and collective memory.
A History of the French New Wave Cinema by ISBN: 9780299217037Publication Date: 2007-04-01The French New Wave cinema is arguably the most fascinating of all film movements, famous for its exuberance, daring, and avant-garde techniques. A History of the French New Wave Cinema offers a fresh look at the social, economic, and aesthetic mechanisms that shaped French film in the 1950s, as well as detailed studies of the most important New Wave movies of the late 1950s and early 1960s.
Masculine Singular: French New Wave Cinema by ISBN: 9780822341925Publication Date: 2008-03-25Masculine Singular is an original interpretation of French New Wave cinema by one of France's leading feminist film scholars. While most criticism of the New Wave has concentrated on the filmmakers and their films, Geneviève Sellier focuses on the social and cultural turbulence of the cinema's formative years, from 1957 to 1962. The New Wave filmmakers were members of a young generation emerging on the French cultural scene, eager to acquire sexual and economic freedom.
What Is Cinema? Volume I by ISBN: 9780520931268Publication Date: 2004-12-13André Bazin's What Is Cinema? (volumes I and II) have been classics of film studies for as long as they've been available and are considered the gold standard in the field of film criticism. Although Bazin made no films, his name has been one of the most important in French cinema since World War II. He was co-founder of the influential Cahiers du Cinéma, which under his leadership became one of the world's most distinguished publications.
French Cinema--A Critical Filmography (volumes 1 and 2) by ISBN: 9780253017024Publication Date: 2015-08-10This invaluable resource by one of the world's leading experts in French cinema presents a coherent overview of French cinema in the 20th century and its place and function in French society.
Film Criticism: Physical Books
La Poudre - Tome 2 - Féminismes et cinéma: Le grand tournant raconté par les voix engagées du cinéma français by ISBN: 9782501158244Publication Date: 2021En 2017, les femmes d’Hollywood ont dénoncé, haut et fort, le sexisme de leur industrie. Depuis, l’histoire du féminisme est jalonnée de prises de parole par des femmes du cinéma qui constituent de grands tournants. Les personnes dont vous trouverez les mots dans ce livre ont toutes, depuis cinq ans, fait bouger les lignes, pas seulement dans leur milieu, mais aussi dans la société tout entière.
Entretiens avec les acteur.rice.s, réalisateur.rice.s, scénaristes, productrices :
Aïssa Maïga, Alice Diop, Amandine Gay, Céline Sallette, Déborah Lukumuena, Fanny Herrero, Helena Noguerra, Houda Benyamina, Inès Rau, Iris Brey, Julie Gayet, Katell Quillévéré, Laurence Lascary, Océan, Ovidie, Rebecca Zlotowski, Sonia Rolland
CT Public Library Streaming of Films
With a public library card for the town in which you live, you can access many French films using apps like Hoopla. Film title availability varies by each town's subscriptions and changes monthly. Sign up for a public library card and download the Hoopla app. It's that easy! And free! If you have a smart tv, you can download the app and access your public library's films and tv shows using an access code.
Other French and Francophone Film Resources
- FestivalscopeOnline film festival platform.
- Albertine Cinémathèquepublic film screening for French teachers, professors, and professionals
- CinéSchoolFree French film screenings for primary school teachers
- My French Film FestivalAnnual French film festival online during the month of January
