Discovering Chinese Materials: Multimedia & Films
Audio-visual, Multimedia and Films
Basic Reference Titles
Catalogs, bibliographies, indexes, and other reference works, both print and online, are always useful in starting and pursuing research.
Examples of reference works of Chinese film studies include：
- An Annotated Bibliography for Chinese Film Studies 《中国电影硏究书目提要》 by Jim Cheng 程 健
PN1993.5.C4 C44 2004g - Quan guo bao kan dian ying wen zhang mu lu suo yin 《国报刊电影文章目录索引》
Z5784.M9 C517 1983; Z5784.M9 C518 1994; Z5784.M9 C518 1995 - Zhongguo dian ying bian nian ji shi 《中国电影编年纪事》
PN1993.5.C6 Z465; PN1993.5.C4 Z464; PN1993.5.C6 Z466 - Zhongguo dian ying da ci dian 《中国电影大辞典》 (China Cinema Encyclopedia)
REF PN1993.45 .C92 1995 - Zhongguo xian dai dian ying qi kan quan mu shu zhi (1921-1949) 《中国现代电影期刊全目书志》
PN1993.5.C4 Z476 2009
These print reference books, and many more print and digital materials of various formats, can be found in CLIO and WorldCat.
Research Guides on Film and Television and Streaming Video (by Nancy E. Friedland, Librarian for Film Studies and Performing Arts) is very useful, especially for English-language films & video sources and streaming videos.
Collections in Multiple Formats
The library has been actively acquiring Chinese multimedia and film materials, particularly various types of materials of Chinese film studies, through purchase and sometimes, donation. The collections contain early Chinese cinema, feature films, documentary films, independent films, T.V. series and dramas, avant-garde and experimental cinema and others. Besides, the collections cover Peking opera and other schools of Chinese opera, culture and history series, martial arts of different traditions, language learning films and videos, LGBT films, video art, and Chinese classic and contemporary music, etc. The multimedia contents are on a variety of formats, ranging from VHS, CD, CD-Rom, VCD, DVD, LaserDisc, to Blue-Ray, and some titles have Digital Betacam or Mini DV Tape copies. The total number of Chinese multimedia and film items is over 10,000, of which several thousands of them are to be processed and cataloged.
Main Streaming Films and Video Collections
- China on Film: Twenty Century Sources from British Film Institute (subscription to be completed)
Over 130 films of missionaries and footage of social and cultural life, covering Chinese minority peoples and rural and agricultural communities, in black and white and silent with intertitles. -
CathayPlay for Chinese Independent Films
About 1,000 films and updated regularly, including drama, documentary, experimental, animation, and ethnographic studies, covering titles by female directors and on LGBTQIA+, etc., in Mandarin, Cantonese, and other regional dialects. -
Digital Library Collections of Columbia University
Covering a big number of films and audio/video recordings from our own special collections at Columbia, of which dozens of films are in public domain.
Location and Use
After needed multimedia titles are discovered, please pay attention to location, call number, and related information. Many are located in Butler Media Services, and some are in offsite. Some are circulating, which means that you can borrow them. But you can view your needed titles, including titles of Butler Media Reserves, in different locations in Butler Library, particularly in Room 305, Digital Humanities Center and Room 401, Periodicals & Microform Reading Room.
Digital Video Editing
Digital video editing may be needed by faculty and students for the purposes of study and research. Digital Humanities Center a range of scanning, OCR, and media-editing services, as well as access to other specialized software. Please contact walk in or contact dhc@library.columbia.edu with any media-editing questions.
