Film Dictionaries and Encyclopedias (Yale Library Film Studies)

Film Dictionaries and Encyclopedias

A collection of printed sources and websites for general facts and infoation about all aspects of film, video and television. There are many film reference sources in Yale's collections.

Selected Subject Headings for Searching Orbis

Motion pictures--Encyclopedias
Motion pictures--Dictionaries
Film criticism--Dictionaries
Cinematography--Dictionaries
Cinematography--Encyclopedias
Motion picture industry--Dictionaries
Sound motion pictures--Encyclopedias
Motion pictures--Spain--Dictionaries
Motion pictures--India--Encyclopedias
Hispanic Americans in motion pictures--Encyclopedias
Motion pictures--Dictionaries--Gean
Comedy films--United States--Encyclopedias

Selected Film Dictionaries and Encyclopedias

The All Movie Guide Glossary
Cinema: A Critical Dictionary: The Major Film-Makers. Ed. Richard Roud. New York: Viking, 1980.: CCL Reference PN1993.45 C5
Critical dictionary of film and television theory. Edited by Roberta E. Pearson and Philip Simpson. London; New York: Routledge, 2001.: SML, Reference PN1993.45 C75 2001
Dictionnaire mondial des films: 11000 films du monde entier. Bernard Rapp, Jean-Claude Lamy. Edition: Nouvelle Édition. [Paris]: Larousse-Bordas/HER, 2005.: SML, Reference PN1998 +D48 2005

Dictionnaire du cinéma africain. Paris: Karthala : Ministère de la coopération et du développement, c1991-: SML, PN1993.5 A35 D53X 1991
Encyclopedia of early cinema. Edited by Richard Abel. London; New York: Routledge, 2005.: SML, Reference PN1993.45 .E53X 2005
Encyclopaedia of Indian cinema. Ashish Rajadhyaksha, Paul Willemen. Edition: New rev. ed. London : British Film Institute ; New Delhi : Oxford University Press, c1999.: SML, Reference PN1993.5 I8 +R277X 1999

The Film Encyclopedia. Ephraim Katz. New York: HarperResource, 2001.: SML Reference PN 1993.45 K34 2001
The film studies dictionary. Steve Blandford, Barry Keith Grant, Jim Hillier. London: New York: Co-published in the United States of America by Oxford University Press, 2001.: SML, Reference PN1993.45 B53 2001

Filmmaker's dictionary. Ralph S. Singleton and James A. Conrad ; edited by Janna Wong Healy. Edition: 2nd ed. Hollywood, CA : Lone Eagle Pub. Co., c2000.: SML, Reference PN1993.45 S56 2000
The International Dictionary of Films and Filmmakers . Ed. Nicholas Thomas. 4th ed. Chicago: St. James, 2000.: SML Reference PN1994 +I58 2000 [and online]; Contents: v. 1, Films; v. 2, Directors; v. 3, Actors and Actresses; v. 4, Writers and Production Artists. Includes films and personalities from all periods, places and times. Concise detailed essays that include substantial bibliographies and filmographies.
Magill's Surveys
Il Mereghetti : dizionario dei film 2002. Paolo Mereghetti. Milano: Baldini & Castoldi, 2001.: SML, Reference PN1998 M34 2001
Movie Review Glossary
New York Times Encyclopedia of Film New York: Times Books, 1984.
SML Reference PN1993 + N465 1984: 13 volume encyclopedia contains reprints of every film article published in the New York Times through 1983.

Online Film Dictionary: This dictionary is a resource for users to better understand movie-specific terms in foreign languages. The dictionary currently supports the following languages: English, Dutch, French, Gean, Hungarian, Italian, Polish, Serbian, Spanish, Swedish and Turkish.
Pre-Cinema History: An Encyclopaedia and Annotated Bibliography of the Moving Image Before 1896. Hean Hecht. London: Bowker Saur, c1993.: SML Reference, TR848 +H38X 1993
Variety Slanguage Dictionary: Almost from its launch in 1905, Variety has used its own, distinctive "slanguage" in headlines and stories, words like "ankle," which refers to someone leaving (say, walking away from) a job, or "whammo," which refers to something terrific, especially box office perfoance. In part it was a device to fit long words into small headlines, but it was also to create a clubby feel among the paper's entertainment industry readers. People in the business understood "thrush"; those outside the business, well, they weren't Variety's target readers anyway.