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Blaxploitation Reexamined
Film 373: Terri Francis

Selected Subject Headings in Orbis

  • Blaxploitation films
  • African American motion picture producers and directors
  • African American women motion picture producers and directors
  • African Americans in the motion picture industry
  • African American motion picture actors and actresses
  • African American screenwriters
  • African American actors
  • African Americans in motion pictures
  • African American men in motion pictures
  • African American women in motion pictures
  • Blacks in motion pictures
  • Black motion picture producers and directors
  • African Americans--Drama
  • Minorities in motion pictures
  • Ethnicity in motion pictures

Finding Articles and Reviews

NOTE: The databases give few or no citations before 1973 -- after many important blaxploitation films had been released -- so you may miss significant reviews and possibly articles if you depend only on the online tools. If you are interested in an early blaxploitation film, check whether you need to look through indexes in print and other resources.

Selected indexes are listed below. There is also a full list of article indexes.

American Film Institute Catalog
SML Reference PN1998 +A43

Online catalog of every American film from 1893 to 1970. Searchable by keywords; film titles; cast, crew, and character names; subject; genre and more. Most records include extensive plot summaries and comprehensive filmographic information, plus citations to reviews and articles.

FIAF International FilmArchive Database
Continues: International Index to Film Periodicals. 1972- (New York: Bowker, 1973-)
SML, Reference Z5784 M9 +I58 (LC)

Indexes 65-80 international periodicals of "aesthetic or critical value." The paper version has separate volume of subject headings for this index. The online version also includes a number of specialized bibliographies (silents, Latin American cinema), and information about film archives and collections.

Film Index International (Alexandria, VA: Chadwyck-Healey, 1994-98)

Film Index International covers all genres of film, from the first silent movies and art-house classics to recent sci-fi blockbusters. Content is very current and is updated twice yearly. FII offers Quick or Precision Search options for background on over 100,000 films from over 170 countries, including 55,000 personalities, 500,000 periodical articles on film and filmmakers, U.S. and international film award winners, and over 1 million cast and credit references.

Film Indexes Online (Alexandria, VA: Chadwyck-Healey, 1994-98)

Film Indexes Online is a portal that allows one to simultaneously search both the American Film Institute Catalog and Film Index International. For descriptions of these databases, please see their entries on this page.

Film Literature Index. 1973- (Albany, NY: Filmdex, 1974-)
SML, Reference Z5784 M9 F55 (LC)

The most important index for research in Film Studies -- covering film criticism from 1974 to the present. Indexes over 300 international film periodicals. Film title, personal name, and subject indexes are included. Film Literature Index also includes critical articles on television and video (section two). For earlier scholarship, consult the Retrospective Index to Film Periodicals, below. There is no online version of this index yet.

Film Review Annual. (Englewood, N.J.: Jerome S. Ozer, 1981-)
CCL Stacks, PN1995 F543 (LC) [most recent volume]
SML Stacks, PN1995 F543 (LC) [previous volumes]
This series reprints film reviews from various resources for each film.

Film Review Index. Ed. Patricia King Hanson. (Phoenix: Oryx Press, 1986)
SML Reference Z5784 M9 +F554 (LC)
Two-volume comprehensive index of movie reviews from 1882 through 1985.

The Hollywood Reporter
SML Stacks, PN1993 H65+ (LC) [1988 to present]
SML Microform Room, Film S3204 [1934 to 1990]
Online sources:
LexisNexis Academic Universe (May 1991 to present)
Factiva (May 1991 to present) (must search manually)
InfoTrac (Jun. 2001 to present issue)
Hollywood Reporter.com

International Index to the Performing Arts
IIPA draws its current content from more than 130 international periodicals and also indexes articles and obituaries appearing in The New York Times and The Washington Post. IIPA covers nearly all aspects of the world of performing arts, including film, theater, and opera. Most IIPA records in the current file (1998 forward) contain an abstract.

MLA Bibliography (New York: Modern Language Association of American, 1921- )
SML Reference, Index Case 7, Row 14 [Z7006 M63 (LC)]
The MLA Bibliography indexes critical materials on literature, languages, linguistics, and folklore. It also includes film studies. The database provides access to citations from over 4,000 journals and series published worldwide, as well as books, essay collections, working papers, proceedings, dissertations, and bibliographies. The print volumes go back to 1921 and the database covers from 1963 to the present. The MLA Bibliography continues the Modern Language Association Annual Bibliography. For earlier volumes, check the SML Card Catalog under "Modern Language Association."

New York Times Film Reviews (New York: Arno, 1970- )
SML Reference PN1995 +N49
Indexed photographic reprints of film reviews as they appeared in the the New York Times from 1913-1968. There is a single name/title index for these volumes. From 1969-present, volumes are annual cumulations of articles.
See also: New York Times online through ProQuest, Lexis-Nexis, or Factiva.

Variety and Daily Variety
SML Microform Room, Film S2206 [1905 to most recent microfilm reel; current issues in the Periodical Reading Room, Section X-9]
Online sources:
LexisNexis Academic Universe: Variety (Jul. 1993 to present) and Daily Variety (Apr. 1992 to present)
InfoTrac: Variety (Jan. 1997 to present) and Daily Variety (Nov. 2000 to present)
Wilson Business Full Text: Variety (Jan. 1998 to present)
International Index to the Performing Arts Full Text: Variety (Aug. 2000 to present)
Factiva: Daily Variety (Mar. 2004 to present) (must search manually)

Newspaper and Archival Resources (at and near Yale)

African-American newspapers and periodicals: a national bibliography. James P. Danky, editor; Maureen E. Hady, associate editor. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1998.
SML Starr Main Reference Room, Z6944 N39 A37X 1998 (LC)+

Black newspapers index [1977-2003].
SML Starr Main Reference Room, Index Case AI3 I45 (LC)+

Guide to Negro periodical literature, Index to periodical articles by and about Negroes, Index to periodical articles by and about Blacks, and Index to Black periodicals. Boston, G.K. Hall & Company.
SML Starr Main Reference Room, Index Case AI3 I563 (LC).
These indexes cover 1941 through 2003, with some skips.

Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture (New York Public Library)
The Schomburg Center's Moving Image and Recorded Sound Division documents the experiences of peoples of African descent, as they have been captured via audiovisual technology. The MIRS Division also directs and manages the Center's Oral History/Video Documentation Program, which records the life stories and viewpoints of persons representing a wide range of disciplines and experiences for the historical record.

US Newspapers on Microform in the Yale Libraries
You can enter "African American newspaper" in the Notes field if you're particularly interested in finding reviews in these papers. If you enter a year or years in the Date fields, the database will retrieve specifically the newspapers that cover those years.

Other Research Resources

Black Film Research Online
BFRO defines Black film culture broadly to include the works of Black filmmakers from across the African Diaspora; the production, distribution, and exhibition of films by, for and about Blacks; issues of Black spectatorship and reception; and images of Black people in film from the invention of the medium in the late 19th century to the present. The site, produced and maintained by the University of Chicago, is consistently updated to offer a comprehensive and annotated guide to the many Internet, academic, collector, and general-interest and featuring material on Black cinema.

Dolomite Blaxploitation Database
A very basic database listing 176 films, searchable by title, release date, stars, director, and keyword.
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Yale University Library Research Guide in Film Studies
Last modified Thu, 05 Jan 2006 Copyright © Yale University Library.
Comments to Tobin Nellhaus, Librarian for Drama, Film and Theater Studies.

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