The American Film Institute Catalog by ProQuest is a national filmography documenting the history of American cinema. Cataloguing currently covers the years 1893-1993 comprehensively, with additional records covering selected major films from 1994 to 2015. Drawing on the expertise of specialist staff at the AFI, it is a key resource for any educational institution, library, or film organization that is involved with the research, study, and teaching of film.
Every film produced on American soil or by American production companies is indexed from the birth of cinema to the present day. New records are created by the AFI editorial team and added each year.
Coverage: 1893 - current
The AFI Catalog can be cross-searched along with the FIAF International Index to Film Periodicals Database and BFI Film Index International in the encompassing Screen Studies Collection (SSC). Consult the SSC LibGuide for more information.
Since the initiation of the project in 1968, the mandate of the AFI Catalog has been to catalog every American motion picture either produced in the United States or sponsored and financed by American companies as an aid to the preservation of the American national film heritage. In accordance with the international film archival body La Fédération Internationale des Archives du Film (FIAF), AFI Catalog includes only those films that are 40 minutes or longer in duration, or four reels or longer in length. To date, the catalog has comprehensive coverage of feature films of this length from 1911-1993, with full or short records for films from 1994 to 2015; in addition, over 17,000 short films (those less than 40 minutes or four reels) have also been included from the first era of filmmaking, 1893–1910.
In support of its basic mandate, it has been the goal of the AFI Catalog staff to codify the available documentation, present it in an accurate, decade-by-decade arrangement, and provide the scholarly and archival communities as well as the general population with a significant historical and cultural document that delineates America’s film history.
Produced in collaboration with the American Film Institute, the American Film Institute Catalog is the premier resource for studying American motion pictures. It is the most comprehensive and detailed national filmography in the world. The Catalog includes the entire print version, which currently comprises five volumes documenting all films produced in the United States from 1892 to 1993, as well as new content and important updates for all previous records. Also included are records for the Institute’s Top Ten Films for the years 2000 to 2007. The Catalog offers authoritative plot summaries and insider production notes, as well as subject and song indexing for each film record.