Primary Sources: Resources on film

Through the Library, you have access to these fairly recently acquired resources:

Independent World Cinema: Classic and Contemporary Film – Includes over 400 documentary and feature films from select American distributors of independent and international film, including Milestone Films, Zeitgeist Films, Pragda, and Oscilloscope.

Docuseek2 – Docuseek2 is a streaming video service featuring social issue and documentary films from independent distributors, including Bullfrog Films, Icarus Films, National Film Board of Canada, and Fanlight. Note: When browsing the platform, you will see film icons next to each title. Grayed out icons indicate Berkeley does not have access to these titles. To view a list limited to titles owned by Berkeley, click the “My Movies” link at the top of the page.

Socialism on Film – This collection of films reveals war, history, current affairs, culture, and society, as seen through the socialist lens. It covers countries such as the USSR, Vietnam, China, Korea, much of Eastern Europe, the GDR, and Cuba.


To Stream, or Not to Stream?: BBC Shakespeare Now Available

Library gains access to BBC Shakespeare

The library certainly has no shortage of copies of the bard’s plays, but there is something to be said for seeing Shakespeare’s work as it was meant to be seen—performed. Alas, performances of Shakespeare tend to be difficult to attend on a regular basis. However, the UC Berkeley Libraries just gained access to the entirety of the BBC Television Shakespeare Streaming Series. The series includes performances of 37 separate plays, originally adapted for television and broadcast between 1978 and 1985 in the UK. Now, you can access them from the comfort of your couch. Whether you’re a casual fan or a lifelong scholar of Shakespeare, you’ll be grateful for your library proxy as you settle in to watch actors such as John Cleese and Helen Mirren work their—and Shakespeare’s—magic. Get started here.

Access to this resource was made possible through English department faculty Ida Mae and William J. Eggers Chair in English, Professor Jeffrey Knapp and James D. Hart Chair in English, Professor James Turner. Thank you!

Grab your notes, your copy of the play, or maybe just some popcorn and enjoy some of the greatest work in the English language.


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Resource: Kanopy for streaming media

The Library has recently subscribed to Kanopy, an on-demand streaming video service which provides access to more than 26,000 films, including titles from PBS, BBC, Criterion Collection, Media Education Foundation.

It is simple to make clips from these films and embed them (or the full films) in bCourses. Please contact me if you need any assistance with this.

Many films have closed captioning, and Kanopy is in the process of adding more every month. You can limit to only captioned films through Advanced Search. Let me know if you need closed captioning for a particular title, and we can request it from Kanopy.