Best of the Web: Performing Arts » Film

National arts organization devoted to film, television and video, serves as a point of national focus and coordination for the many individuals and institutions concerned with the moving image as art. Institute programs emanate from the AFI campus in Los Angeles and the AFI Theater in the John F. Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. Website links to programs, training and education opportunities, festivals.

Online edition includes selected articles, directories, register for email casting notices. ($10 subscription buys archived articles and the full monthly publication.)

This well written, progressive "academic/popular hybrid of movie analysis, history, and commentary", looks at classic and commercial, independent, exploitation, and international film from a wide range of vantage points from the aesthetic to the political. Bright Lights Film Journal is indexed in Film Literature Index, International Index to Film Periodicals, and Media Review Digest. No search function, but fully archived.

CSA is an organization of professional Casting Directors from all fields. Provides industry related links to PERFORMING ARTS UNIONS AND GUILDS , ELECTRONIC CASTING LINKS and OTHER FILM, TELEVISION AND THEATRE LINKS

Selected articles, a sample of the print publication

Member information, news, magazine. Links to studio, distributors, reference, publications, and member home pages.

Documentary filmmaking, including grant seeking. Links to scores of official pages of documentary films, resources for finding films and videos, and reviews. Excellent resource for a topic not generously covered on the internet.

Library of Congress collection

Online companion to the print publication from the Film Society of Lincoln Center. provides sample articles, which are archived and searchable, as well as links to the organization's sponsored events.

Information on all Film Society's programs and events, ranging from screenings at Walter Reade Theater to summaries of major events such as the New York Film Festival

Site written by Tim Dirks. Though the author has no formal film training, this site offers a wealth of history, trivia, and resources for information about classic films.

Actual students of film schools and programs contribute critiques and reviews of their experiences.

The people that rate the movies.

NFPF is the nonprofit organization created by the U.S. Congress to save America's film heritage. Working with archives and others who appreciate film, the NFPF supports preservation activities nationwide that ensure the physical survival of film and improve access to film for study, education and exhibition.

The New York Film/Video Council is the oldest continuously operating non-profit organization serving the non-theatrical and independent film and video community in New York City. Monthly programs include screenings, seminars and panel discussions on topics such as: production funding, new media technologies, distribution, exhibition, as well as a variety of issues facing film and video producers. Site includes calendars of events, and interesting and diversifies links to all aspects of film production. Of particular interest may be the international film

Publication directed toward the producer. Includes interviews, profiles, book reviews, articles regarding financial issues, technology, film history, and features. NOT searchable.

An international guide to archives, compiled by the Library of Congress.

Scours the internet for reviews of films and games, from the amateur to the professional, and uses the aggregate data to determine if the review is positive or negative. Links to full-text reviews are provided. Reviews can be limited to the New York area, to respected critics, or to critics belonging to film critic societies.

About screenwriting: features, columns, interviews and how-to's. links to full text screenplays. Archives are indexed by category, but not searchable.

Comprehensive list of links to international film festivals. Look here for more obscure listings -- Cannes is not on the list, but the Sarajevo Film Festival is. Searchable database. A little hard to navigate, but worth it for the scope of site-generated information. Daily coverage of major festivals worldwide. Festival calendar. Selected film reviews (of festival winners) and reportage. NOT always linked to festival home pages, but look for the URL's in the summary text.

Non-subscription edition offers headline news, searchable classifieds, production listings, and reviews. (subscription yields access to full articles and archives)

Containing over 220,000 films and television programs, and 27 million feet of newsreel footage, we are the largest university held moving image archive in the world. (University of California, Los Angeles)

Articles, tutorials, essays and opinions from industry professionals. Created to develop writer-driven projects and promote them to the studios.