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World Cinema

Travel the world through film!

Vancouver Public Library subscribes to the World Cinema Collection - a collection of nearly 1,200 films from around the world. The films are grouped into the following regions:

  • African Cinema
  • American Cinema
  • Asian Cinema (Chinese language, Indian, Japanese)
  • Caribbean Cinema
  • European Cinema (British, French, German, Italian, Soviet, Turkish)
  • Latin American Cinema
  • Middle Eastern Cinema

All regional categories are further divided into Classic and Contemporary cinema.

For more information on films included in this resource, visit World Cinema Collection and scroll down to Highlights.

Access World Cinema (Everywhere for VPL cardholders)

Features

  • English subtitles for all foreign language films.
  • Closed captioning and searchable, interactive transcripts for all English language films.
  • Ability to create customized segments (clips) of specific film scenes, and then embed, share and save them. (Need to create an account for this feature.)
  • Ability to save favourites. (Need to create an account for this feature.)
  • Public performance rights for all films.
  • Citations available in MLA, Chicago, and APA formats.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)

Finding a Film by Language

  1. Select the Advanced Search option beside the Search box at top of screen.
  2. Under Search Options, select Videos.
  3. Under Select Filters, choose Language and then scroll to desired language.

 

Add to Favourites (need to create an account to use this feature)

Content can be added to playlists using the Add To page tool. This page tool can be found on all search results and media viewing pages when the content-type is supported. Click on the Add To link, and, in the Add To drop-down window, select a Favourites Folder, and click Save. For more information, see Add to Favourites help page.

 

Creating Playlists (need to create an account for this feature)

Content can be added to playlists using the Add To page tool. This page tool can be found on all search results and media viewing pages when the content-type is supported. Click on the Add To link, and then, in the Add To drop-down window, select the Add to Playlist tab, and click Save.

 

Accessing Your Favourites and Playlists (need to create an account for this feature)

Click on your Your Name in top right of screen and select My Content.

 

Creating a Custom Segment/Clip of a Film (need to create an account for this feature)

  1. Click on the Segments tab below the video.
  2. Choose your segment start and endpoints. These can be entered manually or dropped in using the Set Start Time and Set End Time buttons that sync to the video player.
  3. Enter a title and description for your segment and then click the Create Segment button.
  4. The segment will now appear in the Segment tab on the right-hand side of the video player.
  5. Segments can always be found by selecting Your Name in top right of screen and then clicking My Content.
  6. Segments can be shared via email or embedded link by clicking on the Share icon below the player.

Contact Us

(for help with our digital collections)