Penn Libraries provides access to films in languages taught at Penn. These links search Franklin, the Penn Libraries catalog, for both streaming video and physical media.
Afrikaans
American Sign Language
Amharic
Arabic
Bengali
Bosnian-Croatian-Serbian
Chichewa
Chinese
Czech
Dutch
Filipino (also Tagalog)
French
German
Gujarati
Hausa
Hebrew
Hindi
Hungarian
Igbo
Indonesian
Irish
Italian
Japanese
Judeo-Spanish
Kannada
Korean
Latin
Malagasy
Malayalam
Marathi
Modern Greek
Panjabi
Pashtu
Persian
Polish
Portuguese
Quechua
Russian
Sanskrit
Setswana
Shona
Spanish
Swahili
Swedish
Tamil
Telugu
Thai
Tibetan
Tigrinya
Turkish
Twi
Urdu
Vietnamese
Wolof
Yiddish
Yoruba
Zulu
Search film by title
1. Go to Franklin, the Penn Libraries Catalog
2. Enter film title. Choose Title Browse from pull-down menu
(Hints: omit initial articles in European languages: the or a/an, el/la/los/las or un/una, le/la/les or un/une, der/die/das or ein/eine, etc.;
search different title translations and title in the original language--you can check this on a film's profile page in IMDb or in its Wikipedia entry.)
3. On the left, under Format, choose Video.
4. In the search results, there will separate records for the streaming film, if it is available, and the physical media, usually DVD.
Search film by director
1. Go to Franklin, the Penn Libraries Catalog
2. Enter director as Author. Last name/First name. Example: Cuarón Alfonso. Choose Author Browse.
3. On the left, under Format, choose Video.
4. In the search results, there will separate records for the streaming film, if it is available, and the physical media, usually DVD.
Databases - Penn Libraries offer several streaming film platforms with world cinema.
Film sourcing - The Libraries source, license, and host films, from smaller distributors or independent producers in the U.S. and internationally, and connect them to Canvas course pages through our own cloud-based media server.
Physical media collections - The Van Pelt Video Collection is home to around 10,000 films on DVD, and an additional 25,000 films on DVD and a few hundred on other formats are available to request from LIBRA.
Film search - You can search films by title, director, actor in Franklin, the Penn Libraries catalog, and limit by language.
Quick links: Request a streaming film on reserve | Suggest a purchase
Useful apps for Cinema & Media Studies
Not available to stream? It happens.
Search for the DVD
Search Franklin for films and TV, streaming or as a DVD. Sometimes, for rights reasons, a DVD may be your only option.
DVDs can offer bonus essays, booklets, interviews, and extra content.
Check out up to 10 DVDs at once!