Streaming video on demand from Penn Libraries
More services, links, and descriptions below ⇩
About Streaming
Penn students, faculty, and staff can stream feature films, documentaries, oral histories, video interviews, and other niche content through the Penn Libraries.
What can I stream?
If you know what you’re looking for, search the title in Franklin. Under Access, choose Online to see streaming films.
To see all streaming videos in the Franklin catalog, under Access, choose Online, and under Format, choose Video.
If you want to browse, start with a streaming platform listed below. They offer curated selections and a visual browsing experience.
What kinds of films are available?
All types, all genres. Popular feature films, documentaries, short films, interviews, or historical video are available.
Why use the Franklin catalog, instead of just watching what’s available on the streaming services I already use?
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There are no rental fees to stream films through Franklin. There is no additional cost to you.
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You can find unique films. Library platforms have films not always available on streaming services. Some films are exclusive to certain platforms like Kanopy or Projectr.
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The films are available longer than a rental period - sometimes an entire year or longer.
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You can see the date that the film will leave its platform in Franklin, the Penn Libraries catalog. Films change less often than films leaving Netflix, Hulu, or HBO each month.
Do I need to set up an account for every library streaming platform?
No. Just access each streaming platform with an active PennKey and password. Access is restricted to current Penn students, faculty, and staff. Affiliated employees with PennKey access to other Penn Libraries resources - from the University of Pennsylvania Health System (HUP, Pennsylvania, and Presbyterian Hospitals) and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia - are also eligible to create accounts. Alumni are not eligible to access streaming films due to licensing terms.
The film I want is not available to stream. Can I still get it through the Penn Libraries?
Maybe! The Van Pelt Video Collection also has DVDs to borrow. To browse in Franklin, choose At the Library and format Video for DVDs. Don't have a player? The Vitale Digital Media Lab lends portable all-region players and external DVD drives (link: Equipment Lending).
If the Penn Libraries does not own the DVD that you want, you can Request Media through Interlibrary Loan using this form. We will try to find a library to supply it. Note: This may take 5-10 business days.
Questions? If you find an error or broken link, please report it through Franklin, or Ask Us.
Streaming Collections
- KanopyStreaming collection of films and documentaries covering many subjects: pop culture, social policy, politics, education, and gender studies. You can access films on Kanopy on your mobile devices and smart TV through the Kanopy app.
- Criterion Collection on KanopyStream acclaimed and historic films from the Criterion Collection on Kanopy. Note: this is a subset of the Criterion Collection, not the full catalog of the streaming service The Criterion Channel. Here you will find access to 500+ films, but due to streaming licensing, not all Criterion Collection films are available.
- Swank Digital CampusSelected streaming full-length feature films and documentaries.
- Academic Video Online (AVON)Large, wide-ranging collection of feature film, documentaries, news footage, historical newsreels, and a range of primary source content. Includes film from the Criterion Collection, PBS, BBC, and Academy, Emmy, Peabody award winners, as well as silent films, serials, and early cinema shorts, including Buster Keaton, Fritz Lang, Chaplin, Murnau, and Lubitsch. Also includes documentary and international films from Film Platform.
- Projectr EDUStreaming platform for independent, international, and documentary films from Grasshopper Film, Canyon Cinema, and MTV Documentary Films.
- DocuseekDocumentary films from Bullfrog Films, Icarus Films, Good Docs, Women Make Movies, Collective Eye, Fanlight, dGenerate, and Kartemquin films.
- New World Cinema: Independent Features & Shorts, 1990-PresentFull-length feature films and award-winning shorts from leading independent distributors.
- Independent World Cinema: Classic and Contemporary FilmThis is a collection from indie film distributors—Milestone, Zeitgeist, Pragda, and Oscilloscope. These films support disciplines such as cultural history, psychology, gender studies, anthropology, African-American studies, and more.
- Victorians on Film: Entertainment, Innovation & Everyday LifeShowcasing the British Film Institute’s Victorian Film Collection and the Mitchell and Kenyon Collection, as well as a selection of special early large format films, this material provides a glimpse into the lives of the late Victorians and Edwardians captured between 1895 and 1913 by some of Britain’s earliest film pioneers and innovators.
- BBC Literary Adaptations in Video: Volumes 1 & 2BBC productions including more than 50 famous literary works, many that were buried in the BBC archive for decades. From Dickens to Shakespeare, from Chekhov to Arthur Miller, from Jane Austen to Mary Shelley, features performances for theatre, drama, performing arts, and literature courses, and additional titles like "Face to Face" and "Performance" where actors and directors discuss their craft.
- Digital Theatre PlusA digital video collection of British theatre productions containing full-length films of Shakespearean plays, modern dramas, and musicals, as well as behind the scenes insights.
- Socialism on FilmCollection of documentary, newsreel and feature films reveals the world as seen by Soviet, Chinese, Vietnamese, East European, and Latin American filmmakers, from the early 20th century to the 1980s.
- Penn Video Network - PVN Movie ServiceSelected streaming full-length feature films from Resident Select or Criterion on Demand, licensed for on-campus viewing only by Penn Video Network, a unit of Penn ISC. Line-up changes monthly. These films do not appear in Franklin, the Penn Libraries catalog. Note: You can only use PVN Movie Service while on the Penn campus, using a Penn IP address. PVN Movie Service films may change monthly, while streaming films on other platforms through the Penn Libraries remain available for a full calendar year, multiple years, or in some cases, do not expire after activation.
- Films on DemandSelected streaming films from Films Media Group.
- Ethnographic Video OnlineClassic ethnographic films, films about cultural change over time, and films made by and for indigenous communities. Browse by geography or cultural groups. Some films include study guides.
- Artfilms-DigitalArtfilms-Digital is the video streaming service of Contemporary Arts Media, Australia, including works for arts education and artists that are relevant to the performing arts, music, electronic media, visual arts, photography, fashion, philosophy, religion, gastronomy, history, politics, and psychology.
- DIS.artStreaming art film platform (formerly a magazine) focusing on studio art, historic preservation and art history
- Met Opera on demandAccess to more than 700 full-length Met performances.
- Independent Documentary Filmmakers from China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan Web ArchiveIndependent documentary and ephemeral primary sources archives which includes websites, blogs, and video feed belonging to notable filmmakers from mainland China, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, all made available for future research and access. Chinese independent filmmakers from mainland China, Taiwan, and Hong Kong have long been crucial to bringing attention to social and political developments in their areas, but due to the sensitive nature of their work, their web presences are at risk of disappearing. This project, part of the Ivy Plus Libraries Confederation's Web Collecting Program, is an initiative of the Confederation's Collection Development Group.
- Russian Film HubRussian and Soviet movies with English subtitles. Users can filter by genre, decade, director, and more. Created by Penn alumnus Richard Wess C'16.
- March of Time, 1935-1967Newsreel and television series which ran in U.S. movie theaters until 1951 and on television until 1967, blending confrontational journalism and docudrama
- USC Shoah Foundation Visual History ArchiveDigital library of video testimonies of survivors and witnesses of the Holocaust.
- On the Boards TVOntheBoards.tv delivers full-length, high-quality contemporary performance films.
- Netflix Media CenterEducational documentaries available for course use
Subject Guide
Where can I stream it now?
Useful apps for Cinema & Media Studies
- IMDb, the Internet Movie Database, for filmographies, casts, credits, showtimes, reviews, and watchlists for film and TV.
- Letterboxd, a social network for film people with watchlists and reviews.
- JustWatch or ReelGood, streaming search and watchlists.
Not available to stream? It happens.
Search for the DVD in Van Pelt
Search Franklin for films and TV, streaming or as a DVD. Sometimes, even with access to many streaming platforms, for rights reasons, a DVD may be your only option.
Don't forget, DVDs can offer bonus essays, booklets, interviews, and extra content.
Set up Kanopy's app
Get the Kanopy app on mobile or TV
The Kanopy app is available on iOS devices, Android phones and tablets, and most smart TVs.
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Stream on mobile - instructions
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Stream on a smart TV - instructions
Please note that Kanopy access is restricted to current Penn students, faculty, and staff. Affiliated employees with PennKey access to other Penn Libraries electronic resources - from the University of Pennsylvania Health System (HUP, Pennsylvania, and Presbyterian Hospitals) and the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia - are also eligible to create accounts. Alumni are not eligible to access this resource due to licensing terms. For more information, visit the Penn Libraries’ guide to accessing electronic resources.