LibGuides: Streaming Video Resources: Feature Films &amp; Television

Accessing Hollywood Productions

Please note that most Hollywood productions and feature films cannot be acquired by the Library in a streaming format, but individual departments are able to license them through Swank Digital Campus.

Teaching and Copyright

Please visit the Copyright Reference Guide for information on teaching and copyright, including information on fair use, exemptions, and licensing.

Suggest a Purchase

You can suggest a purchase by filling out a form on the library's website.

University of Illinois Library Databases

Kanopy This link opens in a new window
Kanopy is an on-demand streaming video service for educational institutions that provides students and faculty access to more than 26,000 films. Kanopy provides students access to one of the largest collections of films in the world – including award-winning documentaries, training films and theatrical releases – on every topic imaginable.
Asian Film Online: Volume I and II This link opens in a new window
Asian Film Online offers a view of Asian culture as seen through the lens of the independent Asian filmmaker. Through a selection of narrative feature films, documentaries and shorts curated by film scholars and critics, the collection offers highly relevant perspectives and insights onto themes relevant across Asia, including modernity, globalization, female agency, social and political unrest, and cultural and sexual identity.
New World Cinema: Independent Features and Shorts This link opens in a new window
The collection includes approximately 200 full-length feature films from leading independent distributors such as Kino Lorber, First Run Features, Film Movement, MK2, and the Global Films Initiative. All films were presented at major film festivals, many were nominated for awards, and many have major awards. Collectively the films in the database have won more than 1,000 awards.
Socialism on Film This link opens in a new window
This collection of films from the communist world reveals war, history, current affairs, culture and society as seen through the socialist lens. It spans most of the twentieth century and covers countries such as the USSR, Vietnam, China, Korea, much of Eastern Europe, the GDR, Britain and Cuba. - See more at: http://www.socialismonfilm.amdigital.co.uk/#sthash.McOpse05.dpuf

Free Online Video Resources & Online Digital Collections

IMDb TV
With IMDb TV you can watch movies and TV series for free with ads.
Tubi
Tubi has a video library of over 20,000 titles, including tv shows, movies, and documentaries, all available to stream for free with ads. Users may need to register for a free account to use Tubi services.
YouTube
YouTube offers a collection of full-length movies and shows that you can watch free with ads in addition to other video content on their platform.
AdViews
The AdViews digital collection provides access to thousands of historic commercials created for clients or acquired by the D'Arcy Masius Benton & Bowles (DMB&B) advertising agency or its predecessor during the 1950s - 1980s. All of the commercials held in the DMB&B Archives will be digitized, allowing students and researchers access to a wide range of vintage brand advertising from the first four decades of mainstream commercial television.
Moving Image Archive
This digital library contains digital movies uploaded by Archive users which range from classic full-length films, to daily alternative news broadcasts, to cartoons and concerts.
Museum of Broadcast Communications Archive
The archive includes more than 8,500 digitized television shows, radio programs, and photos. You can search the entire MBC Archive collection, or watch videos recently added to the collection. Videos available online are indicated with a color MBC logo.

Related Library Guides

Finding Digital Video: Fiction Shorts and Feature Films
This guide will provide you with additional online video resources for film
Cinema Studies Library Guide: Finding Films
This guide provides an overview of how to locate books, films, popular reviews and scholarly criticism, and information about World Cinema and animated film.
How to Find Media
Includes instructions for searching the library catalog for DVDs and other media as well as some quick links to streaming databases.
Undergraduate Library Media Collection
The media collection consists of non-print materials in a variety of formats such as DVD, Blu-ray VHS, video game, audio cassette, and CD.