Editorial Policy for Film Index International

Film Index International is based on data extracted from the British Film Institute's (bfi) database called SIFT (Summary of Film and Television). SIFT comprises two main datasets - film and television titles; and film and television personalities. Titles and personalities have bibliographic index entries attached, offering references to relevant journal articles.

The initial selection of records from SIFT for Film Index International is made by director. The directors selected are a) those who have made a fiction film shown theatrically that is over 50 minutes in duration, released between 1928 and 1965, and b) those who have made a fiction film over 60 minutes in duration, post-1965. There are some exceptions; for example, directors with established careers who have made nothing but short films, and directors who made feature-length documentaries. These are selected on an individual basis.

As complete a filmography as possible is then compiled for each director, including TV movies, non-fiction and short films, but excluding trailers, out-takes, industrial training films, advertisements and TV programmes. In-production records for anything that is believed to be currently in production at the time the edition of Film Index International is being compiled are also excluded. Unrealised projects are detailed in the resource, with an appropriate explanatory note on the Title Summary notes. Where a director has made both sound and silent films, the silent films will be included.

Film Index International also normally contains full credits for films released for theatrical screening in the UK. Other films will have varying levels of credit information, depending on the sources that were available to the data-inputters at the time the record was created.

The bibliographic references in Film Index International refer to articles from journals in the bfi National Library's wide-ranging international collection and include reviews, interviews, historical surveys and obituaries. Some journals are indexed comprehensively, others more selectively, based on the collection of information that is deemed to be unique and useful for filmographic, academic, or commercial research.

The nationality of films included in Film Index International is assigned by taking into account the extent of involvement of the production companies. The most significant company listed on the credits is that (or those) that are given copyright. The British Film Institute lists the production companies in the order of the size of their input to the film. The nationality of the most significant company dictates the nationality of the film, and consequently the language of the main title. This explains why Lord of the Rings, The Return of the King, for example, is included with its main title in German. It is not always possible to establish the nationality of a film from the early credit lists, and as a result revisions often occur as more detailed information becomes available.